JACKS PREPARE FOR COLORADO CLASSIC

Friday, March 5

Greeley, Colo.

10 a.m. MT/11 a.m. CT

South Dakota State University

Oregon State

Photo by: Courtesy Photo

3/4/2021 8:57:00 AM | Softball

Games 6-10: South Dakota State (4-1) at Colorado Classic

When	Friday, March 5 \| vs. Oregon State, 10 a.m. MT \| at Northern Colorado, nopn MT Saturday, March 6 \| at Colorado State, 3 p.m. MT Sunday, March 7 \| at Northern Colorado, 11 a.m. MT \| vs. Colorado State, 1 p.m. MT
Where	Friday and Sunday at Gloria Rodriguez Field; Greeley Colo. Saturday at Ram Field; Fort Collins, Colo.
TV	To Be Determined
Radio	None
Live Stats	Friday/Sunday: UNCBears.com \| Saturday: GoJacksLive.com
Game Notes	South Dakota State \| Oregon State \| Northern Colorado \| Colorado State \| The Summit League
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram \| #GRIT

After a two-week layoff, the South Dakota State University softball team returns to the diamond for five games in three days this weekend at the Colorado Classic.

The Jackrabbits, 4-1 overall, are slated to play four of their games in Greeley, Colorado, with a single game Saturday in Fort Collins, Colorado. SDSU is scheduled to play both hosts, Northern Colorado and Colorado State, twice, while opening against an Oregon State squad receiving votes in this week's ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25.

The schedule is as follows (all times Mountain):

10 a.m. Friday – vs. Oregon State (6-2 overall)
noon Friday – at Northern Colorado (2-7 overall)
3 p.m. Saturday – at Colorado State (2-6 overall)
11 a.m. Sunday – at Northern Colorado
1 p.m. Sunday – vs. Colorado State

All games in Greeley played at Gloria Rodriguez Field

SDSU began the season with its most successful opening weekend in its Division I history (since 2005) by winning four of five games Feb. 12-14 at the Doc Halverson UNI-Dome Classic in Cedar Falls, Iowa. After a loss to Iowa State, the Jackrabbits reeled off four wins in a row, defeating Drake twice, as well as Butler and host Northern Iowa.

The Jackrabbits were scheduled to play six games at the Tracy Beard Invitational in Frisco, Texas, Feb. 19-21, but that trip was canceled due to frigid weather conditions that gripped the region, and SDSU was unable to line up replacement games either that weekend or
during the scheduled off week to close the month.

THE SERIES: The Jackrabbits have previously faced each of their three weekend opponents, combining for an 8-17 overall record.

vs. Oregon State
• Oregon State leads the all-time series, 2-0, with both meetings taking place in 2007
• Series Notes: Brianne McGowan went 3-for-3 with a home run and four runs batted in as Oregon State claimed the first-ever meeting between the two programs, 5-2, on March 16, 2007, in Portland, Oregon. Samantha Heinzman drove in both Jackrabbit runs with a fifth-inning double that brought SDSU to within 4-2.
• The two teams met the next day in Corvallis, Oregon, with the Beavers claiming an 8-0, six-inning victory on their home field. Cambria Miranda was 3-for-3 with three RBIs to leave the OSU offensive attack,, while McGowan allowed only one hit, a Kiley Schwedhelm single in the second inning.

vs. Colorado State
• Series is tied at 2-2
• Series Notes: Colorado State won the first two matchups, sweeping a doubleheader by scores of 6-0 and 6-3 on March 7, 2010, in Fort Collins, Colorado
• The two programs would not meet again until 2018 at the National Invitational Softball Championship hosted by Nortthern Colorado. In making their Division I postseason debut, the Jackrabbits evened the series by winning both matchups against CSU, 11-1 (5 innings) in the opener, and then eliminating the Rams the next day with a 7-3 victory. In the opener, SDSU jumped out to a 5-0 first-inning lead, highlighted by a two-run double by Brittany Morse and a run-scoring double by Dana Chavez. Madison Hope went the distance in the circle for the Jackrabbits.
• In the elimination game on May 17, 2018, the Jackrabbits put together another five-run frame — this time in the bottom of the fifth — to pull out the 7-3 victory. Lindsey Crist tied the game at 3-all with a run-scoring single, which was followed by the go-ahead sacrifice fly off the bat of Chavez. Megan Rushing added an RBI single, while Baily Janssen capped the scoring with a two-run single. Taylor Compton pitched the final six innings for the victory.

vs. Northern Colorado
• UNC leads the all-time series, which dates back to a meeting in the 1973 AIAW World Series, 13-6
• Series Notes: The Jackrabbits and Northern Colorado spilt a pair of games played Feb. 9-10, 2013,
indoors in Ames, Iowa. UNC?won the first meeting, 4-0, while SDSU evened the series with a 4-3 victory that included home runs from Sammy Bingham and Marlee Petersen.

FOR OPENERS: With their 4-2 loss to Iowa State on Feb. 12, the Jackrabbits fell to 7-10 in Opening Day games during the Division I era, which began with the start of the 2005 season. SDSU had won each of its last three season openers and four of six previous season openers under head coach Krista Wood.

PRESEASON POLL: South Dakota State has been picked to finish second in the upcoming Summit League softball race, according to a preseason poll conducted among the league's seven head coaches that was announced last month.

North Dakota State, which has won the last six Summit League championships, claimed the top spot with six first-place votes and 36 points. The Jackrabbits claimed the other first-place vote to finish second with 31 points. South Dakota was third with 25 points, followed by Omaha with 19 points.

Rounding out the preseason poll were Kansas City (16), North Dakota (12) and Western Illinois (8).

The Jackrabbits compiled a 15-8 record in an abbreviated 2020 season that was canceled before the start of league play and return a solid nucleus led by Summit League Players to Watch Grace Glanzer and Cylie Halvorson.

A native of Sioux Falls, Glanzer burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2020, leading the league with 74 strikeouts and a 12-2 record. She finished with a 1.73 earned run average and held opponents to a .215 batting average.

Halvorson, also a Sioux Falls native, paced the Summit League with seven doubles while hitting .406 with 19 runs batted in in 22 games. She notched eight multi-hit games and recorded a .641 slugging percentage in 2020.

Summit League play for the Jackrabbits begins March 27 at Kansas City, with the four-team Summit League Softball Championship scheduled for May 12-15 in Fargo, North Dakota.

KNIESCHE OFF TO QUICK START: South Dakota State freshman Tori Kniesche was honored as Summit League Pitcher of the Week Feb. 15 following an impressive opening weekend on the softball diamond.

A right-hander from Wayne, Nebraska, Kniesche posted a 2-0 record with a 1.00 earned run average and 23 strikeouts in a pair of seven-inning complete-game efforts for the Jackrabbits at the Doc Halverson UNI-Dome Classic in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

In her collegiate debut against Drake on Feb. 12, Kniesche struck out 12 and walked four, allowing one run on three hits. The next day, Kniesche fanned 11 Northern Iowa hitters, once again giving up only one run and three hits.

Both of the runs Kniesche allowed were in the first inning of games.

DAUGHERTY SETS THE TABLE: Jackrabbit outfielder Peyton Daugherty paced the SDSU offense during the opening weekend of play at the Doc Halverson UNI-Dome Classic. A junior from Ankeny, Iowa, Daugherty hit safely in all five games, posting three multi-hit efforts en route to a .471 average (8-for-17) with four runs scored and two runs batted in. She also stole a base in each of the last four games of the tournament.

GOOD THINGS HAPPEN IN THREES: South Dakota State accomplished a rare feat in the sixth inning of its Feb. 12 season opener against Iowa State — hitting three triples in the same inning. Jocelyn Carrillo started the parade of three-baggers with a leadoff triple and pinch-hitter Emma Osmundson followed two batters later with a triple in her first collegiate at-bat. Peyton Daugherty then stepped to the plate and made it three triples in four at-bats in the inning, lining one to the right-center gap to plate Osmundson with what was then the tying run.

SDSU registered six triples as a team in 22 games during the abbreviated 2020 season.

HOMEGROWN TALENT: A resurgence in softball at the high school and club level has in South Dakota has led a number of the state's top talents to further their playing careers closer to home with the Jackrabbits in recent years.

Returning freshman Grace Glanzer assumed the role of the Jackrabbits' top pitcher a year ago, leading The Summit League in both strikeouts (74) and wins (12).

First baseman Cylie Halvorson is another fixture in the Jackrabbit lineup, while incoming freshmen Emma Osmundson and Cheyanne Masterson have been early contributors in 2021.

In all, eight players on this year's Jackrabbit roster call the Rushmore State home.

COACH WOOD: Krista Wood begins her seventh season as head coach at South Dakota State in 2021.

Already the program's winningest coach with a 158-144 record after being hired to lead the program in August of 2014, Wood boasts a 428-298 overall career record after eight successful seasons at Wayne State College.

She has coached five NFCA All-Midwest Region selections (the first four in SDSU's Division I era) and 18 All-Summit League selections in her time at SDSU, including the 2016 Summit League Freshman of the Year (Ali Herdliska) and 2018 Player of the Year (Brittney Morse). Herdliska is the only Jackrabbit to earn All-Summit League honors four times in her career, and twice picked up an NFCA All-Midwest Region nod.

The Jackrabbits have won 20 or more games four times under coach Wood, and prior to the cancellation of the 2020 Summit League Championships had reached the league's year-end tournament in each of her first five seasons, including a championship series run in 2018.

SDSU won 37 games in back-to-back 2018 and 2019 seasons, earning berths in the National Invitational Softball Championship both seasons. Wood was named the Summit League's Coach of the Year in 2018 while guiding her team to a program-record .673 winning percentage, breaking the 35-win mark for the second time in history.

Her 2020 squad won 15 games and posted a Summit League-best.652 winning percentage before COVID-19 precautions ended the NCAA's Division I softball season nationwide.

Wood put together a 270-154 mark at Wayne State, turning the Wildcat program into a winner after inheriting a 10-win squad when she was hired before the 2007 season. She brought WSC to three consecutive NCAA Division II National Tournaments between 2009-11, including a 2010 NCAA Central Region crown. The Wildcats won a school-record 43 games during that season and claimed the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament championship.

Wood coached internationally during the summer of 2009, leading a United States team (sponsored by USA Athletes International) at the Oldenzaal Invitational in Holland.

A native of Missouri Valley, Iowa, Wood spent two seasons as an assistant coach at St. Cloud State University after a stellar playing career at Nebraska-Omaha from 1999-2003. She helped the Mavericks to the NCAA Division II national championship in 2001 as a sophomore and finished her career as the all-time winningest pitcher in Maverick softball history with 106 wins and 530 career strikeouts. She was named to the school's athletic hall of fame in 2020.

In the 2001 national championship game, Wood tossed a two-hit shutout with five strikeouts in a 4-0 win over Lewis University. She also ranks second in career shutouts at UNO with 43, and earned numerous honors as a player at UNO, earning First Team All-NCC honors three times, while also collecting three All-NCC Academic Team awards. She earned NFCA All-Region First Team honors in 2002 and a Second Team All-Region selection in 2001. Wood also earned North Central Conference Freshman of the Year in 2000.

Wood also coached at the high school level, serving as the pitching coach at Omaha Gross High School in the fall of 2003 and at state-qualifying Omaha Westside High School in 2004.

Wood earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education K-12 with an endorsement in coaching from the University of Nebraska-Omaha in 2004 and received a master's degree in sport management in 2006 from St. Cloud State University.

THE ROSTER: The 2021 SDSU softball roster features 24 players from six different states and one foreign country. Of the 24 players, eight are from South Dakota, four hail from Iowa and California and three are Nebraska natives. Two players call Minnesota and Missouri home. The international player hails from Italy.

By class, three are seniors, six are juniors, five are sophomores and 10 are freshmen.

A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits continue play on their Spring Break trip, traveling to Wichita, Kansas, for a March 9 doubleheader at Wichita State. Start time is set for 3 p.m. at Wilkins Stadium on the WSU campus.

From there, the Jackrabbits will head up the road to Lawrence, Kansas, for five games. SDSU and the Jayhawks will meet in doubleheader action at 3 p.m. on March 11, followed by three games at the Rock Chalk Classic March 12-13. The Jackrabbits are schedule to play two games against Northern Iowa before a finale with Kansas.

-GoJacks.com-