Toby Uecker

The Augustana Softball Spring Tournament dealt a blow to the South Dakota State University softball team’s record this weekend, as the Jackrabbits won one game in five to fall to 13-14 on the season.

SDSU fell to Missouri Western State, Southwest State, Concordia – St. Paul and tournament hosts Augustana but defeated rivals the University of South Dakota.

The Jacks started the tournament Friday with a 7-2 defeat at the hands of Missouri Western State and a hard-fought 11-10 loss to Southwest State.

Bobbi Jo Mitchell led off the second inning with a solo home run, but SDSU couldn’t counter Missouri Western State’s four-run second inning and three-run third. Mitchell put up 3-for-4 at the plate and also scored the Jackrabbits second run in the fourth.

The Southwest State game saw the Mustangs with a 9-8 lead after four innings.

The Jacks took the lead with two runs in the top of the sixth, but Southwest State countered with two runs while facing its final out.

Sarah Campbell, Missy Engelson and Jessica Reiman were each 3-for-4, making up the bulk of the Mustang’s 16 hits. Lindsay Distel led the Jacks with a 3-for-4 offering at the plate, which included a two-run in-the-park home run.

The Jacks had eight errors. All six of Concordia-St. Paul’s runs came in the fifth inning, which put 11 batters at the plate and garnered seven hits for the Bears.

SDSU started the game with two runs in the top of the first and built the lead to 3-0 before Concordia rallied. The 10-3 win over the Coyotes came in SDSU’s fourth game of the tournament Sunday afternoon.

The teams were tied at two apiece in the bottom of the second, but the Jackrabbits added a third run in the third inning, three each in the fourth and sixth innings and a final one in the seventh.

USD was unable to overcome the deficit with its single-run sixth inning.

Jill Hlavacek was responsible for hitting in five of SDSU’s 10 runs in her 3-for-4 performance at the plate. Ashley Kalina hit 4-for-5, and Mandy Geis and Emily Haywood tallied two apiece on the way to the Jacks 15-hit showing.

In contrast, Augustana allowed the Jackrabbits only four hits as they closed out the tournament Sunday. Augustana pitcher Amy Klyse also struck out 13 SDSU batters in the Vikings’ 3-1 win.

Alyssa Tabbert rounded the bases for the Vikings in the first inning, and Kristin Nagle doubled and scored in the sixth. Augustana added a final run in the seventh.

It took a single by Kalina, a double by Geis and a sacrifice fly by Distel to bring in SDSU’s sole run in the final inning.

SDSU pitcher Melissa Alleven earned one win and four losses, taking her record to 10-11 on the season. Alleven put in a complete-game effort against the Vikings. The Jackrabbits face the Vikings again in Tuesday’s home-opener double-header at Southbrook Park.