South Dakota State softball took a 2-1 series loss in their penultimate series last Friday and Saturday as they look toward their final series before the Summit League Softball Championship.
Game one (Omaha 2, SDSU 0)
The series started scoreless, forcing extra innings. It took until the 10th inning when the Mavericks got a two RBI single by Sydney Thomason, allowing Rylee White and Ava Rongisch to score. The Jacks were unable to answer.
Sylvia Shromoff for the Jacks and Maddie Groff for the Mavericks pitched all ten innings. Groff struck out 11 Jacks batters and gave up only four hits.
Game two (SDSU 7, Omaha 6)
The scoreless drought lasted two and a half innings before Abby Gentry hit a three-run home run. The lead went to Omaha the next inning with two homers and a two RBI single by Rylinn Groff but only briefly as Brooke Dumont hit an RBI single to tie and Mia Jarecki walked to home on a bases-loaded walk for the lead. Rylinn Groff hit a two RBI double in the sixth inning to cut the deficit to one but could not get the Mavericks closer.
Tayler Becker started on the mound, pitching a complete game and striking out six Mavericks.
Game three (Omaha 9, SDSU 8)
Omaha held a considerable lead, scoring nine runs by the fifth inning, which was just enough to hold off a Jackrabbit comeback. Brooke Dumont put the Jacks on the board in the bottom of the fifth with a three-run home run before a wild pitch score, two RBI double, RBI single and another RBI brought them within one. Caitlyn Wells’ fly-out ball was caught in center field in the seventh inning, ending the hopes of a comeback.
Akayla Barnard started on the mound, pitching for the first two and a third innings before Madi Mangulis was sent to the mound for relief. Hailey Herman finished the game in the last one and two-thirds innings.
“[There were a] lot of highs and a lot of lows during that series,” head coach Kristina McSweeney said. “I think what sticks out to me the most is the fight of this Jackrabbit team. These young kids just keep trying to find ways to win.”
SDSU falls to 10-5 in the Summit League, placing third in the conference. Omaha improves to 14-4 in conference play.
North Dakota
SDSU’s final series of the regular season takes them to Grand Forks for a three-game series with North Dakota. UND ranks fourth in the Summit League with a 7-8 conference record and is coming off a three-game non-conference losing streak against Pittsburgh and Minnesota last Saturday.
Callie Honig leads the Fighting Hawks in batting average with .331 while scoring 42 hits and 23 runs off 127 at-bats. Honig also leads the team in runs batted in, but trails behind Camryn Lasota in home runs. Lasota, who has hit seven homers this season, has batted .283 on the season. UND ranks fifth in team batting average with .260 and fourth in pitching with an earned run average of 4.14.
“I look at [North Dakota] and they’re very similar to us,” McSweeney said. “They’ve played solid softball all year, so yeah, they’re a quality club.”
The series starts with a doubleheader on Friday with first pitches at 2 and 4 p.m. The series will conclude with a game on Saturday at 1 p.m. The series will be available to watch on the Summit League Network through Midco Sports Plus.
