Softball heads for Fort Wayne

Saturday, April 21

Fort Wayne, Ind.

10 a.m.

South Dakota State University

Fort Wayne

SIOUX FALLS, SD: Team Cheering (Dave Eggen/Inertia)

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

4/19/2018 12:05:00 PM | Softball

GAMES 37-39: South Dakota State (24-12, 5-3) at Fort Wayne (16-26, 1-4)

When	Saturday, April 21 (10 a.m. / 12:30 p.m.) \| Sunday, April 22 (10 a.m.)
Where	Fort Wayne Softball Field \| Fort Wayne, Ind.
Live Stats	SIDEARM Sports
Live Video	Mastodon All-Access
Game Notes	South Dakota State
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook \| #GRIT

Gameday Outlook
South Dakota State softball heads for Fort Wayne, Indiana this weekend to play the Fort Wayne Mastodons in a three-game set. The Jackrabbits and 'Dons will face off in a Saturday doubleheader at 10 a.m. / 12:30 p.m. CT, followed by Sunday's finale at 10 a.m. CT.

The Jackrabbits (24-12, 5-3 Summit League) are off to their best start at the Division I level and have won seven of its last 10 games.

The Mastodons (16-26, 1-4 Summit League) have played two games this week, losing to Purdue Tuesday before defeating IUPUI on Wednesday. Fort Wayne is 4-6 in its last 10 games and picked up its first Summit League win against South Dakota in a three-game series last weekend.

The Jackrabbits are 13-16 all-time against Fort Wayne.

About the Jacks
South Dakota State has already locked in its best non-conference record at the Division I level and sits second in Summit League play through three weekends of league action. The Jackrabbits are hitting .315 combined (21st in Division I) with 61 doubles, nine triples and 28 home runs. SDSU has scored 224 runs in 36 games with 206 runs batted in. The Jacks are 10th nationally with 1.69 doubles per game and rank 15th with 6.22 runs per contest.

In the circle, SDSU has put together a 4.03 ERA with 137 strikeouts, allowing 135 earned runs in 234.2 total innings.

Individually, Abbey Murphy is hitting .423 to lead the Jacks and has started all 36 games. She has 52 total hits, including 11 doubles and four triples and has driven in 24 while working 16 walks. Brittney Morse (.407) leads the team in home runs (seven) and RBIs (46) while matching Murphy and Julia Andersen with 11 doubles. Morse is hitting .536 in eight league games with five home runs, 21 RBIs and a 1.107 slugging percentage. Andersen (.388), Erin Mullen (.357) and Ali Herdliska (.311) round out the hitters above .300 for SDSU on the season. In addition to her doubles count, Andersen has two home runs, two triples, 23 RBIs and 13 walks. Mullen has appeared in 20 games and has a pair of doubles and a home run, while Herdliska has a team-high 21 walks with five doubles, six home runs and 27 runs batted in.

Madison Hope (3.65 ERA) boasts a 14-5 record on the season with three saves. She has nine complete games and has pitched three shutouts over 122.2 total innings. The senior leads SDSU with 79 strikeouts on the season and has allowed 64 earned runs while earning Pitcher of the Week honors twice in 2018. Taylor Compton (5.10 ERA) holds a 7-6 record with two saves in 21 appearances, striking out 34 in 68.2 innings pitched. Olivia Douglas (5.25 ERA) picked up her first collegiate win in March at UMKC in a complete game performance and now has 10 strikeouts over 16 innings pitched. Kendra Conard (2.30 ERA) has made 12 appearances and boasts a 2-0 record over 27.1 innings pitched, striking out 14.

Jackrabbits' Last Time Out
The Jackrabbit softball program had three games canceled last week, but split a doubleheader with North Dakota State on Thursday to maintain its second-place ranking in The Summit League standings. SDSU dropped the first game against NDSU, 9-2, before rebounding with an 11-3 run-rule victory in the day's finale.

South Dakota State hit .292 as a team with five players at or above the .400 mark. Julia Andersen (.600) was 3-for-5 with an RBI and a walk, while Brittney Morse went 3-for-6 with a pair of home runs and four RBIs. Megan Rushing (2-for-4) and Paige Gerdes (1-for-2) posted .500 averages, as Rushing had a double and two RBIs. Ali Herdliska went 2-for-5 and drew her 73rd career walk.

In the circle, the Jacks had a 7.00 ERA with five strikeouts. Madison Hope (0-1) threw seven innings with nine runs allowed, but earned a save in the finale and tallied three strikeouts. Taylor Compton (1-0) had a 4.85 ERA over 4.1 innings in a start, giving up three runs with two strikeouts. Kendra Conard appeared in relief in game one and tossed 0.2 frames in shutout fashion,

Opponent Outlook
Fort Wayne is hitting .247 as a team with a 4.88 team ERA. The Mastodons have 19 home runs, five triples and 48 doubles over 42 games, scoring 171 total runs with 152 runs batted in. In the circle, Fort Wayne has 173 strikeouts in 273.2 innings.

Reigning Summit League Player of the Week Demitra Burns leads the 'Dons with a .340 average, driving in 18 with four home runs and three doubles. Lacey Wilzbacher (.313) is 36-for-115 at the plate and has six doubles, tied with Maria Palmegiani (.296) and Courtney Holm (.244) for second-most on the team. Morganne Denny (.271) and Payton Hollis (.208) each have seven doubles. In home runs, Burns, Palmegiani and Denny pace Fort Wayne with four each while Wilzbacher and Stephanie Hanec (.275) have hit three home runs each.

Bailey Benefiel is 10-9 on the season with a 3.06 ERA, tossing 13 complete games and 137.1 total innings. She leads the team with 116 strikeouts and has allowed just 60 earned runs. Shaina Eyre (5.11 ERA) has appeared in 23 games and has a 5-8 record with 36 strikeouts, while Addie Benham is 1-8 with a 5.70 ERA.

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

Brittney Morse was named the Player of the Week April 9. She led the Jackrabbits with a .600 average and .900 slugging percentage, helping SDSU claim its series over rival South Dakota. Morse reached safely in all three games, including two multi-hit and multi-RBI performances. She finished the week with eight runs batted in while hitting her sixth home run of the 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

Abbey Murphy has established herself as one of the more consistent players in Jackrabbit history, reaching base safely in 38 consecutive games between last season and the April 5 finale against USD. That streak is the longest in SDSU's Division I history.
SDSU is off to its best start since the 1997 season when the team finished the year 31-19. Through 36 games that season the Jackrabbits were 24-12 and pushed their record to 26-13 after 39 games. The best record in Jackrabbit history came in 1996 when the team went 43-22. That season, SDSU was 25-11 through 36 games and 26-13 at the 39-game mark.
South Dakota State has put up four or more runs in an inning 19 times this year, last doing it April 12 when the Jacks had six runs in the fifth against North Dakota State (after scoring four runs in the third).
The Jacks have scored five or more in an inning 10 times this season and have 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. Brittney Morse matched her total April 7 against South Dakota when she was 3-for-4 with a three-run home run and a two-RBI single.
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 Jacks matched the 15-run total on March 11 against Delaware State.
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 13 games.
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, Ali Herdliska (12) is fifth and Lyndsey Crist (11th) ranks sixth on the list.
Madison Hope has five career saves, tied for the most in school history alongside Kim Westendorf (2005-07). Taylor Compton is already into eighth in school history with two saves.
Julia Andersen (3/30 at Omaha) and Brittney Morse (3/24 at UMKC) have tallied four-hit games for the Jackrabbits this season. Andersen has the only four-run performance for SDSU, doing it in the same game at Omaha (3/30) when she had two home runs, the most in a game this season alongside Ali Herdliska (3/24 at UMKC).
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. 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.

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-