Jackrabbits split defensive battles

Wednesday, March 11

Madeira, Fla. (Field 2)

11:30 a.m.

South Dakota State University

15-7

Butler

15-8

South Dakota State

Butler

Photo by: SDSU Sports Information

3/11/2020 4:37:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

MADEIRA, Fla. -- South Dakota State softball split a pair of pitcher's duels Wednesday at THE 2020 Spring Games. The Jackrabbits opened the day with a 3-2 extra-innings victory over Butler, then saw their seven-game winning streak come to an end in a 2-0 loss to Toledo.

The Jackrabbits are now 15-8 on the season and 7-2 on their spring break trip.

South Dakota State 3, Butler 2 (nine innings)
Grace Glanzer (12-2) won her ninth consecutive start and went all nine innings in the circle. Glanzer allowed two runs on six hits and struck out seven.

Chiara Bassi was 2-for-4 in the game with a double, two runs batted in and the eventual game-winning hit. Peyton Daugherty, Kelsey Lenox and Mia Elliott (RBI) also had hits for the Jacks.

Butler took a 2-0 lead in the second thanks to a two-run home run, and the teams settled into the middle innings without further offense.

SDSU put runners in scoring position in the fourth and fifth innings but were unable to break through until the top of the sixth.

Daugherty singled and Olivia Pfeifer walked to start the inning, and after moving up 60 feet on a sacrifice bunt, Daugherty came into score on Lenox's RBI single. Pfeifer, who took third on Lenox's single, came home in the next at-bat as Elliott snuck an RBI single of her own into left.

All square at two, the Jacks worked their way out of threats in the seventh and eighth innings, then went ahead in the ninth after the teams moved to an international tiebreaker finish. With Elliott on second, Lindsey Culver moved her to third on a sacrifice bunt, and Bassi came through with the go-ahead RBI on a single to right.

Ahead 3-2, Glanzer worked around a two-out single that gave Butler runners on the corners, ending the game with a ground out.

Toledo 2, South Dakota State 0
Kendra Conard (2-4) took the loss despite a solid performance in the circle, tossing all seven innings with two runs allowed on five hits. She struck out five and issued three walks.

Cylie Halvorson logged a triple for SDSU's lone extra-base hit, while Daugherty, Elliott, Allison Yoder and Paige Gerdes had singles.

Scoreless through six, both teams saw scoring opportunities fall by the wayside in the third, fourth and fifth frames. Toledo broke the stalemate in the top of the seventh with a two-run, two-out rally that began with a hit batter and RBI double.

Down 2-0, State threatened once more in the seventh after loading the bases behind Gerdes (hit-by-pitch), Yoder (single) and Daugherty (error), but were unable to scratch across a run.

Game Notes

South Dakota State is 1-0 against Butler and 6-1 against Toledo.
SDSU's seven-game winning streak was the longest of the season, and longest since last year's 10-game streak.

Up Next
SDSU is off until Friday when it takes on Central Michigan at 3:30 p.m. CST. The Jackrabbits were scheduled to face Brown at 1 p.m. CST on Friday, but that game has been canceled as the Brown softball team will not make the trip to Florida due to Ivy League policy regarding potential COVID-19 exposure.

-GoJacks.com-