South Dakota State softball begins its Summit League season this weekend with a trip to Kansas City.
Entering this week, SDSU sits at a .500 record. Abby Gentry leads the Jacks in batting average with a .438, currently second-best in the Summit League. The sophomore infielder/catcher leads the Summit League in RBIs with 30 and also leads SDSU in home runs with seven, tied with Brooke Dumont.
Dumont, the senior center/fielder, is batting .390 on the year and is one of two Jacks who have started in all games this season. Mia Jarecki, batting .322, leads SDSU in runs scored with 25.
SDSU has a batting average of .301, the second-best in the conference behind South Dakota. They have the most home runs of any Summit League team with 34 and also lead in runs, RBIs, and walks.
As SDSU begins conference play head coach Kristina McSweeney thinks that the Jacks are playing like a new team. “We’re not the same team that we were three weeks ago. I had several coaches come up to me and be like, Kristina it might be one of those years or Kristina you can just tell and then probably the greatest compliment I got was from the Nebraska coaching staff like the growth of this team has been incredible you’re not even close to the same team you were, which puts a lot of things in perspective when you’re leading the team. But I’ve just seen them find ways to work together, I’ve seen them get behind the coaching staff and what we’re trying to do. I’ve also seen them understand and start to see the light at the end of the tunnel and that this is a journey.”
Kansas City, however, is a different story. The Roos have only four wins this season against their 20 losses. One of those wins came in Summit League play against North Dakota State last Friday. Grace Batdorf remains the Kansas City’s leading batter with a .356 average on 45 at-bats, scoring five runs and hitting two of the team’s five home runs, a conference low. Gianna Lickel, sitting at a .302 and Taylor Kvale with a .279 average, also have five runs a piece.
The Roos are batting .248 on the season, the lowest in the conference. This also exactly matches SDSU’s Akayla Barnard’s opposing batting average. The team’s 56 RBIs are also the lowest in the conference. The Roos have the highest ERA of any Summit League team at 7.86, allowing more than 150 earned runs this season and have allowed 27 home runs.
The three-game series takes place this weekend with a doubleheader on Saturday at noon and 2 p.m. and an 11 a.m. Sunday first pitch. All Summit League games will be streamed on the Summit League Network through Midco Sports Plus.
