Jackrabbits 2-2 after opening weekend, prep for Florida

The Jackrabbit softball team opened its 2015 season by taking two games from Utah State and dropping two games to Iowa State at the Cyclone Invitational in Ames, Iowa over the past weekend. 

The Jacks started their season on a good note, defeating Utah State 6-4 on Saturday morning inside the Bergstrom Complex. Senior left fielder Jennifer Markanich lead the Jacks offensively, batting two for three with two runs batted in (RBI).  Junior right fielder Lauren Chirnside also batted two for three and took a base on balls. Earning the win from the pitchers’ circle was junior Jennifer Sutton, who pitched three innings. Sutton struck two batters out and allowed two walks. 

Later that day, the Jacks lost to Iowa State by a score of 6-0. Senior Vanessa Kellems went one for two at the plate to lead SDSU. Sophomore Ashlyn Bender was charged with the loss after giving up five runs in four and one third innings pitched. 

“I think that they came out and they had the intensity that we didn’t and so the first game was a little rough and then we came back the second time and we really wanted to give them a good game so we brought our intensity and we brought our A-game. We worked as hard as we could all seven innings,” sophomore second baseman Alyssa D’Agostino said.

After the 6-0 loss to Iowa State, the Jacks rebounded and defeated Utah State, 7-6, on Sunday. The Jacks scored three runs in the third inning and lead 7-2 going into the bottom of the seventh inning. D’Agostino hit three for four with three RBIs and junior shortstop Devan Larsen also went three for four from the dish. Bender earned the win, pitching five and two third innings, giving up two runs, walking three and striking out seven batters.

“We hit the ball really well and we worked together really well. In the infield, we made a lot of really good defensive plays,” Larsen said. “We were really aggressive at the plate, made a lot of really good solid contact hits and moved runners around, which is something that we didn’t do last year.” 

To end the weekend, the Jacks dropped another game to the Cyclones, 5-3. SDSU scored all three of its runs in the fourth inning. Freshman Jordyn Sturgeon went one for two from the plate and had all three Jackrabbit RBIs. Freshman Bryana Clark took the pitching loss. Clark gave up three runs on four hits in two innings. 

“Overall, I thought we played pretty well for our first weekend out,” Head Coach Krista Wood said. “I thought we swung the bat really well we had good plate coverage. Our defense played really well. We had two errors in the four games and there’s just some things on the mound that we need to clean up, but coming out of that weekend 2-2, I was very pleased.” 

The Jacks will return to action on Feb. 13 through Feb. 15 at the Dot Richardson Invitational in Clerment, Fla.