South Dakota State softball swept North Dakota State over the weekend and has now won 14-straight games.
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, below, or purchase a new subscription.
Please log in to continue |
FARGO — South Dakota State softball swept North Dakota State over the weekend and has now won 14-straight games.
With the three victories over the Bison the Jackrabbits are now 27-18 overall and 11-0 in the Summit League. The Jackrabbits will have this week off and will return to action on April 23 when they play a doubleheader at Wisconsin.
The Jacks got a first-inning run and it was all they needed in the 1-0 pitcher’s duel.
Culver came up with two outs and smoked a 2-1 pitch over the left-field fence to give the Jackrabbits a 1-0 edge in the top of the first. That would be all the insurance Kniesche needed in her start in the circle.
Kniesche gave up hits in both the third and fourth innings. However, Brooke Dumont caught a runner stealing in the third, along with a trio of strikeouts by Kniesche in the fourth ended any sort of threat.
SDSU had opportunities to extend its lead. The Jackrabbits left a combined five runners on base between the fifth and sixth innings, but each time the Bison got out of jams.
Kniesche continued to thwart any rally by NDSU. A single by the Bison came with two outs in the sixth, but a strong fielding play by Cheyanne Masterson moved the game to the seventh and eventually led to the Jackrabbit victory.
Kniesche improved to 13-5 on the season with her complete-game shutout. She allowed three hits but didn’t walk or hit any batters. Kniesche struck out eight batters while throwing 79 pitches. SDSU had just four hits in the game. Culver accounted for two while Dumont and Madi Conklin had a hit apiece.
NDSU’s Savy Williams dropped to 5-6 in the circle. She had a complete game for the Bison as she gave up four hits, three walks and hit two batters while striking out one.
South Dakota State scored four runs in the first two innings to put the game out of reach in a 7-1 cap to Saturday’s doubleheader.
The Jackrabbits began the first with two runs off the bat of Culver. Mia Jarecki led the game off with a walk and she’d get plated on a two-run home run by Culver.
SDSU extended its advantage to 4-0 in the second. Conklin hit a single with one out and she scored on a drive over the left-center field fence by Masterson. The first home run of the season by Masterson chased NDSU starter Addie Bowers out of the game.
Lasey had a strong opening three innings in the circle for the Jacks before she ran into trouble in the fourth. A walk and a hit given up eventually led to an RBI groundout in the inning to cut into SDSU’s lead and make it 4-1.
The Jacks came right back to gain the run back in the fifth. Jarecki led the inning off with a solo home run to extend the advantage back to four runs at 5-1. The Jackrabbit lineup added two runs in the score column in the seventh. Culver had an RBI single to plate Kaylee Kardash and Rozelyn Carrillo scored Emma Osmundson with an RBI single.
Lasey was solid over the final three innings of action. She had a 1-2-3 fifth inning, then didn’t allow a runner to reach third in the sixth or seventh. She finished her complete-game showing by giving up one run on five hits to improve to 8-8 overall. Lasey struck out five batters and walked five.
Tori Kniesche produced another complete-game shutout in the circle to lead the South Dakota State softball team to a series-clinching sweep over North Dakota State on Sunday at Tharaldson Park.
The Jackrabbits scored two runs in the first inning to give Kniesche some early breathing room.
Mia Jarecki led the game off by reaching base on a fielding error and eventually advanced to third on a double by Lindsey Culver. A Rozelyn Carrillo sacrifice fly plated Jarecki to give SDSU the early edge. Brooke Dumont followed with an RBI single to push the margin to 2-0.
Kniesche kept the Bison lineup off balanced early. Beyond a walk in the first and single given up in the second, the SDSU starting pitcher logged four strikeouts across the two frames.
Dumont came back up to the plate to lead the third inning off. She swung at the first pitch and crushed a home run, her second in her previous five games, to extend the Jackrabbit lead to 3-0. A single in the same inning by Alli Boyle, along with a single by Jarecki in the fourth, would be the SDSU lineup’s final hits of the day.
That left Kniesche to take care of things against the Bison hitters.
Kniesche recorded a pair of 1-2-3 innings over the final four frames. The third inning saw NDSU get a runner to second thanks to a stolen base with two outs., but she’d be stranded following a flyout. The Bison got a runner on in the seventh behind a single, however a fielder’s choice and strikeout closed out the Jackrabbit victory in the third game of the series.
The Jacks had a combined eight hits on the day. Culver and Dumont had a pair of hits for SDSU while Jarecki, Boyle, Emma Osmundson and Jocelyn Carrillo also reached base via a hit. Kniesche improved to 14-5 this season with her seven-inning effort. She struck out 11 batters while allowing three hits, a walk and a hit by pitch.
The Jackrabbits have now won 14 straight meetings in the series against the Bison. NDSU still holds a 75-61 edgge all-time over SDSU.
Kniesche has now won her last eight starts and thrown shutouts in six of them. Her ERA on the season is down to a 1.73 mark.
Culver (.395) and Jarecki (.393) each have batting averages through 45 games that would rank among the top eight individuals in program history for a single season. Dumont has improved her batting average to .289 while producing hits in six of her last seven games.
Jarecki (.429) and Culver (.429) lead SDSU in hitting through 11 conference games. Following them are Madi Conklin (.381), Dumont (.355) and Osmundson (.353). Rozelyn Carrillo has a team-high 13 RBIs.
Kniesche is 7-0 in conference play and has allowed two runs (one earned). She has a 0.16 ERA over 45 innings pitched. Shannon Lasey is 3-0 in Summit League action and has a 1.08 ERA over 26 innings pitched.
