Softball pushes win streak to seven

Tuesday, March 5

Clearwater, Fla.

10 a.m.

South Dakota State University

11-4

Central Michigan

7-9

South Dakota State

Central Michigan

Photo by: Jason Salzman

3/5/2019 6:06:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- South Dakota State softball pushed its winning streak to seven with a sweep of Tuesday's action at E.C. Moore Sports Complex. The Jackrabbits (12-4) opened the day with a 6-1 victory over Central Michigan before a comeback 5-4 win in extra innings against St. John's.

South Dakota State 6, Central Michigan 1
Morgan DeMarais (4-0) started and threw four complete innings, scattering four hits and two walks with one run allowed. She struck out two before Taylor Compton entered in relief, earning her first save of the 2019 season with three shutout innings.

Ali Herdliska and Mallory McQuistan led the SDSU offense with two RBIs apiece, as Herdliska added a pair of walks with triple and Mallory McQuistan drew a free pass and launched a two-run home run.

Julia Andersen, Megan Rushing (RBI) and Lyndsey Crist (RBI) had singles.

The Jackrabbits jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first with a two-out scoring burst. Ali Herdliska and Mallory McQuistan started the offense with back-to-back walks, followed by consecutive RBI singles from Megan Rushing and Lyndsey Crist.

SDSU saw its advantage cut to one (2-1) in the bottom of the second, but that was as close as the Chippewas came the rest of the way.

After four scoreless frames brought the teams to the final inning in a one-run contest, State blew the game wide-open with four runs in the seventh. Pinch-hitter Paige Gerdes was hit by a pitch to lead off, and after Peyton Daugherty re-entered to run, Andersen followed with a single through the right side.

With runners on first and second, Herdliska drove a ball to the right-center gap for her first triple of the season, pushing two runs across. McQuistan followed with her second long ball of the year to give State a 6-1 lead.

CMU made it interesting with runners on first and third in the seventh, but the Jackrabbits induced two pop-ups to keep the winning streak alive.

South Dakota State 5, St. John's 4 (Eight innings)
Olivia Douglas started and threw 4.2 innings, allowing four runs on six hits and a trio of walks. She struck out three before Taylor Compton (3-2) entered in the fifth. Compton earned the win in relief, throwing the final 3.1 innings in shutout fashion without allowing a hit. She struck out two.

Herdliska went 3-for-5 at the plate with a double and an RBI, while McQuistan was 2-for-3 with a double of her own and a walk.

Andersen added a solo home run in the game and Crist picked up the other Jackrabbit RBI.

SDSU found itself in a 2-0 hole early, as the Red Storm started fast with a pair of singles and a triple in the first. The Jacks got one run back in the bottom of the second, then tied it in the third thanks to an SJU error.

Crist drew a one-out walk in the second, and with two outs moved to third when Baily Janssen singled to right. The Jacks found themselves in a pickle during the next at-bat as the Red Storm looked for the third out, but heads-up baserunning from Crist brought the senior home from third before Janssen was tagged out between first and second.

Daugherty worked another one-out Jackrabbit walk in the third frame, and with two gone Herdliska and McQuistan reached on back-to-back singles before an errant throw allowed Daugherty to come home for the tying run.

St. John's pulled ahead 4-2 in the top of the fifth thanks to a two-out rally, but the Jackrabbits responded immediately in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff blast from Andersen to make it 4-3.

Down to its last chance in a one-run ballgame, State rallied to tie it in the seventh before walking off with a 5-4 victory in the eighth.

McQuistan doubled with one gone in the seventh, and after Allison Yoder pinch-ran, Erin Mullen sent a pinch-hit single to right. With runners on first and third, Crist brought the tying run in with a double to center, though SJU ended the scoring threat with a fielder's choice out at the plate and a ground ball.

Using international tiebreaker rules in extras, State worked around an SJU baserunner in the top of the inning, then started its half of the inning with Janssen on second base. Caelyn Christiancy reached on an error in the first at-bat of the frame to push Janssen to third, and later in the inning SDSU sat with runners on second and third with two outs. Herdliska came through in walk-off fashion from there, slicing a single to left to push Janssen across for the game-winning run.

Up Next
South Dakota State will play Detroit Mercy and Western Michigan on Wednesday in Clearwater, Florida at 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. CST, respectively. The Jacks have 10 total games in Florida this week over spring break.

-GoJacks.com-