Softball opens Summit League play at Omaha

Friday, March 30

Omaha, Neb.

Noon

South Dakota State University

Omaha

Photo by: Laura Mullen

3/28/2018 8:05:00 AM | Softball

GAMES 29-31: South Dakota State (19-9) at Omaha (12-22)

When	Friday, March 30 (Noon / 2 p.m.) \| Saturday, March 31 (11 a.m.)
Where	Westside Field at Westbrook \| Omaha, Neb.
Live Stats	Friday (Noon) \| Friday (2 p.m.) \| Saturday (11 a.m.)
Game Notes	South Dakota State
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook \| #GRIT

Gameday Outlook
South Dakota State opens Summit League play this weekend at Omaha in a three-game set, traveling to Omaha, Nebraska March 30-31 to take on the Mavericks. The teams play a doubleheader Friday beginning at Noon and 2 p.m. before a Saturday affair set for 11 a.m.

The Jackrabbits (19-9) are off to their best start at the Division I level and carry a five-game winning streak into the Omaha series. SDSU is 8-2 over its last 10 contests, with the only losses coming to Nebraska.

The Mavericks (12-22, 0-3) were swept by South Dakota last weekend and have lost nine straight games.

The Jackrabbits are 20-65-1 all-time against Omaha with a 4-11 mark at the Division I level.

About the Jacks
South Dakota State has already locked in its best non-conference record at the Division I level, and will begin Summit League play with one of the nation's top offenses leading the charge. The Jackrabbits are hitting .318 as a team (16th in Division I) with 52 doubles, six triples and 19 home runs. The team has scored 173 runs in 28 games with 157 runs batted in. The Jacks are fourth nationally with 1.86 doubles per game and 16th with 6.18 runs per game. In the circle, SDSU has put together a 3.89 ERA with 94 strikeouts, allowing 101 earned runs in 181.2 total innings.

Individually, Abbey Murphy is hitting .453 to lead the team, starting all 38 games. She has 43 total hits and nine doubles, driving in 21 while working 12 walks in the box. Brittney Morse (.368) has 10 doubles and two home runs, driving in a team-high 25. Erin Mullen (.364) and Julia Andersen (.359 join the pair above the .350 mark, as Andersen has 11 doubles (20th most in Division I). Ali Herdliska leads the team with five home runs, adding five doubles and 24 RBIs while posting a .306 average. McQuistan is second among Jackrabbits with four long balls.

Madison Hope (3.51 ERA) is 10-3 on the year with two saves over a team-best 87.2 innings pitched, striking out 47 batters while allowing 50 runs (44 earned). She is a two-time Summit League Pitcher of the Week. Taylor Compton (5.11 ERA) holds a 6-6 record with two saves in 20 appearances, striking out 32 in 64.1 innings pitched. Olivia Douglas (1.75 ERA) picked up her first collegiate win last week at UMKC in a complete game performance and now has three strikeouts over eight innings pitched. Kendra Conard (2.58 ERA) has made nine appearances and boasts a 2-0 record over 21.2 innings pitched, striking out 12.

Jackrabbits' Last Time Out
The Jackrabbit softball program went 5-0 last week, sweeping a doubleheader at Iowa March 22 and a three-game set at UMKC over the weekend. State took down the Hawkeyes, 4-1 and 5-2, and picked up 6-4, 9-4 and 9-2 wins against the Kangaroos.

SDSU hit .282 as a team over the week with four doubles and eight home runs, outscoring its opponent 33-13 in that span. The Jackrabbits tallied 22 strikeouts in the circle and allowed just 31 hits for the week with 10 earned runs over 35 total innings.

Abbey Murphy (.467) and Brittney Morse (.421) started all five games and joined Lyndsey Crist (.500), who started all four of her appearances, as the week's top hitters. Crist and Murphy each had seven hits, as Crist drove in four with a pair of home runs and Murphy tallied a double, triple and five walks. Morse led the Jacks with eight hits for the week and had two doubles, driving in seven. Ali Herdliska and Megan Rushing each had two home runs as well.

Madison Hope picked up two wins and a save for the week, tossing 16 innings with 10 strikeouts. Kendra Conard earned a win at UMKC and threw six innings of relief action without allowing an earned run. Olivia Douglas (2.00 ERA) pitched a complete game victory at UMKC Saturday and Taylor Compton (4.67 ERA) won two games as well.

Opponent Outlook
Omaha has a 4.74 ERA on the year as a team with a .234 average at the plate. The Mavericks have 39 doubles, four triples and 17 home runs, scoring 125 runs with 106 RBIs through 34 games. In the circle, Omaha has struck out 124 in 221.2 innings.

The Mavericks are led offensively by Kelly Pattison, who is hitting .452 on the season with 33 hits. She has driving in 26 and tallied three doubles with five home runs. Aubry Hacke (.313) is second on Omaha's squad in batting average and has three doubles with five RBIs and four walks. Natalie Mostek (.289) has 13 RBIs and 14 walks and leads the team in doubles (six) while blasting three home runs. Savannah Fisher (.260) and Emma Dargy (.234) have 11 and 10 RBIs, respectively.

Sydney Hampton (3.45 ERA) is 8-10 for the Mavericks over 21 appearances, tossing 89.1 innings with 54 strikeouts and 25 walks allowed. Hacke (4.88 ERA) holds a 3-7 record with 34 strikeouts in 70.1 innings pitched and Laura Roecker (4.93 ERA) is 1-3 in 14 appearances, tossing 49.2 innings this season with 33 strikeouts.

Jackrabbits Rake in Weekly Honors
Two Jackrabbits have combined for three Summit League Player or Pitcher of the Week honors from the league this season.

Madison Hope was named the Pitcher of the Week March 26 after posting a 2-0 record with a save in three appearances. She started the week with a complete-game win at Iowa Wednesday, striking out five while allowing just one unearned run. She helped the Jacks secure their first sweep of a power five opponent at the Division I level in the doubleheader's finale, pitching the final two innings of a 5-2 win for her second save of the season in shutout fashion. Hope concluded the week with another complete-game victory, tossing all seven innings of a 6-4 win at UMKC on Friday.
Hope earned Pitcher of the Week honors March 12 after going 5-0 over seven appearances, leading the team with a 1.94 ERA and 36 innings pitched. The senior tallied 21 strikeouts on the week and pitched four complete games, earning a save in the weekend finale against Delaware State. Hope had three games with four or more strikeouts, including six against Quinnipiac Sunday. She did not allow a run against QU or Central Michigan in a pair of Jackrabbit wins.
Baily Janssen was honored as the Summit League's Softball Player of the Week, released Feb. 26. Janssen hit .500 and slugged 1.000 with a .500 on-base percentage over two starts. The Missouri Valley, Iowa went 3-for-6 at the plate with three RBIs, two walks and an inside-the-park home run.

Quick Hits

SDSU is off to its best start since the 1997 season when the team opened the year 19-7. Through 28 games that season the Jackrabbits were 20-8 and pushed their record to 22-9 through 31 games of the season.
South Dakota State has put up four or more runs in an inning 13 times this year, last doing it March 24 when the team had seven runs in the sixth.
The Jacks have scored five or more in an inning seven times this season and put together a double-digit run inning twice.
Abbey Murphy became the first Jackrabbit to drive in five runs in a game since Ali Herdliska did it last Feb. 26 against Alabama A&M when Murphy went for five against Austin Peay Feb. 25.
SDSU's 19-12 win over Green Bay on Feb. 11 was the first time the Jacks had surpassed the 15-run mark since April 30, 2016 in a 16-2 win over Fort Wayne.
The Jackrabbits racked up 18 hits against Delaware State, one shy of the school's record. The Jacks have tied or surpassed the 15-hit mark three times this season already and have 10 or more hits in nine games.
Julia Anderson and Mallory McQuistan both set career highs in runs batted (four) Feb. 11, 2018 against Green Bay.
Abbey Murphy has been hit by 17 pitches in her career and is alone in second place at SDSU. She trails only Jessica Markanich (2012-15), who was hit 20 times. Mallory McQuistan (13) is tied for third, Herdliska (12) is fifth and Crist (11th) ranks sixth on the list.
Madison Hope has four career saves, second-most in school history. She trails Kim Westendorf's five saves between 2005-07. Taylor Compton is already into eighth in school history with two saves.
The Jackrabbits are now 25-24 all-time in season openers and 6-9 at the Division I level (since 2004). State's win over UMKC was its first opening day win since 2015

Herdliska Chasing Records
In her third season as a Jackrabbit, Ali Herdliska has already moved into the top 10 of several offensive record lists, available on page three of the game notes. She is also fourth in defensive chances and putouts, less than 500 from each defensive record.

Jacks Picked Fourth in Summit League Poll
South Dakota State was picked fourth in the 2018 Summit League Preseason Coaches Poll, released early February by the league office. The Jacks earned the No. 6 seed in the 2017 Summit League Championships and carry an experienced lineup into the 2018 season.

State has with 13 returners on the roster, including eight position starters and a starting pitcher. The Jacks will blend 14 upperclassman (five seniors, nine juniors) with a promising group of underclassman.

SDSU received 14 votes in the poll, three behind South Dakota, who had 17 points and one first-place vote. Atop the poll, reigning league champion North Dakota State is first with five first-place votes and 25 points, while Western Illinois garnered 20 tallies for second.

Herdliska Named a Player to Watch
For the second consecutive season, Ali Herdliska was named a Player to Watch for The Summit League, announced preseason alongside the coaches poll.

Herdliska, an All-Summit League performer from 2017, is back for her junior campaign after leading the Jackrabbits with a .338 average last year, starting all 54 games. The infielder racked up 18 doubles, six home runs and 36 RBIs while drawing 18 walks on the season.

Smarty Jacks
South Dakota State was one of 149 Division I softball programs to earn a spot on the 2017 Easton / National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Academic Teams award list. The rankings recognize the academic prowess of softball teams across seven membership divisions within the NFCA.

The Jackrabbits had a 2016-17 team grade point average of 3.016 with 11 team members boasting GPAs above the 3.00 mark.

For the 2017 fall semester, State posted a 3.47 combined GPA with 18 of 20 student-athletes logging a plus-3.0 grade point average.

New Face in the Dugout
While head coach Krista Wood and assistant Shannon Pivovar are in their fourth season leading the Jacks, a new face has joined the coaching ranks for the 2018 season. Kristi Villar was added as an assistant coach of the summer and brings more than nine years of collegiate coaching experience to the program. She spent the last seven years at Northern State, where she won over 160 games while building a program that had previously never won more than 20 games before her arrival. The Oakdale, Minnesota native won 20 or more games four times, and helped the team to its first 30-win season while earning 2015 NSIC Coach of the Year honors.

Prior to NSU, she worked for two seasons (2007-09) as a graduate assistant coach at Southwest Minnesota State, where she helped the Mustangs to consecutive NSIC championships and worked with one All-American, three All-Region players and seven All-NSIC picks.

She played collegiate ball at Augustana (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), where she earned All-North Central Conference honors four times in her career and led the team in hitting as a junior and senior.

Nine Sign NLIs with Jackrabbit Softball
South Dakota State softball coach Krista Wood announced nine additions to the Jackrabbit softball program as part of this week's National Signing Day activities.

Olivia Douglas, part of the group, enrolled early and has joined SDSU for the upcoming season, while the other eight newcomers will come to campus fall 2018. Those signees are Caelyn Christiancy (Lincoln, Nebraska), Peyton Daugherty (Ankeny, Iowa), Morgan DeMarais (Buffalo, Minnesota), Emma Hardin (Brookings, South Dakota), Jadelyn Johnson (Battle Ground, Indiana), Kelsey Lenox (Chesterfield, Missouri), Olivia Pfeifer (Hannibal, Missouri) and Allison Yoder (Urbandale, Iowa).

-GoJacks.com-