Adam Zobel

The SDSU Jackrabbit softball team started their season with an 8-4 record as they participated at the Road Rebel Games in Kissimmee, Florida over Spring Break.

The Jacks led by the performance of freshman pitcher Meggan Staton, who threw two no-hitters and a one-hit shutout as she earned five wins for SDSU.

The softball team began the trip with a 14-1 rout of Queens (N.Y.) as the Jacks scored five runs in the first inning and nine runs in the fourth.

Their first day ended with a 3-1 loss to Florida Southern.

SDSU picked up two shutout wins on the second day as they defeated Rollins (Fla.) 1-0 in eight innings and Findlay (Ohio) by another 1-0 score.

Staton, in her first collegiate starts, pitched a no-hitter in win over Rollins and a one-hitter in the second game.

The third day of the trip saw SDSU come from behind with a four-run sixth inning to defeat Georgian Court (N.J.) 6-3 after falling behind 3-0 in the first inning. The Jacks then won their fourth in a row as they defeated Florida Tech 5-1.

One of the most exciting games of the trip occurred on the fourth day as the team defeated second-ranked Barry (Fla.) 4-3 in a ten-inning struggle as the Jacks had to rally in the ninth and then clinched the win in the tenth as Lindsay Distel drove in Mandi Geis for the winning run. Staton picked up her fourth win on the season in relief.

SDSU’s five-game win streak came to end as they fell to fifteenth-ranked Le Moyne (N.Y.) 5-1. Staton took the loss, her first of the season and the only one of the trip.

The Jackrabbits bounced back the next day with a 9-1 win over Lake Superior State (Mich.) as they scored in all four innings. Staton then struck again in the second game of the day as threw her second no-hitter in a 5-0 triumph over Lynn (Fla.). Staton’s effort paid off in the sixth inning as SDSU scored five runs on a string of seven consecutive hits.

“She threw quite well,” Coach Shane Bouman said. “She’ll have a very good career at SDSU.”

Bouman also gave credit to the entire squad for the no-hitters as many quality plays were needed by the defense to keep the opposing runners off-base.

The Jacks dropped their final two games of the trip as they lost 13-9 to Indiana (Pa.) and 3-2 in a rematch with Le Moyne. Le Moyne came back with three runs in the third inning to erase an early 2-0 SDSU lead.

Coach Bouman was quite pleased with his team’s start and is hopeful that the momentum will carry over throughout the season.

“We had a chance to win every game,” Bouman said. “We’re quite pleased to be 8-4. We learned a lot about our squad.”

Geis led the Jacks in hitting with a .455 batting average before missing the final four games due to injury. Ashley Kalina leads the team in hits with 14 and runs scored with ten. Distel has the team’s only home run to date and leads SDSU in RBIs with 11.

Freshman Jackie Sorenson started in six games, including three complete games, and has a 1.51 ERA to go along with her 3-2 record. Staton has 22 strikeouts and a 2.75 ERA in addition to her 5-1 record and three shutouts.

The softball team resumes its schedule this weekend when it travels to Pittsburg, Kansas to play in the Gorilla Invitational.

“We’re excited to play some of the better teams in our region,” Bouman said.