Jackrabbit split Saturday doubleheader

Saturday, April 27

Grand Forks, N.D.

noon

South Dakota State University

32-12, 9-4

North Dakota

19-31, 4-9

South Dakota State

North Dakota

SIOUX FALLS, SD - APRIL 7: xxxxxxx (Photo by Dave Eggen/Inertia)

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

4/27/2019 4:36:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The Jackrabbit softball team split a doubleheader Saturday at North Dakota, taking the opener, 2-1, before a 3-1 setback in the finale.

South Dakota State is now 32-13 overall and 9-5 in Summit League play. The Jacks are a game and a half back of South Dakota for the second spot in the league standings with four Summit League contests to play.

Game One: South Dakota State 2, North Dakota1
Kendra Conard tossed a complete game, scattering seven hits and a walk with one allowed. She struck out eight, one shy of her career-high while improving to 13-2 in the circle.

Ali Herdliska (double), Megan Rushing (RBI) and Lyndsey Crist were all 2-for-3 for the Jackrabbit offense, while Julia Andersen added her 42nd double of the year to drive in the go-ahead (and game-winning) run.

Down 1-0 after a UND solo home run in the bottom of the second, South Dakota State evened it up in the top of the fourth with an RBI single from Rushing. Herdliska started the inning with her 37th career double to left center, and in the next at-bat Rushing sent a ball to right-center to drive a run in.

That tie held until the top of the sixth, when Herdliska and Rushing singled to open the frame, and after Olivia Pfeifer entered as a pinch-runner for Herdliska, Andersen drove a 2-1 pitch down the left-field line to put State in front.

UND threatened with runners in the final four innings, but Conard and the Jackrabbit defense came through when needed to hold off any rallies from the home team.

Game Two: North Dakota 3, South Dakota State 1
Morgan DeMarais (6-4) threw all six innings, allowing three runs on nine hits and a walk. She struck out four.

Daugherty, Paige Gerdes, Herdliska and Andersen had singles for the Jackrabbits and Erin Mullen drove in a run. Rushing and Baily Janssen added walks for the SDSU offense.

North Dakota struck with a solo home run in the first, added two insurance runs in the sixth and held the Jacks at bay the rest of the way to earn the doubleheader split.

SDSU put runners on in six of seven innings, but were unable to break through until the final frame. After Andersen singled to start the inning, Crist was hit by a pitch and Mallory McQuistan moved both runners up 60 feet with a ground ball. With runners on second and third, Erin Mullen plated SDSU's lone run with a grounder to short, but that was as close as SDSU came

Game Notes

Julia Andersen (42) and Ali Herdliska (37) remained first and second on the Jackrabbits' career double record list.
Kendra Conard has four games with six or more strikeouts this season.
South Dakota State won seven straight before a game two loss, marking the third time this year the Jacks had won five or more games in a row this season.