Lucas Smith

As the race for the Summit League playoffs heat up, the SDSU women’s softball team depends on freshman pitcher Kori Seidlitz to keep the games within reach of victory.

The ace of the Jacks pitching staff carries a record of 11-15, with an ERA of 4.40 and 127 strikeouts in her first year at the collegiate level. Seidlitz seems to be maturing as the season carries on. Last week she was the first Jackrabbit in history to obtain Summit League Pitcher of the Week honors.

“It felt good, and it makes me want to work harder as a player,” she said.

Seidlitz is no stranger to awards, though. In her hometown of Mountlake Terrace, Wash., she got numerous accolades, including Player of the Year from various newspapers, and even snagged a spot on the All-Area Team in the Seattle Times.

So how did SDSU convince a West-Coast girl like Seidlitz to tempt the frozen tundra of South Dakota? Not the weather.

“(It was) like moving to another country because the coldest I’ve ever felt was like 20 degrees,” she said.

Another major recruiting effort was on the behalf of pitching coach Tracie Adix, a native of Washington who grew up merely 20 miles away from Seidlitz’s hometown.

“I grew up reading about her and watched her play for DePaul University,” said Seidlitz. “She really put SDSU on the map for me.”

Adix, who has been a coach at State for three years, predicts a bright future for Seidlitz.

“If Kori puts in the effort in the offseason, she could do great things for this program and eventually become a leader,” said Adix.

This may be crucial to the team’s success in years to come since the lineup consists of five freshman starters and only two seniors. Luckily for Seidlitz, one of those seniors is catcher Dani Broshar, who calls the pitches thrown in the games. Broshar’s senior leadership is vital to a team heavy with young players, especially to a freshman pitcher. Head coach Joanna Lane describes Broshar as having a “stoic mentality and high expectations for her pitchers.”

When Seidlitz is not on the mound mowing down batters with her wicked curveball (her favorite pitch), she is busy studying her major of pre-law off the field.

Her teammates have dubbed her with the nickname of “Princess,” because she loves to wear pink and paint her fingernails on her left hand – her non-pitching hand.

The softball team currently sitProxy-Connection: keep-aliveCache-Control: max-age=0

in fourth place in the Summit League standings, which is significant when only four teams make the playoffs. Their remaining six games are all in-conference battles, with a huge final series against the rival Bison of NDSU to be played at Jackrabbit Softball Stadium May 7 and 8.