Softball earns sweep Sunday

Sunday, February 24

Conway, Ark.

2:30 p.m.

South Dakota State University

7-4

Jackson State

0-14

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
South Dakota State	2	0	5	8	1	16	16	0
Jackson State	0	0	0	1	0	1	4	4

Photo by: Jason Salzman

2/24/2019 7:24:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

CONWAY, Ark. -- The Jackrabbit softball team picked up a pair of wins Sunday at the Michelle Short Memorial Classic, rolling to a 16-1 victory over Jackson State in the opener before a 7-4 win in extras against host Central Arkansas.

South Dakota State is now 8-4 on the season.

South Dakota State 16, Jackson State 1 (Five innings)
Olivia Douglas (2-0) earned the win over four complete innings, allowing one run on four hits with a pair of strikeouts. Jadelyn Johnson tossed the final frame and had a strikeout.

13 Jackrabbits recorded hits in the victory, with Caelyn Christiancy going 3-for-3 at the plate with four RBIs, a walk, a triple and a double.

Kelsey Lenox and Lyndsey Crist hit home runs for the Jackrabbits, while Yanney Ponce and Allison Yoder each had doubles. Paige Gerdes went 2-for-2 with an RBI after entering as a pinch hitter.

SDSU built a 2-0 lead in the first, as the first four Jackrabbits reached safely. Peyton Daugherty started the afternoon with a leadoff single and wheeled around to score as Ponce drove a double to the right-center gap in the next at-bat. Julia Andersen followed with a walk and Ali Herdliska pushed another run across with a single up the middle.

That two-run advantage held until the third, when the Jackrabbits tacked on five more to go ahead, 7-0.

Andersen singled to open the third, Mullen added a one-out single soon after and Crist blasted her third home run of the campaign in three-run fashion in the next at-bat. Yoder restarted the offense by reaching safely on an error, and after moving to second on a ground ball, jogged home as Christiancy laced her first career triple down the right field line. Gerdes entered at that point as a pinch-hitter and plated one more run with a single of her own.

SDSU blew the game wide-open with another eight runs in the fourth, going up 15-0 and reaching a run-rule margin. Andersen again reached safely to lead off the inning, drawing a walk before a fielding error allowed Herdliska to take first. Rushing worked a pinch-hit, free pass to load the bases, and after a foul out Yoder cleared the bases with a three-RBI double.

Allison Beaudry worked another Jackrabbit walk as she entered as a pinch-hitter before Christancy logged her second hit of the day in two-bagger fashion, pushing two more across before wheeling around to score on the same play after a string of Tiger errors.

Gerdes kept the offense rolling with a single before Lenox sent her first-career home run over the left-field fence to put the Jacks up 15.

JSU got one back in the bottom of the fourth, but that was it for the Tigers as SDSU added one more on a Christiancy RBI single (scoring Kerigan Torres) and closed out the run-rule victory.

South Dakota State 7, Central Arkansas 4 (Eight innings)
Morgan DeMarais (2-0) picked up the victory in relief, entering in the first after Taylor Compton started. DeMarais scattered six hits over 7.2 innings in the circle, allowing one run while striking out four.

Ali Herdliska was 3-for-5 with a double and three-run home run, driving in three runs for the Jackrabbits.

Peyton Daugherty added two hits in the game and Mallory McQuistan drove two runs in.

SDSU struck first once again, capitalizing on a two-out RBI double from McQuistan in the top of the first to build a 2-0 lead. UCA answered with three runs of its own in the bottom of the inning, though, and that score held until the top of the fifth.

Herdliska led off the fifth a double before Olivia Pfeifer entered as a pinch runner, and after McQuistan walked and Crist was hit by a pitch, the Jackrabbits sat with bases loaded and no outs. Megan Rushing helped the Jacks push two across in the next at-bat, as a fielding error for UCA allowed Pfeifer and Yoder (who pinch ran for McQuistan) to come home. SDSU loaded the bases one again soon after, but could not scratch any more runs across as the Bears put together three quick outs.

Holding a one-run (4-3) advantage, DeMarais and the Jackrabbit defense held Central Arkansas off with consecutive 1-2-3 innings, but in the bottom of the seventh saw the Bears tie it after a leadoff single turned into a run.

The Jackrabbits shook off the UCA rally in extras, however, and pulled away for good thanks to a three-run shot from Herdliska. With one gone in the inning, Yanney Ponce walked and Andersen reached on an infield single, setting the stage for the senior first-baseman's heroics.

Three-straight ground outs followed in the bottom of the eighth, as State picked up the sweep on day one of their stay in Arkansas.

Up Next
South Dakota State wraps up its stay at the 2019 Michelle Short Classic Monday morning with two games. SDSU will take on North Alabama at 9 a.m. before an 11 a.m. rematch with Jackson State.

-GoJacks.com-