Softball heads for NISC in Ames, Iowa

South Dakota State (36-17) at National Invitational Softball Championship

When	Thursday, May 16 \| 1 p.m. Friday, May 17 \| 10 a.m. / 1 p.m. Saturday, May 17 \| To Be Determined
Where	Cyclone Sports Complex \| Ames, Iowa
Live Video	Thursday \| Friday \| Saturday
Live Stats	GoJacksLive.com
Game Notes	South Dakota State \| Championship Page \| Ames Regional Bracket
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook \| #GRIT

Weekly Outlook
For a second-straight year, the Jackrabbit softball team is headed for the postseason, as South Dakota State was announced as part of a 19-team field in the 2019 National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC) Sunday evening.

The Jacks (36-17) earned an at-large bid out of the Summit League and are part of a five-team,, double-elimination regional May 16-18 in Ames, Iowa. SDSU, Eastern Kentucky, Purdue and South Dakota will join host-school Iowa State in the regional.

South Dakota State opens its stay Thursday against Eastern Kentucky at 1 p.m. The winner of that contest will advance to Friday's 1 p.m. game, with the loser playing Friday at 10 a.m. against either South Dakota or Purdue. The winner of the USD/Purdue matchup faces Iowa State Thursday at 4 p.m.

A complete bracket for the region with additional schedule information can be found on page five of the game notes, or using the links above.

The regional champion will advance to a final double-elimination event played May 24-26 at TC Colorado Field in Fort Collins, Colorado.

South Dakota State is making its second appearance in the tournament after reaching the Greeley Regional title game in 2018. SDSU is 3-2 all-time in the NISC.

The National Invitational Softball Championship is operated, supervised and directed by Triple Crown Sports, a sports event company based in Fort Collins, Colorado, in collaboration with the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. This marks the third year of the tournament. Visit www.womensnisc.com for more information.

Recapping the Summit League Championships
South Dakota State earned the No. 4 seed at last week's Summit League Championships in Fargo, North Dakota and reached Friday's semifinal rounds. The Jackrabbits went 2-2 at the event, defeating North Dakota (4-2) and Purdue Fort Wayne (7-6), but dropped two games to eventual champion North Dakota State in Thursday's quarterfinal and Friday's elimination contest. Julia Andersen, Mallory McQuistan and Kendra Conard were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Andersen led the Jacks' offense with a 4-for-8 effort on the weekend, logging a triple and three walks. Megan Rushing (.333) was second on the team with three hits and a trio of RBIs, and Yanney Ponce, Ali Herdliska (home run, two RBI) and McQuistan each had two hits. McQuistan blasted a pair of home runs on the weekend, driving in five while recording her first-career grand slam.

Conard tossed 15.2 total innings (out of 20 available for SDSU), battling all week towards a 3.57 ERA and 1.34 WHIP. Conard struck out 10 and allowed eight earned runs. Taylor Compton (3.23 ERA) made two appearances and threw 4.1 innings, logging three strikeouts with six runs (two earned) allowed. Morgan DeMarais appeared in the circle as well for SDSU in the PFW win.

Scouting the Jackrabbits
South Dakota State enters the National Invitational Softball Championship play with a 36-17 mark. The Jackrabbits went 11-7 in Summit League play and are one win shy of matching the most victories in their Division I history. Last year's team went 37-18 overall and reached the NISC Greeley Regional title game.

The Jacks reached the 20-win mark on March 16, marking the earliest they've done it (date-wise) in program history. SDSU has now won 25 games in back-to-back seasons for just the fourth time in school history.

SDSU reached the 30-win plateau for the second year in a row on April 23, accomplishing the feat in back-to-back seasons for the second time in program history.

South Dakota State is hitting .275/.375/.432 as a team with an OPS of .819, outscoring opponents by 87 total runs this season (1.6 per game). The Jackrabbits racked up 129 extra-base hits and worked 205 walks (a program-best single-season mark) and have nine players with 10 or more free passes this year.

Ali Herdliska leads the team with a slash line of .333/.482/.673, pacing the Summit League in on-base and slugging percentages while posting a 1.155 OPS (more than 100 points better than the next highest, league-wide).

The senior has 50 hits in 150 at-bats, blasting 14 home runs, seven doubles and a triple with a single-season record, 40 walks. She has driven in 42 and scored 32 runs of her own. In the field, Herdliska did not commit an error in the regular season and started every game alongside Yanney Ponce and Baily Janssen.

Ponce was on fire throughout April, raising her batting average to .323 with a team-high 52 hits for the season. She has seven doubles, four triples and three home runs while sitting second among Jackrabbits with 36 runs batted in. Ponce has a team-best 150 assists in the field, anchoring the defense at shortstop.

Julia Andersen leads the squad with 14 doubles, hitting 2.9- on the season (49 hits) with six home runs and a trio of triples. Her 35 runs batted in is third-best on the team, as Andersen has not committed an error in 53 chances, splitting time between right and center fields.

Baily Janssen (.278, four doubles) and Mallory McQuistan (.277) round out the top hitters for South Dakota State, as McQuistan has added nine doubles and five home runs to her power numbers, driving in 27. Lyndsey Crist (.252) is second on the team in walks (26) and home runs (eight).

The Jackrabbit pitching staff has a 3.53 combined ERA over 351.1 total innings, allowing 200 runs (177 earned) on the season with 177 strikeouts.

Kendra Conard (17-5) is sixth all-time at SDSU in single-season wins, as the sophomore has struck out 62 and posted a 1.31 WHIP for the year. She has allowed only four home runs and 47 earned runs on the campaign, throwing a team-best 121.1 innings.

Morgan DeMarais (6-4, 1.46 WHIP) has made 19 appearances with 11 starts in her freshman campaign. She has tossed 80.1 total innings with 37 strikeouts, walking only 10 batters.

Taylor Compton (8-4, five saves) transitioned into a relief role this season, holding opponents to a .245 batting average against over 26 appearances (eight starts). Compton's 1.40 WHIP is second-best among Jackrabbits, as she has tossed 87 innings with 46 strikeouts.

Jacks Honored on All-Summit League Teams
Megan Rushing and Kendra Conard highlighted five Jackrabbit selections to the 2019 All-Summit League Softball teams, announced at the championship banquet May 7.

Rushing and Conard were first team selections, while Ali Herdliska, Baily Janssen and Yanney Ponce were named to the All-Summit League Second Team.

Janssen, Conard and Ponce were first-time honorees, while Rushing was a second team pick a year ago. Herdliska became the first-ever Jackrabbit to earn all-league honors in each of her four seasons at South Dakota State.

Since 2008, 19 Jackrabbits have garnered 28 All-Summit League nods.

Jacks Snag Weekly Summit League Awards
South Dakota State has claimed three Summit League weekly awards in the 2019 campaign.

Yanney Ponce earned her first-ever weekly recognition April 22. She hit .583 over four games with a double, two triples and eight runs batted in between the series finale with North Dakota State (where she went 1-for-2 with a walk) and a three-game set against Purdue Fort Wayne. In the weekend series with the Mastodons, Ponce led the team with a 6-of-10 effort at the plate, tallying eight RBIs alongside three extra-base hits. She slugged 1.100 for the weekend and had the game-winning RBIs in the first two games of the series.
Julia Andersen was selected as Player of the Week March 11. She led the Jacks with 13 hits over 10 games, racking up a pair of triples and four home runs. She accounted for 22 of South Dakota State's 55 total runs for the week, driving in 14 and scoring eight. She had a team-best four multi-hit and five multi-RBI contests. Additionally, the outfielder had nine putouts and one assist in the field and swiped two bases.
Kendra Conard earned Pitcher of the Week honors March 11 as SDSU swept the weekly honors. She went 4-0 in the circle last week, posting a 1.05 ERA over 20 total innings. She tossed one complete game and allowed just three runs while walking only two batters. The sophomore threw all seven innings in a 1-0 win over Western Michigan, scattering four hits without a walk while rolling up 16 ground outs for the Jackrabbit defense.

Walk This Way
South Dakota State has shown patience at the plate all season, working 205 total walks through 53 games at a rate of 3.8 per contest.

SDSU started strong with 32 total walks in its season-opening weekend, and in the Purdue Fort Wayne series had 24 walks over three games.

On Feb. 9 against Drake, the Jacks worked 10 free passes against Drake to match the second-most in a game for South Dakota State. The record of 11 walks has occurred four times in SDSU's history.

The Jacks' walk total has already passed the school's previous team single-season mark (187), set last year.

Jackrabbit Quick Hits

A look at the Jackrabbit offense has provided the clearest picture of SDSU's outcome throughout the season, as the Jacks are 17-1 while matching or out-hitting opponents, and 9-16 when trailing in hits. Additionally, when the Jacks strike first, SDSU is 26-7 and 10-10 in games when opponents score first.
SDSU swiped seven bags in a 9-7 win over Colgate (Feb. 15), tying the school's Division I single-game record. It was the sixth occurrence of the record and first since the 2014 season. SDSU has stolen two or more bags in eight games this year.
Julia Andersen became the school's all-time leader in doubles (and currently has 43) on March 16, breaking a tie with previous record-holder Shelly Brandel, who originally set the record between 1995-98. Ali Herdliska is second all-time with 37 two-baggers.
Ali Herdliska became the school's all-time leader in career home runs with her solo shot in the first inning against Colgate (Feb. 16). She broke a tie with Devan Larsen after drawing even with the top spot on Feb. 15. She now has 46 career bombs and is two shy of the Summit League's record (48), set by Western Illinois' Bridgett Maxwell. Lyndsey Crist is fourth at SDSU with 22.
Taylor Compton took a no-hitter late into the sixth inning of the season opener against Saint Louis, striking out six in the performance and going 5.2 frames before allowing a hit.
The Jackrabbits' offense has scored five or more runs in 30 of 53 contests this season, and has broken the 10-run barrier seven times.
SDSU has held opponents to three or fewer runs in 25 games, and one or fewer 16 times with seven shutouts. The Jacks have allowed five or more in only 21 games.
South Dakota State's 392 team hits has included 129 extra base hits, with 76 doubles, 12 triples and 41 home runs.
Taylor Compton became the school's all-time saves leader (seven) on April 20, 2019, breaking a tie with 2018 graduate Madison Hope.
Ali Herdliska has 123 career walks to sit first in the Jackrabbit and Summit League record books. Lyndsey Crist is second in SDSU history with 88 free passes. Herdliska's 43 walks this season is a career-best (and an SDSU single-season record).

Triple Crown Chaser
Jackrabbit senior Ali Herdliska is listed in the top 10 of every offensive category at South Dakota State, except stolen bases. She broke the school's career home run, runs batted in, total bases and runs scored record during the 2019 season, and last year set the program's all-time mark in walks. Additionally, she is second in career doubles behind teammate Julia Andersen.

Should Herdliska match her season average in hits from the last two seasons (54 in both), she would end up with 210 total hits as a Jackrabbit, placing her fifth in SDSU history. She currently has 206 hits (50 this year) and sits in fifth.

A look at the latest Jackrabbit records to watch is on page seven of the game notes.

2018 Season Recap
South Dakota State is coming off a historic season that saw the program reach the postseason for the first time in its Division I history, earning an automatic bid to the 2018 National Invitational Softball Championship, where the team reached the championship round and forced a winner-take-all at the regional in Greeley, Colorado.

The Jackrabbits finished second in the 2018 Summit League standings and broke the 35-win mark for the second time in history and won all four of their three-game Summit League series' a year ago, splitting a two-game, weather-shortened set with NDSU.

SDSU hit .322 as a team last season and set new school records for doubles (94), runs batted in (324) and runs scored (356).

In the circle, the Jackrabbits put together a 3.89 team ERA with 194 strikeouts over 352.2 total innings.

This year's South Dakota State softball program brings a roster of nine seniors, 14 total returners and nine newcomers into the 2019 campaign with high hopes of building on the achievements.

Jacks Tabbed Second in Summit League Poll
The Jackrabbit softball program earned three first-place votes and sat second in the 2019 Summit League Softball Preseason Coaches' Poll, released Feb. 1 by the league office.

The Jackrabbits received 33 votes in the poll, just one tally behind North Dakota State, who had 34 points and four first-place votes. Western Illinois sat third in the poll with 25 points, while the next four featured South Dakota (19 points), Omaha (14), North Dakota (11) and Purdue Fort Wayne (nine).

Andersen, Compton Named to League Watch Lists
Julia Andersen and Taylor Compton were announced as a Player and Pitcher to Watch, respectively, by The Summit League for the 2019 season, announced in February alongside the coaches' poll.

A 2018 NFCA All-Midwest Region Second Team performer, Andersen is back after starting all 55 games for the Jackrabbits a year ago. She finished second on the team with a .397 average, tying the school's single-season hits (77) and doubles (19) records en route to being named an All-Summit League First Team pick.

Compton started 20 games last year and posted a 9-8 record, tossing 111.2 total innings with a 4.51 ERA. She threw six perfect innings of relief in the National Invitational Softball Championship to help the Jacks reach the title game.

Smarty Jacks
South Dakota State was one of 107 Division I softball programs to earn a spot on the 2018 Easton / National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Academic Teams award list, announced this fall. The rankings recognize the academic prowess of softball teams within the NFCA.

The Jackrabbits had a 2017-18 team grade point average of 3.478 with 17 team members boasting grand point averages above the 3.00 mark, finishing 39th nationally in team GPA. Julia Andersen, Taylor Compton, Lyndsey Crist, Olivia Douglas, Ali Herdliska, Madison Hope, Mallory McQuistan, Erin Mullen, Abbey Murphy, Danielle Steffo and Kerigan Torres earned 3.50 or above GPAs and were honored as NFCA scholar-athletes in the same release. Herdliska (who was also named to the Academic All-Summit League team in 2017 and 2018), Mullen, Murphy and Steffo are repeat selections from the 2017 team.

SDSU posted a 3.44 team GPA this fall with six student-athletes achieving 4.0 GPAs, nine at or above a 3.7 and 19 with a 3.0 GPA or higher.

A Look in the Dugout
Krista Wood returns for her fifth season as head coach of the Jackrabbits alongside second-year assistant Kristi Villar, rookie assistant Kiki Stokes and volunteer coach Jeff Lewis.

Wood had a 105-118 record at South Dakota State and a 375-272 mark entering her 13th season of overall head coaching experience. She won her 100th game at SDSU during the 2018 National Invitational Softball Championship last year and is 38 victories shy of becoming the winningest coach in Jackrabbit softball history.

Villar came to SDSU in the summer of 2017 after seven years as head coach at Northern State University. In her first season as the primary hitting coach for the Jackrabbits, Villar helped the team reset season records in total bases, runs and doubles while tallying the second-highest totals in home runs, at-bats and wins. All told, Villar helped the Jacks raise their team batting average by sixty points (.322) in her first season at State.

Stokes was hired in August of 2018 after a standout career at Nebraska. The former Husker had a career .350 average, was a two-time All-American (2015, 2016) and holds the school record in runs scored (200). From Olathe, Kansas, Stokes was the No. 6 overall pick by the Houston Scrap Yard Dawgs in the 2016 National Pro Fastpitch league and led the team to its first NPF Championship in 2017. She recently completed her third season with the professional franchise.

Jeff Lewis in his second season as volunteer assistant coach for the Jackrabbit softball program, joining them in the fall of 2018. He is a member of the USA Junior Men's National Fastpitch Softball team, competing in the WBSC in 2016 and 2018 and received an invitation to try out for the USA Men's National Fastpitch Softball team in January 2019.

Six Sign NLIs with Jackrabbit Softball
South Dakota State softball coach Krista Wood announced six signees to the Jackrabbit softball program as part of November's national signing day: Jocelyn Carrillo (Palmdale, California), Lindsey Culver (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), Mia Elliot (Des Moines, Iowa), Grace Glanzer (Sioux Falls), Cylie Halvorson (Sioux Falls) and Isabel Martinez (Oak Lawn, Illinois).

All six additions will enroll at SDSU for the 2019-20 school year as incoming freshman and be eligible to play immediately for the Jacks.

-GoJacks.com-

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Players Mentioned

Julia Andersen

Taylor Compton

Kendra Conard

Lyndsey Crist

Morgan DeMarais

Olivia Douglas

Ali Herdliska

Madison Hope

Baily Janssen

Devan Larsen

Mallory McQuistan

Erin Mullen

Abbey Murphy

Yanney Ponce

Megan Rushing

Danielle Steffo

Kerigan Torres

Completed Event: Softball versus Augustana on October 5, 2025 ,

Completed Event: Softball versus Minnesota Crookston on September 28, 2025 ,

Completed Event: Softball versus Sioux Falls / Morningside on September 21, 2025 ,

Completed Event: Softball versus SMSU on September 14, 2025 ,

Completed Event: Softball versus #3 South Dakota on May 9, 2025 , Loss , 2, to, 3 , 8 Inn.

Completed Event: Softball versus #1 Omaha on May 9, 2025 , Loss , 6, to, 8 , 9 Inn.

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