Jacks, Mavericks set for weekend series

Friday, April 21

Brookings, S.D.

4:30 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Omaha

Photo by: Jeff Kellum

4/20/2017 9:41:00 AM | Softball

SDSU Game Notes

Gameday Information

April 21	4:30 pm.	Live Stats	Live Video
April 22	12 p.m. (DH1)	Live Stats	Live Video
April 22	2 p.m. (DH2)	Live Stats	Live Video
Radio	90.7 KSDJ
Radio Talent	Andrew Holtan (Play-by-Play), Chandler Holland (Analyst)

First Pitch

South Dakota State continues its eight-game homestand this weekend with a three-game set against Omaha, April 21-22. First pitch Friday is at 4:30 p.m., followed by a Saturday doubleheader that begins at Noon.
Saturday marks the Jackrabbits' Alumni Appreciation Day alongside Cubby's Feed the Fans. Alumni making the trip to Jackrabbit Softball Stadium will be recognized between games, and Cubby's will grill burgers for fans.
SDSU (16-28, 3-6 Summit League) enters another pivotal league series in the final month of play, as the Jacks are fighting for a top six spot and conference tournament berth. The Jacks and Omaha (11-25, 2-4 Summit League) are in the sixth and seventh spots as the Mavericks come to town, with the winner of the series securing an advantage should tie-breaker scenarios come into play in May.
State took a two of three against Fort Wayne last weekend while Omaha won two of three at South Dakota before falling in a midweek game at Missouri.
The Jackrabbits and Mavs have faced off 82 times prior to this weekend, and though Omaha holds a 63-18-1 lead in the all-time series, State has won three of the last five and will look to continue that recent trend.
The Jacks are hitting .263 as a team with 58 doubles, eight triples and 22 home runs. The squad is 18 of 24 in stolen base attempts and has scored 169 total runs with 155 RBI and 309 hits.
From the circle, SDSU holds a 3.60 combined ERA and has struck out 204 batters in 291.2 total innings. The Jacks have allowed 150 earned runs and walked 123 batters.

Omaha Mavericks

Omaha is coming off a weekend series win at South Dakota, but have lost eight of the last 10 heading into Jackrabbit Softball Stadium.
The Mavs are hitting .262 as a team with 37 doubles, three triples and 20 home runs while going 31 for 40 in stolen base efforts.
Lia Mancuso is hitting .345 on the year with a team-high 39 hits and 13 stolen bases, tied for second on the team with six doubles alongside Lizzie Noble.
Kelly Pattison has 21 RBIs alongside a .297 batting average. She, Nicole Warren (.296) and Vicky Kinney (.276, five doubles) lead the Mavs with four home runs.
Omaha holds a 4.91 ERA with 82 strikeouts, allowing 211 runs (161 earned) through 229.1 total innings.
Abbie Clanton (5-11, 4.40 ERA) has thrown 100.1 innings with 26 strikeouts while Laura Rocker (6-13, 5.15 ERA) has struck out 46 with 53 walks allowed in 107.1 frames.
Head Coach D.J. Sanchez is in her first season leading the Mavericks. Sanchez is 183-72 in five years overall as a head coach.

Jacks at the Plate

Ali Herdliska's 16 doubles leads the conference and ranks fourth nationally as of April 16. The national leader, Meghan Gregg of Tennesee, has 16. Herdliska is No. 11 in the nation with 0.36 doubles per game.
Ali Herdliska leads the team with 13 multi-hit games, eight multi-RBI performances and 46 total hits. Julie Andersen has racked up 10 two-hit games while sitting second with 36 hits for the year.
Brittney Morse leads the Jacks with seven home runs and is tied for second with seven doubles alongside Andersen. Lyndsey Crist has six two-baggers for the year.
Ali Herdliska is tied for third on SDSU's career home run record list with 20 long balls. She is five away from the No. 2 spot on the list, held by Steph Kuhl (2004-07). Devan Larsen holds the school record with 35 for her career.
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.
Three Jackrabbits have combined for four four-RBI performances thus far in 2017. Danielle Steffo has driven in four in a game twice this season (Feb. 17 and March 7) while Ali Herdliska did it March 10 and Emily Ensrud reached the mark April 1.
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 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.
Lyndsey Crist has worked 21 walks this season and is just one shy of joining SDSU's single season record list top 10. The record for single season walks is 34, set last year by Ali Herdliska.
SDSU leads the conference in doubles (58) and triples (eight) while sitting second in total hits (309) and third in runs batted in (155).

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 is one shy of SDSU's single season saves record. Hope has a 3.56 ERA over 57 innings pitched in 23 appearances.
Abby Deane (8-13) has tossed 124.2 innings to pace the squad with 117 strikeouts on the year. That strikeout tally is 73rd in NCAA Division I and third in The Summit League.
Ashlyn Bender has a team-leading 3.54 ERA through 26 appearances (including 21 starts) while going 8-10 on the year with 53 strikeouts.
South Dakota State leads the conference in innings pitched (291.2) and is third in ERA (3.60) and earned runs allowed, strikeouts (204) and strikeouts per seven innings (4.90).
SDSU's 3.60 team ERA reflects 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.
Herdliska picked up her second Summit League Player of the Week honors of the year April 17. She posted a .643 (9 of 14) average over five games with 1.000 and .750 slugging and on-base percentages. Patient at the plate, the Solon, Iowa native worked six walks and struck out just once, racking up two doubles and a home run, reaching safely in all five contests.

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.