Upcoming Event: Softball versus Augustana on October 5, 2025 at 1 p.m.
/
1 p.m.
Softball
vs Augustana
South Dakota State University Athletics
Wednesday, March 21
Iowa City, Iowa
2 p.m.
South Dakota State University
at
Iowa
Photo by: Laura Mullen
Softball set for Iowa, UMKC this week
3/19/2018 1:54:00 PM | Softball
| Â GAMES 24-29: South Dakota State (14-9) at Iowa (12-10); at UMKC (7-17) |
| Â When | Â Wednesday, March 21 | 2 and 4 p.m. | Â Friday, March 23 | 5 p.m. Â Saturday, March 24 | 1 and 3 p.m. Â Sunday, March 25 | 11 a.m. |
|
|  Where |  Bob Pearl Softball Field | Iowa City, Iowa |  Missouri 3&2 Complex | Kansas City, Missouri | |
| Â Live Video | Â BTN2Go.com | Â None | |
| Â Live Audio | Â Hawkeyes All-Access | Â UMKCKangaroos.com | |
| Â Live Stats | Â Game 1 | Game 2 | Â Friday | Saturday (1) | Saturday (2) | Sunday | |
| Â Game Notes | Â South Dakota State | ||
| Â Social Media | Â Twitter | Facebook | #GRIT | ||
Gameday Outlook
South Dakota State returns to the field Wednesday for a doubleheader at Iowa before a four-game set against UMKC. The Jackrabbits travel to Iowa City, Iowa to face the Hawkeyes at 2 and 4 p.m., and will close the week over three days in Kansas City, Missouri. The Jackrabbits and Kangaroos will play Friday at 5 p.m., Saturday at 1 and 3 p.m. before a 11 a.m. first pitch on Sunday.
About the Jacks
Off to its best start at the Division I level, South Dakota State is 14-9 midway through the second month of the 2018 campaign. The Jackrabbits are hitting .327 as a team and has tallied 48 doubles, five triples and 11 home runs with 140 runs scored through 23 games. In the circle, State holds a 4.34 ERA with 72 strikeouts over 146.2 total innings.
Abbey Murphy is hitting .450 and has started all 23 games, racking up a team-high 36 hits (out of 80 at-bats) wih eight doubles and a triple. She also leads the team with 20 runs batted in and has seven walks. Erin Mullen has appeared in 11 games (starting eight) and has two doubles and a home run. Julia Andersen (.376) has a team-high 11 doubles with 17 RBIs, while Brittney Morse (.355) has walked five times and hit two home runs with eight doubles.
Ali Herdliska (.324) and Mallory McQuistan (.302) have each hit three home runs, with Herdliska (five doubles, 19 RBIs) drawing a team-leading 13 walks. McQuistan has eight walks of her own with 14 RBIs.
Madison Hope (3.91 ERA) is 8-3 on the year over 71.2 innings pitched, allowing 45 runs (40 earned) with 37 strikeouts. Taylor Compton (5.16 ERA) holds a 5-6 record in her first season and has thrown 58.1 innings, striking out 27 with 55 runs (43 earned) allowed. Kendra Conard (3.57 ERA) picked up her first win in Clearwater, Florida and has thrown 15.2 innings on the season with seven strikeouts.
Jackrabbits' Last Time Out
The Jackrabbit softball program dropped a pair of games in a doubleheader its last time out on March 14, falling 8-2 in game one before a 12-3 defeat in five innings in the finale.
SDSU hit .250 as a team over the two games with five doubles while posting an 11.20 ERA over 10 innings, striking out two Cornhuskers.
Abbey Murphy (3-for-6) and Ali Herdliska (2-for-4) each hit .500 in the doubleheader, with Murphy racking up two doubles and Herdliska driving in two, matched by Mallory McQuistan (.333) for the team-lead. Julia Andersen had two doubles as well while McQuistan drew three walks.
Olivia Douglas made her collegiate debut, pitching one inning in relief with a strikeout. Madison Hope started both games and threw 5.1 innings, allowing 11 earned runs (12 total) on 17 hits with a strikeout. Taylor Compton tossed 1.2 innings and gave up five runs (three earned).
Opponent Outlook
Iowa (12-10) has a 1.70 ERA on the year as a team with a .239 average at the plate. The Hawkeyes have 18 doubles, four triples and seven home runs overall with 79 runs scored. In the circle, Iowa has 135 strikeouts in 144 total innings.
The Hawkeyes are led by Mallory Kilian's .333 average (19-for-57) with five doubles and three home runs, tallying 12 RBIs and 12 walks. Allie Wood (.308) is second on Iowa's squad in batting average with two home runs, three doubles and 10 runs batted in. Aralee Bogar is third (.250) and has gone 11-for-11 on stolen bases.
Allison Doocy (7-3) has thrown a team-high 64.2 innings pitched, allowing 20 runs (10 earned) for a 1.08 ERA and 75 strikeouts. Lauren Shaw (2.45 ERA) has a 2-6 record in 10 appearances and has struck out 41 in 48.2 innings pitched.
UMKC (7-17) is hitting .265 as a team with a 5.55 combined ERA. The Kangaroos has 21 doubles and 11 home runs as a team with 88 runs scored this year. Ashlin O'Brien is hitting .340 for the 'Roos wtih a double and four RBIs. Olivia Fluehr (.318) is above the .300 mark as well and leads UMKC with five home runs and 23 runs batted in. She has 11 walks, even with Lia Lombardini (.246) while Morgan Byrn (.254) has racked up six doubles to lead the Kangaroos, just ahead of Kelsey Goodwin's five two-baggers and 16 RBIs.
Fluehr (5.32 ERA) is 2-4 on the year in 18 appearances and has pitched 48.2 innings, striking out 21. Lynsey Conner (5.36 ERA) holds a 4-6 record over 48.1 innings pitched, striking out 10.
The Jackrabbits defeated UMKC earlier this season at the UNI Dome Tournament, 5-3, in a game where Abbey Murphy racked up three hits, including two doubles, Julia Andersen had two hits with a double and Mallory McQuistan blasted a home run.
Hope named Summit League Pitcher of the Week
The Jackrabbits' Madison Hope was named the Summit League's Softball Pitcher of the Week, announced March 12 by the league office.
Hope went 5-0 over seven appearances last week, leading the team with a 1.94 ERA and 36 innings pitched. The senior tallied 21 strikeouts on the week and pitched four complete games, earning a save in the weekend finale against Delaware State.
From Winnipeg, Manitoba, Hope had three games with four or more strikeouts, including six against Quinnipiac Sunday. She did not allow a run against QU or Central Michigan in a pair of Jackrabbit wins.
This is Hope's first career weekly honor, and signifies a stepping stone for the program as the first pitcher of the week honor for the Jackrabbits since head coach Krista Wood's arrival and a first for SDSU since Kori Seidlitz won it in 2010.
Janssen earns Summit League Player of the Week honors
South Dakota State's Baily Janssen was honored as the Summit League's Softball Player of the Week, released Feb. 26 by the league office.
Though the Jackrabbits played just two games in the award's time frame, Janssen hit .500 and slugged 1.000 with a .500 on-base percentage over two starts. The Missouri Valley, Iowa went 3-for-6 at the plate with three RBIs, two walks and an inside-the-park home run.
Janssen went 1-for-3 against Stephen F. Austin Sunday with her first career home run, driving in three runs in the fifth when her inside-the-park round tripper cleared the Ladyjacks defense. In Sunday's finale, Janssen was 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Herdliska Chasing Records
- Ali Herdliska moved into the top 10 in career doubles late-February and now has 29 in her career. She is seven shy of Shelly Brandel's school record (36) set from 1995-98
- Herdliska sits tied for second in school history with 25 career home runs, even with Steph Kuhl. The record is 35, set by Devan Larsen between 2013-16.
- Herdliska ranks seventh in Jackrabbit history with 100 RBIs. Next up is Devan Larsen (105). Kuhl's record of 131 is within reach for the season.
- Herdliska ranks third at SDSU with 65 career walks. She is even with Stacey Evans (2005-06, 08-09) and Larsen and within within six free passes of the school record (Stacey Warner, 1995-98)
- Herdliska is also fourth in school history with 887 career putouts early in her third year as a Jackrabbit.
Quick Hits
- SDSU is off to its best start since the 1997 season when the team opened the year 19-7.
- South Dakota State has put up four or more runs in an inning 10 times this year, last doing it March 11 with four runs in the seventh against Delaware State
- The Jacks have scored five or more in an inning six times this season and put together a double-digit run inning twice.
- Abbey Murphy became the first Jackrabbit to drive in five runs in a game since Ali Herdliska did it last Feb. 26 against Alabama A&M when Murphy went for five against Austin Peay Feb. 25.
- SDSU's 19-12 win over Green Bay on Feb. 11 was the first time the Jacks had surpassed the 15-run mark since April 30, 2016 in a 16-2 win over Fort Wayne.
- The Jackrabbits racked up 18 hits against Delaware State, one shy of the school's record. The Jacks have tied or surpassed the 15-hit mark three times this season already and have 10 or more hits in nine games.
- Julia Anderson and Mallory McQuistan both set career highs in runs batted (four) Feb. 11, 2018 against Green Bay.
- Abbey Murphy has now been hit by 16 pitches in her career and is alone in second place at SDSU. She trails only Jessica Markanich (2012-15), who was hit 20 times.
- Madison Hope has three career saves, second-most in school history. She trails Kim Westendorf's five saves between 2005-07. Taylor Compton is already into eighth in school history with two saves.
- The Jackrabbits are now 25-24 all-time in season openers and 6-9 at the Division I level (since 2004). State's win over UMKC was its first opening day win since 2015
Jacks Picked Fourth in Summit League Poll
South Dakota State was picked fourth in the 2018 Summit League Preseason Coaches Poll, released early February by the league office. The Jacks earned the No. 6 seed in the 2017 Summit League Championships and carry an experienced lineup into the 2018 season.
State has with 13 returners on the roster, including eight position starters and a starting pitcher. The Jacks will blend 14 upperclassman (five seniors, nine juniors) with a promising group of underclassman.
SDSU received 14 votes in the poll, three behind South Dakota, who had 17 points and one first-place vote. Atop the poll, reigning league champion North Dakota State is first with five first-place votes and 25 points, while Western Illinois garnered 20 tallies for second.
Herdliska Named a Player to Watch
For the second consecutive season, Ali Herdliska was named a Player to Watch for The Summit League, announced preseason alongside the coaches poll.
Herdliska, an All-Summit League performer from 2017, is back for her junior campaign after leading the Jackrabbits with a .338 average last year, starting all 54 games. The infielder racked up 18 doubles, six home runs and 36 RBIs while drawing 18 walks on the season.
Smarty Jacks
South Dakota State was one of 149 Division I softball programs to earn a spot on the 2017 Easton / National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Academic Teams award list. The rankings recognize the academic prowess of softball teams across seven membership divisions within the NFCA.
The Jackrabbits had a 2016-17 team grade point average of 3.016 with 11 team members boasting GPAs above the 3.00 mark.
For the 2017 fall semester, State posted a 3.47 combined GPA with 18 of 20 student-athletes logging a plus-3.0 grade point average.
New Face in the Dugout
While head coach Krista Wood and assistant Shannon Pivovar are in their fourth season leading the Jacks, a new face has joined the coaching ranks for the 2018 season. Kristi Villar was added as an assistant coach of the summer and brings more than nine years of collegiate coaching experience to the program. She spent the last seven years at Northern State, where she won over 160 games while building a program that had previously never won more than 20 games before her arrival. The Oakdale, Minnesota native won 20 or more games four times, and helped the team to its first 30-win season while earning 2015 NSIC Coach of the Year honors.
Prior to NSU, she worked for two seasons (2007-09) as a graduate assistant coach at Southwest Minnesota State, where she helped the Mustangs to consecutive NSIC championships and worked with one All-American, three All-Region players and seven All-NSIC picks.
She played collegiate ball at Augustana (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), where she earned All-North Central Conference honors four times in her career and led the team in hitting as a junior and senior.
Nine Sign NLIs with Jackrabbit Softball
South Dakota State softball coach Krista Wood announced nine additions to the Jackrabbit softball program as part of this week's National Signing Day activities.
Olivia Douglas, part of the group, enrolled early and has joined SDSU for the upcoming season, while the other eight newcomers will come to campus fall 2018. Those signees are Caelyn Christiancy (Lincoln, Nebraska), Peyton Daugherty (Ankeny, Iowa), Morgan DeMarais (Buffalo, Minnesota), Emma Hardin (Brookings, South Dakota), Jadelyn Johnson (Battle Ground, Indiana), Kelsey Lenox (Chesterfield, Missouri), Olivia Pfeifer (Hannibal, Missouri) and Allison Yoder (Urbandale, Iowa).
Â
-GoJacks.com-
Â
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
P/UT
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
C
/ Softball
C/UT
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
IF
/ SoftballSummit League Tournament Semifinal Highlights (05.09.2025)
Saturday, May 10
Softball Highlights vs South Dakota (05.08.2025)
Thursday, May 08
Softball Weekly Update (05.06.2025)
Tuesday, May 06
Softball Weekly Update (04.29.2025)
Tuesday, April 29