Jacks, Coyotes square off in weekend series

Saturday, April 1

Vermillion, S.D.

12 p.m.

South Dakota State University

South Dakota

Photo by: Jeff Kellum

3/31/2017 10:46:00 AM | Softball

SDSU Game Notes

Date	Opponent	Time	Live Stats
April 1	at South Dakota; Vermillion, S.D.	Noon	GoYotes.com
April 1	at South Dakota; Vermillion, S.D.	2:30 p.m.	GoYotes.com
April 2	at South Dakota; Vermillion, S.D.	11 a.m.	GoYotes.com

First Pitch

South Dakota State continues Summit League play this weekend in a three-game series at in-state rival South Dakota April 1-2.
The Jackrabbits and Coyotes play a Saturday doubleheader at 12 and 2:30 p.m., followed by a single game Sunday at 11 a.m.
SDSU (13-21, 0-3 Summit League) looks to snap a six-game skid this weekend after dropping a three-game set at IUPUI in the league's opening weekend.
State leads the all-time series, 75-59. The Jacks have won 33 of 60 matchups in Vermillion, South Dakota, but haven't won on the road against the Coyotes since 2004. The Jacks took two of three against USD in last year's regular season series at home, claiming a series for the first time since 2012.
The Jackrabbits are hitting .256 as a team through 34 games with 42 doubles, seven triples and 14 home runs. The team is 14 of 18 in stolen base attempts and has scored 122 runs with 114 RBI.
From the circle, SDSU holds a 3.06 combined ERA and has struck out 173 batters, allowing 99 earned runs through 226.1 innings played.

South Dakota Coyotes

South Dakota (10-19, 1-2 Summit League) dropped two of three to Western Illinois in the first weekend of league play. The Coyotes are 3-7 in their last 10 games, and will be playing at home for the first time this season.
The Coyotes are hitting .290 as a team with 39 doubles, two triples and 14 home runs. USD has scored 141 total runs this year with 122 RBI while going nine of 12 in stolen base attempts.
Shely Keil leads the team with a .363 batting average through 29 starts, racking up a team-high eight doubles with 18 RBI. Taylor Steinfeldt (.313), Emily Winckler (.311), Jamie Holscher (.306) and Camilee Fowler (.305) have all started 26 or more games for the Coyotes and are hitting above .300. Winckler paces the team with 20 RBI, 18 walks and four home runs while adding seven doubles. Holscher has six doubles for the Yotes.
USD's pitching staff has a combined 5.689 ERA with 100 strikeouts over 174.2 total innings.
Ally Wiegand is 5-7 on the year and leads the team with a 3.85 ERA. She has thrown 63.2 innings and struck out 53. Rachel Cue has appeared in 17 games with 10 starts, holding a 6.05 ERA and a 3-6 record with 34 strikeouts in 56.2 innings.
Head Coach Robert Wagner is in his first year at USD and his fifth overall season as a head coach. Though his complete record is not available, he is listed as 145-121 in five seasons in available archives.

Jacks at the Plate

Ali Herdliska's 12 doubles leads the conference and ranks 12th nationally as of March 31.
Lyndsey Crist's three sacrifice flies leads the conference and is 27th best in NCAA Division I as of March 31.
Julia Andersen has 10 multi-hit games to lead the Jacks this season while Ali Herdliska has nine multi-hit games and seven multi-RBI performances. Herdliska leads the team with 34 hits while Andersen is second with 30.
Brittney Morse leads the Jacks with six home runs and is second with six doubles.
Ali Herdliska is fifth on SDSU's career home run record list with 18 long balls. She is one shy of Shelly Brandel for 4th, and just two shy of No. 3 on the list - Ashley Kalina.
Ali Herdliska tallied five RBI Feb. 26 against Alabama A&M. That mark is second best for a single game in SDSU's Division I history.
Lyndsey Crist scored four runs in SDSU's win over South Carolina State, a mark that is tied for the school's single game NCAA Division I record.
Danielle Steffo drove in four runs against South Carolina State, the second best performance for Jack this season.
Danielle Steffo has SDSU's lone four-hit game of the season thus far as she went 4 for 4 against St. Bonaventure March 7. That is tied for third best in the school's NCAA Division I record book.
Emily Ensrud has slid into the leadoff role lately, making 17 appearances in the lineup with 14 starts. Ensrud is hitting .306 for the Jacks and reached safely in nine of her first 11 games, including a streak of eight straight from March 8 to March 18.
Mallory McQuistan holds the school's longest hit streak of the season, connecting in six consecutive games from Feb. 24 to March 7.
Ali Herdliska and Brittney Morse have both hit safely in the last five games.
Lyndsey Crist has worked 19 walks this season and is just three shy of joining SDSU's single season record list top 10 (No. 10 has 22). The record for single season walks is 34, set last year by Ali Herdliska.

Jacks in the Circle

Abby Deane set the school's Division I strikeouts mark March 7 against St. Bonaventure, when she sat down 13 opponents in five innings. She also struck out 10 Feb. 11 against Northern Iowa.
Madison Hope has racked up two saves already on the year, which ranks 36th in the NCAA and is one shy of SDSU's single season saves record.
Ashlyn Bender leads the team with a 2.57 ERA through 19 appearances, going 6-7 with 45 strikeouts in 81.2 innings.
Abby Deane (7-12) has tossed 112.2 innings to pace the squad with 109 strikeouts on the year. That strikeout tally is 35th in NCAA Division I.
SDSU has 3.06 team ERA, showing continued improvement in the circle since the arrival of Krista Wood and Shannon Pivovar three years ago. In 2014, SDSU had a 6.03 combined ERA and lowered it to 4.31 in 2015.
Summit League Players of the Week
Newcomer Brittney Morse made the most of her weekend debut as a Jackrabbit en route to earning Summit League Player of the Week honors Feb. 13. Morse hit .400 (6 of 15) over five starts and blasted four home runs. She posted 1.200 slugging and .471 on base percentages for the weekend and picked up six RBI.
Ali Herdliska picked up her first career Summit League Player of the Week honor March 13. She hit .417 (15 for 35) on the week with six doubles, two triples and a home run, driving in 14 with five multi-hit games and four multi-RBI games.

Jacks picked fifth in Summit League Poll

SDSU was tabbed fifth in the 2017 Summit League Preseason Coaches' Poll, released early February by the league office.
The Jacks have earned the No. 5 seed in the previous two Summit League Championships and will look to improve their seeding for the 2017 year-end tournament.
North Dakota State, the three-time defending Summit League Tournament champion, was picked first.

Herdliska named Player to Watch

As part of The Summit League's preseason poll release, league coaches selected eight Players to Watch. SDSU's Ali Herdliska, the 2016 Freshman of the Year was part of the list after earning All-Summit League First Team honors last year.
2016 saw Herdliska match the school's single-season home run record (16) while the first year player broke the single-season records for walks (34), total bases (108) and slugging percentage (.725). She also had 45 runs batted in, the second best performance in Jackrabbit history.

#BackAndBetter

Three All-Conference selections from the 2016 season lead the Jackrabbits into the new campaign as the team looks to continue its upward trend since the arrival of head coach Krista Wood two years ago.
Herdliska, mentioned above as a 2017 Player to Watch, was a First Team pick and the Freshman of the Year after leading the team with a .322 average, 48 hits, 16 home runs and 45 RBI.
Lyndsey Crist appeared in 48 games last year for SDSU and hit .319, racking up seven doubles, five home runs and 22 RBi while posting a .983 fielding percentage. She also went 8 of 9 on steal attempts.
Abbey Murphy started 53 of 55 games for SDSU and hit .280, tallying 10 doubles and three home runs with 21 RBI. Additionally, she walked 14 times, had six stolen bases and recorded a .943 fielding percentage.
Two senior pitchers, Ashlyn Bender and Katie Lang, anchor the staff for SDSU. Bender went 9-18 last year with a team-leading 4.00 ERA over 169.2 innings. Lang made five appearances, threw 9.1 innings and had three strikeouts with a 4.50 ERA.

Anderson Bats Renews Partnership

Anderson Bat Company announced last fall its renewal of a partnership with the South Dakota State Jackrabbit softball program on Thursday as the official softball bat supplier for the 2017 season.
The Jackrabbits will be swinging the Rocketech 2.0 and Supernova 2.0 Fast Pitch Softball Bats in the 2017 season.
Anderson Bat Company is a leading designer and manufacturer of high performance softball and baseball bats. Established in 1999, our labor of love has evolved from a private labeling operation into the industry's leading manufacturer of alloy and composite baseball and softball bats, and the best is yet to come.

2016 Season Review

2016 was a year of new heights for the Jackrabbit softball program as head coach Krista Wood completed her second season at the helm. South Dakota State finished the year 23-34, earning the fifth seed in the Summit League Tournament for the second consecutive year.
SDSU won 20 games in consecutive years for the first time in a decade. It was the 12th 20-win season in the program's 46-year history.
Ali Herdliska and Lyndsey Crist were All-Summit League First Team selections while Abbey Murphy earned second team honors.
SDSU tied an NCAA record with four consecutive home runs against Fort Wayne (April 30, 2016) as Lauren Chirnside, Abbey Murphy, Jordyn Sturgeon and Danielle Steffo went back-to-back-to-back-to-back in the fourth inning of a 12-1 win.
Devan Larsen ended her career with a school record 35 home runs, hitting 12 as a senior to finish second on the team.
Ali Herdliska tied Larson's single-season home run record with 16 round-trippers while also setting school records in slugging percentage (.725), total bases (108) and walks (34). Her 45 runs batted in was second most in school history for a season. In terms of single games, Herdliska walked four times against South Dakota on May 7, 2016 to reset the school record.
Christian McKone swiped a school record 29 bases out of 31 steal attempts.
Chirnside set a single-game school record (tying the NCAA mark) with four doubles on March 22, 2016 against Drake.