JACKRABBITS HOST CREIGHTON FOR TWO

Friday, April 30

Brookings, S.D.

2 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Creighton

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

4/29/2021 4:35:00 PM | Softball

Games 38-39: Creighton (14-12) at South Dakota State (32-5)

When	Friday, April 30 \| 2 p.m. doubleheader
Where	Jackrabbit Softball Stadium \| Brookings, South Dakota
TV	Jackrabbits All-Access (subscription required)
Radio	None
Live Stats	GoJacksLive.com
Game Notes	South Dakota State \| Creighton \| The Summit League
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram \| #GRIT

After clinching the Summit League regular season last weekend, the South Dakota State University softball team will step outside of conference play one final time during the 2021 regular season, hosting Creighton in a doubleheader Friday afternoon.

First pitch on Faculty Appreciation Day is set for 2 p.m. at Jackrabbit Softball Stadium. Video coverage of both contests will be available through the Jackrabbits All-Access media portal (subscription required) at GoJacks.com.

The Jackrabbits enter the week with a 32-5 overall record and have won 19 of their last 20 games. SDSU had its school-record 16-game winning streak snapped in an April 24 series opener against in-state rival South Dakota, but the Jackrabbits responded with three straight victories via the eight-run rule to close out the four-game home weekend series.

Creighton comes into Friday's matchups 14-12 overall, including an 8-7 mark in the Big East Conference. The Bluejays ended a four-game losing skid with a 6-4 home win Wednesday against South Dakota.

THE SERIES: Friday's games will mark the 37th and 38th meetings between Creighton and South Dakota State on the softball diamond, with SDSU holding an 20-15-1 series edge. The series dates back to 1972 with SDSU winning all three games that season. Since the Jackrabbits moved to Division I in 2005, Creighton has held the upper hand in the series, posting a 13-9-1 advantage.

The two squads last played during the 2019 campaign, with the Jackrabbits claiming three of the four matchups. SDSU (W, 5-0) and Creighton (W, 1-0) traded shutouts March 16-17 in Kansas City, Missouri, before the Jackrabbits swept an April 23 doubleheader by winning a pair of one-run games — 1-0 in the opener and 8-7 in eight innings in the finale.

Kendra Conard tossed both shutout victories for the Jackrabbits.

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

SDSU has won 10 games this season by putting the eight-run run into effect;
The Jackrabbits have hit 51 home runs as a team in 37 games, with the school record for home runs in a season at 53 (set in 2016);
SDSU has homered in 14 games in a row and 17 of 18 Summit League games;
Eleven different Jackrabbit players have hit a home run this season;
SDSU ranks 19th among Division I programs with an average of 1.38 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 12th nationally with a .575 team slugging percentage;
With an average of 6.95 runs scored per game, the Jackrabbits rank 13th among Division I squads, while their .331 team batting average also ranks 13th;
Seven Jackrabbit starters enter the week hitting .300 or better, led by freshmen Emma Osmundson and Jocelyn Carrillo, who are hitting .414 and .412, respectively;
SDSU has yet to lose back-to-back games this season;
In Summit League play, Jackrabbit opponents have scored runs in 19 separate innings, but SDSU has answered with at least one run of their own in the next half-inning 14 times;
The Jackrabbits put together a streak of nine consecutive errorless games from March 6-12 and rank 16th nationally with a .977 team fielding percentage;
SDSU is 6-0 in one-run games this season, winning five of those games in its last at-bat.

30-WIN MARK: South Dakota State has reached the 30-win plateau for the sixth time in program history and third time in the last four seasons under head coach Krista Wood.

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 two weeks of the 2021 regular season.

In the April 25 RPI rankings released by the NCAA, SDSU ranked 44th out of 290 Division I teams to have played a game this season. The next closest Summit League team is Kansas City at 102.

The Jackrabbits have a combined 3-3 record against other teams in the RPI top 50: Wichita State, 30th (1-1); Iowa State, 39th, and Kansas, 42nd (2-1). Oregon State, which SDSU defeated on a neutral field in March, fell outside the top-50 this week at No. 52.

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.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Following a weekend in which it clinched the first conference title in program history, the South Dakota State University softball team has once again swept the Summit League weekly awards. Monday, center fielder Jocelyn Carrillo was honored as Summit League Player of the Week and Tori Kniesche earned her third Summit League Pitcher of the Week award.

A returning freshman from Palmdale, California, Carrillo batted .636 (7-for-11) in a four-game weekend series versus in-state rival South Dakota. She hit safely in all four games to extend her hitting streak to eight games, and is now batting .412 overall, including a .509 clip in 18 Summit League games.

Carrillo went 3-for-3 with a two-run homer as part of a three-RBI outing in the second game of an April 24 doubleheader, then added two hits and scored twice in Game 1 of a twinbill the next day for a pair of multi-hit performances.

She is the fifth different Jackrabbit to earn Summit League Player of the Week honors this season, joining her younger sister, Rozelyn (March 8), as well as Emma Osmundson (March 15), Lindsey Culver (April 5) and Kelsey Lenox (April 12).

Kniesche was dominant in two starts against the Coyotes, allowing only one earned run and three hits over 10 innings of work. The freshman right-hander from Wayne, Nebraska, hurled a five-inning no-hitter on April 24 — a game in which she struck out 11 and walked one.

The next day, Kniesche improved to 17-1 overall and won her 13th consecutive decision after allowing one earned run over five innings, striking out 10 and walking two in a 10-2 Jackrabbit victory.

Kniesche has recorded double digits in strikeouts in six games this season and upped her season strikeout total to 134 in 93 innings.

She also received the Summit's weekly pitching award Feb. 15 and April 5.

FANTASTIC FRESHMEN: South Dakota State's Cylie Halvorson and Tori Kniesche are in the running for the 2021 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year award, association officials announced Thursday afternoon. SDSU is one of three programs to have two players among the 30 finalists, joining Arizona and Oklahoma.

Due to last year's season being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, candidates hail from both the 2020 and 2021 freshman classes.

A returning freshman from Sioux Falls, Halvorson leads the Jackrabbits — and Summit League — in numerous offensive categories, including home runs (13), runs batted in (43) and slugging percentage (.772). She is batting .366 and has played errorless defense at first base in starting all 37 games.

Kniesche, a true freshman from Wayne, Nebraska, has posted a 17-1 record so far this season and has won her last 13 decisions. The right-hander has compiled a 1.73 earned run average with three shutouts, including a five-inning no-hitter April 24 versus South Dakota. Her 134 strikeouts — in only 93 innings — currently rank eighth on the SDSU single-season charts. Kniesche is limiting the opposition to a .151 batting average.

The 2021 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year award will be presented prior to the start of the 2021 NCAA Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.

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 (2.05) and fielding percentage (.977).

Individually, Cylie Halvorson leads the league with 13 home runs, while also pacing the Summit in runs batted in (43), total bases (95) and slugging percentage (.772).

Freshman Emma Osmundson currently holds the top spot in batting average (.414), triples (5) and on-base percentage (.504), while ranking fifth in slugging percentage (.733). Teammates Jocelyn Carrillo (.742) and Lindsey Culver (.663) rank second and fourth in slugging percentage, respectively.

Peyton Daugherty and Allison Yoder are tied for second with 32 runs scored, while Daugherty's 16 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 ninth nationally in that category, while Lindsey Culver, Allison Yoder and Jocelyn Carrillo are each tied for 22nd with four triples.

As a team, the Jackrabbits have combined for 24 triples to tie a single-season prorgram record first set in 1985. SDSU currently ranks second among Division I teams this season with an average of 0.65 triples per game.

NO-HITTER HISTORY: South Dakota State's co-aces Grace Glanzer and Tori Kniesche have each pitched a no-hitter this season, marking the second year in a row a Jackrabbit pitcher has accomplished the feat.

Glanzer's no-hitter came against Oregon State on March 5 in Greeley, Colorado, while Kniesche tossed a five-inning no-no versus South Dakota on April 24. Glanzer struck out four and walked three over seven innings, while Kniesche struck out 11 and had only a leadoff walk in the fifth inning prevent her from throwing a perfect game.

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.

The no-hitters by Glanzer and Kniesche are the sixth and seventh 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 16 of her 18 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.

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 42 after tallying one steal in the April 10-11 home series against Omaha.

For her career, Daugherty is 42-of-44 in stolen-base attempts, including a team-best 16-for-17 in that department so far this season.

Daugherty currently shares the team lead with 45 hits and 32 runs. She ranks second on the squad with 14 multi-hit games is fifth on the squad with a .346 batting average.

HALVORSON HEATING UP: Overshadowed by teammates putting up huge numbers in recent weeks, 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.

In 14 games in the month of April, Halvorson is batting .479 (23-for-48) with five home runs and 20 runs batted in. Twelve of her hits have gone for extra bases as she has compiled a .958 slugging percentage.

TWO-HOME RUN GAMES: Kelsey Lenox's two-home run game to open an April 10-11 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 and reigning Summit League Player of the Week, has been the team's top hitter in April, batting at a .512 clip (21-for-41) in 14 games with five homers and 15 runs batted in.

She also has been one of the squad's top clutch hitters this season, highlighted by 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.

Rozelyn ranks fifth on the squad with four home runs and is hitting at a .297 clip, while tallying 23 runs batted in. She also has performed well at the shortstop position, committing only three errors in 98 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 186-148 record after being hired to lead the program in August of 2014, Wood boasts a 456-302 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, four are sophomores and 11 are freshmen.

A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits are scheduled to close out the regular season by hosting North Dakota State in a four-game weekend series May 7-8 at Jackrabbit Softball Stadium. Doubleheader action is set to begin at noon each day.

The 1996 SDSU team that won a school-record 43 games and hosted the NCAA Division II Central Regional will be honored during weekend festivities.

-GoJacks.com-