JACKS TAKE AIM ON SUMMIT LEAGUE TITLE

Saturday, April 24

Brookings, S.D.

noon

South Dakota State University

South Dakota

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

4/22/2021 8:54:00 PM | Softball

Games 34-37: South Dakota (11-30, 6-6 Summit) at South Dakota State (29-4, 14-0 Summit)

When	Noon doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday (April 24-25)
Where	Jackrabbit Softball Stadium \| Brookings, South Dakota
TV	Jackrabbits All-Access (subscription required)
Radio	None
Live Stats	GoJacksLive.com
Game Notes	South Dakota State \| South Dakota \| The Summit League
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram \| #GRIT

The South Dakota State University softball team will attempt to move a few steps closer to and possibly secure its first-ever regular season conference title as the Jackrabbits host in-state rival South Dakota in a four-game weekend series.

Doubleheaders are slated for noon starts both Saturday and Sunday at Jackrabbit Softball Stadium. Video coverage of all four games will be available through the Jackrabbits All-Access media portal (subscription required) at GoJacks.com.

SDSU seniors Allison Beaudry and Kendra Conard will be honored prior to Saturday's opener.

South Dakota State enters the weekend on a school-record 16-game winning streak that dates back to an 11-0 victory over Northern Colorado on March 19. The Jackrabbits have compiled a 29-4 overall record and are 14-0 in Summit League play after sweeping an April 17 doubleheader at North Dakota. A second twinbill scheduled for April 18 was canceled due to inclement weather.

The Jackrabbits currently hold a five-game lead in the loss column over North Dakota State (7-5 Summit) with eight Summit League contests to play. SDSU is scheduled to host NDSU in a four-game series to close out the regular season May 7-8.

South Dakota, meanwhile, comes into the series 11-30 overall and 6-6 in The Summit League. The Coyotes split a four-game home series against Kansas City last weekend.

THE SERIES: Saturday's series opener will mark the 144th meeting between South Dakota and South Dakota State on the softball diamond, with SDSU holding an 80-63 series edge. The series dates back to 1978 and continued both in the North Central Conference at the NCAADivision II level and in The Summit League at the Division I level.

The two squads last played during the 2019 campaign, with the Jackrabbits claiming two of the three regular season matchups in Brookings. After splitting a May 3 doubleheader by scores of 6-5 (SDSU) and 11-2 (USD), the Jackrabbits claimed the decisive game of the series and that year's regular season finale by winning 14-2 in five innings on May 4.

Yanney Ponce went 3-for-3 with a home run and five runs batted in to lead the Jackrabbits at the plate in the finale, while Ali Herdliska added a three-run homer of her own.

SHORT HOPS: Following are some quick notes regarding the South Dakota State softball team so far this season:

SDSU has played only four home games this season, sweeping a four-game series from Omaha April 10-11;
The Jackrabbits have hit 46 home runs as a team in 33 games, with the school record for home runs in a season at 53 (set in 2016);
SDSU has homered in 10 games in a row and 13 of 14 Summit League games;
Eleven different Jackrabbit players have hit a home run this season;
SDSU ranks 20th among Division I programs with an average of 1.39 home runs per game;
The Jackrabbits tied a Division I-era (since 2005) single-game record with five home runs in Game 1 of the April 2 doubleheader at Western Illinois and went on to hit 13 homers in the four-game series;
SDSU ranks 15th nationally with a .567 team slugging percentage;
With an average of 6.88 runs scored per game, the Jackrabbits rank 14th among Division I squads, while their .323 team batting average ranks 17th;
Seven Jackrabbit starters enter the week hitting .300 or better, led by freshman Emma Osmundson, who ranks 23rd among Division I players by hitting at a .453 (39-for-86) clip;
SDSU has yet to lose back-to-back games this season;
In Summit League play, Jackrabbit opponents have scored runs in 15 separate innings, but SDSU has answered with at least one run of their own in the next half-inning 11 times;
The Jackrabbits put together a streak of nine consecutive errorless games from March 6-12 and rank 10th nationally with a .980 team fielding percentage;
SDSU is 6-0 in one-run games this season, winning five of those games in its last at-bat;
Jackrabbit pitchers have turned in complete games in 22 of 33 games and have posted seven shutouts.

NEARING 30 WINS: South Dakota State is in position to reach the 30-win plateau for the season this weekend. It would mark the sixth time in program history and third time in the last four seasons under head coach Krista Wood that the Jackrabbits would reach that milestone.

SDSU first reached the 30-win mark in 1996, recording a school-record 43 wins against 22 losses. The Jackrabbits went 31-19 in 1997 and then went without a 30-win season until posting a 30-29 record in 2005.

The Jackrabbits tallied back-to-back 37-win seasons in 2018 (37-18) and 2019 (37-19) in making consecutive appearances in the National Invitational Softball Championship.

EYE ON THE RPI: The Jackrabbits enter the week not only atop the Summit League, but have built themselves a solid national profile heading into the final three weeks of the regular season.

In the latest RPI rankings released by the NCAA, SDSU ranked 31st out of 290 Division I teams to have played a game this season. The next closest Summit League team is Kansas City at 103.

The Jackrabbits have a combined 4-3 record against other teams in the RPI top 50: Wichita State, 24th (1-1); Iowa State, 42nd (0-1); Oregon State, 45th (1-0), and Kansas, 46th (2-1). SDSU's other loss came against No. 71 Northern Iowa.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: South Dakota State right-hander Grace Glanzer was honored Monday as Summit League Pitcher of the Week for her efforts in a team record-setting performance over the weekend.

A returning freshman from Sioux Falls, Glanzer won her seventh consecutive decision and improved to 12-2 overall in the Jackrabbits' 7-1, series-opening win April 17 at North Dakota. Glanzer carried a shutout into the sixth inning and went the distance, allowing one run on three hits while not walking a batter.

The victory was SDSU's 15th in a row, breaking the previous program record of 14 set in 1996.

Glanzer earned the Summit League Pitcher of the Week award for the second time this season and fourth time in her career. Her first award in 2021 came after pitching a no-hitter March 5 against Oregon State, followed by a win later that weekend against Colorado State.

PRESEASON POLL: South Dakota State was 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 in mid-February.

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.

The Summit League Softball Championship is set for May 12-15 in Fargo, North Dakota.

LEADING THE SUMMIT: Heading down the stretch of the Summit League regular season, SDSU leads the seven-team league in nearly every major offensive category.

SDSU also holds the best team earned run average (2.16) and fielding percentage (.980).

Individually, Cylie Halvorson leads the league with 12 home runs, while also pacing the Summit in runs batted in (38), total bases (86) and slugging percentage (.782).

Freshman Emma Osmundson currently holds the top spot in batting average (.453), triples (5) and on-base percentage (.547), while ranking second in slugging percentage (.733), with Jocelyn Carrillo third (.709) and Lindsey Culver fifth (.691).

Peyton Daugherty and Allison Yoder are tied for second with 30 runs scored, while Daugherty's 15 stolen bases also rank second in the Summit.

In the pitching department, freshman Tori Kniesche leads the league in wins (15), earned run average (1.86) and opposing batting average (.158). Teammate and returning freshman Grace Glanzer is right behind in second place in all three categories: 12 wins, 2.16 ERA and .198 opposing batting average.

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.

Osmundson has taken over the team lead with five triples to rank in a tie for seventh nationally in that category, while Lindsey Culver and Jocelyn Carrillo are each tied for 18th with four triples.

As a team, the Jackrabbits have combined for 23 triples and currently lead all Division I teams with an average of 0.70 triples per game. The team record for triples in a season is 24, which was set in 1985.

NO-HITTER HISTORY: Grace Glanzer's no-hitter against Oregon State on March 5 in Greeley, Colorado, marked the second year in a row an SDSU pitcher accomplished the feat.

Morgan DeMarais hurled a no-hitter March 8, 2020, against Merrimack, in a game played in Madeira Beach, Florida. DeMarais struck out seven and did not walk a batter, missing out on a perfect game due to two hit batters and a Jackrabbit error.

Glanzer's no-hitter is the sixth on record in program history; the others:

Jessica Jones, April 24, 1990, versus Nebraska-Omaha (W, 1-0);
Melissa Alleven, March 29, 2002, versus Northern State (W, 17-1; 5 inn.);
Meggan Staton, March 3, 2003, vs. Rollins (W, 1-0; 8 inn.);
Meggan Staton, March 6, 2003, vs. Lynn (W, 5-0);
Morgan DeMarais, March 8, 2020, vs. Merrimack (W, 12-0).

A returning freshman from Sioux Falls, Glanzer nearly duplicated her feat March 19 against Northern Colorado, taking a no-hit bid into the fifth — and final — inning. She allowed a one-out infield single in the fifth and ended with a one-hit shutout as the Jackrabbits posted an 11-0 victory.

Glanzer has posted a complete game in 14 of her 16 starts this season with four shutouts.

KNIESCHE IMPRESSING EARLY: Freshman pitcher Tori Kniesche got off to a quick start to her collegiate career and has continued to impress throughout the 2021 season.

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 season-opening 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.

Kniesche matched her season high with 12 strikeouts in consecutive shutouts April 2 and 3 at Western Illinois. She pitched a two-hitter in her first outing of the weekend, followed by a one-hitter, en route to earning Summit League Pitcher of the Week honors for the second time this season and being named Freshman of the Week by D1Softball.com.

For the season, Kniesche is 15-1 with a 1.86 ERA and 113 strikeouts in 83 innings. She was the winning pitcher in each of the last three games of the Omaha series, recording two wins in starts and one in relief. The opposition is batting .158 against her this year.

DAUGHERTY SETS THE TABLE: Jackrabbit outfielder Peyton Daugherty has filled the leadoff role for the SDSU offense throughout the season and reached a pair of milestones during the four-game sweep of Kansas City March 27-28.

A junior from Ankeny, Iowa, Daugherty played in her 100th career game in the first game of the March 28 doubleheader and also recorded her 100th career hit in the same contest. She also has moved into seventh place in career stolen bases at SDSU with 41 after tallying one steal in the April 10-11 home series against Omaha.

For her career, Daugherty is 41-of-43 in stolen-base attempts, including a team-best 15-for-16 in that department so far this season.

Daugherty currently shares the team lead with 30 runs runs scored and is tied for second on the squad with 39 hits. She has notched a 13 multi-hit games and ranks fifth on the squad with a .333 batting average.

HALVORSON HEATING UP: Overshadowed by some teammates putting up huge numbers each of the past three weekends, Jackrabbit first baseman Cylie Halvorson has been on a tear of her own.

The Sioux Falls native had an eight-game hitting streak end in the April 17 series opener at UND, but not before she recorded seven multi-hit games in that span to take over the team lead in that category with 14. She did connect on her team- and league-leading 12th home run in the second game of the April 17 doubleheader at North Dakota.

Over the last 10 games, Halvorson is batting .514 (18-for-35) with four home runs and 15 runs batted in. Ten of her hits have gone for extra bases as she has compiled a .943 slugging percentage.

TWO-HOME RUN GAMES: Kelsey Lenox's two-home run game to open the weekend series against Omaha marked the third time in a five-game span that a Jackrabbit player hit multiple round-trippers in a game.

A week earlier, in both games of an April 2 doubleheader at Western Illinois, SDSU second baseman Lindsey Culver homered twice. At that point, Culver owned each of the last three multi-home run games by a Jackrabbit player; she was the lone SDSU player with a two-homer game during the abbreviated 2020 season, accomplishing the feat March 8 of that year against Merrimack.

SISTER ACT: Sisters and Palmdale, California, natives Rozelyn and Jocelyn Carrillo have both put up impressive numbers so far this season in solidifying spots in the Jackrabbit starting lineup.

Jocelyn, the team's starting center fielder, is batting .384 and has driven in 23 runs. Fourteen of her 33 hits so far this season have gone for extra bases, including a pair of go-ahead home runs: in the top of the 10th inning of the Jackrabbits' 15-11 victory at Kansas on March 10 and in the top of the seventh inning of SDSU's 3-2 win in the first game of an April 3 doubleheader at Western Illinois.

She upped her season home run total to five with a pair of three-run shots — one in each game — in the April 17 doubleheader at North Dakota. She finished Game 1 on the twinbill a double shy of the cycle.

Rozelyn ranks fifth on the squad with four home runs and is hitting at a .264 clip, while tallying 17 runs batted in. She also has performed well at the shortstop position, committing only two errors in 93 total chances.

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 183-147 record after being hired to lead the program in August of 2014, Wood boasts a 453-301 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 five 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 title.

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.

Wood was named to Omaha'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, two are seniors, seven are juniors, five are sophomores and 10 are freshmen.

A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits are scheduled to play their lone home nonconference games of the season, hosting Creighton in an April 30 doubleheader. Action on Faculty Appreciation Day is set for a 2 p.m. first pitch at Jackrabbit Softball Stadium.

-GoJacks.com-