After spending a weekend in Iowa City, Iowa, the South Dakota State softball team is now one game out of .500 after sweeping the University of Iowa and splitting with Georgia Tech. This Friday through Sunday, the Jacks will get a chance to improve upon their 23-24 record with their series against the University of Omaha.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
SDSU picked up a 6-0 win over the Yellow Jackets on Saturday.
Jackrabbit Bria Riebel hit a single in the top of the first to start the inning off. After advancing to second because of a wild pitch, Akayla Barnard drew a walk to put a runner on first and second base. Georgia Tech pitcher Sydnie Watts threw another walk to load the bases. Watts immediately after threw a four-pitch walk to Amanda Vacanti, leading to SDSU scoring a run. A double play got Watts out of the jam and held the damage to only one run.
In the fourth inning, Vacanti and Emma Vike each hit a home run to add three more runs to the lead. Christensen would hit a sacrifice fly to score one run, and an error brought in another runner to tack on two insurance runs in the sixth.
Sunday was a different story. After shutting out Georgia Tech on Saturday, the Yellow Jackets would score ten runs by the fifth inning to end the game early, winning 10-1.
Iowa Hawkeyes
With the game tied at the top of the eighth, Riebel had one of the biggest hits of Saturday’s game to win 3-2.
Christensen started the game off strong for the Jacks with a double, and Gentry sent her home with an RBI single. After taking the 1-0 lead, scoring ceased for both teams until the fifth inning, where Hawkeye Nailyn Marshall hit an RBI single, one of the runs being unearned.
Iowa didn’t hold onto the lead for long, Gentry responding with an RBI double in the sixth inning to tie the game 2-2.
“She’s right where she needs to be. We are excited that she is also moving in the right direction,” said Head Coach Kristina McSweeney of Gentry. “I mean, right now she’s our leading hitter, and as it should be, she’s killing it.”
Going into extra innings, Riebel would take a 3-0 count before a strike anda foul ball forced a full count. On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, Riebel would hit her tenth home run of the season to give SDSU a 3-2 lead late in the game. SDSU pitcher Amanda Vacanti shut the door on Iowa, recording three outs in five pitches.
Just two and a half hours after the start time of their game against Georgia State, SDSU would bounce back from their 10-1 loss with a 7-4 win over Iowa to end their weekend.
Kiara Sipe stole home to start the scoring for Iowa in the second inning, but Christensen drove in Mia Buske in the third to tie the game. Vacanti would tack on three more runs with a homerun in the fourth, driving in Gentry and Quinn Marnocha.
Iowa responded with a scoring streak of its own. The Hawkeyes recorded three runs in the fifth inning to tie the game 4-4.
The sixth inning saw the Jackrabbits take the lead again. Riebel hit the game-winning RBI double, Vike and Buske capitalizing on the hit to record runs. A wild pitch later in the inning would add on another run for SDSU, and with Iowa unable to respond, the Jacks would win 7-4.
Omaha Mavericks
The Jacks will play their third remaining series of the year against Omaha this Friday through Sunday. The 26-8 Mavericks are coming off a 7-5 loss to St. Thomas last Sunday. Friday and Saturday’s games will be played at 6 p.m., and their senior day game on Sunday is slated to start at 1 p.m.
