SDSU softball emerges A season of firsts ends at NCAA regional tournament

Accolades came in faster than a Tori Kniesche pitch as the SDSU softball season wound down, but the new-found fame didn’t distract Coach Krista Wood’s squad in the program’s first-ever NCAA Division postseason appearance.

After winning The Summit League regular season and conference titles—both for the first time—SDSU earned the No. 3 seed in the Fayetteville (Arkansas) Regional tournament May 21-23. 

Wood, who has just completed her seventh season at SDSU, said the team’s attitude heading in was “We’d never been here before. We have nothing to lose. We’re going to make a statement here. I think we did make a statement by winning our first game, and we lost our last game in 10 innings.”

SDSU opened with a 7-1 win over Pac-10 Stanford, was blanked 4-0 by Arkansas, the No. 6 seed in the overall 64-team field; and saw its season come to an end with a 2-1 loss to Stanford May 20.

SDSU reached the regional tournament by coming out of the consolation bracket to win the conference tournament.

Joceyln Carrillo, a freshman outfielder from Palmdale, California, said, “It was exciting to reach the NCAA regional tournament, but once we found out where we were going, we knew it meant business and we knew it was time to make a statement for Jackrabbits softball.” 

Year puts State on softball map

While the finale, which ended with the tying run on second base, produced plenty of tears, Wood said, “Everyone was really proud of what we had done. It was sad to see it come to an end, but we feel like we accomplished a lot, and it will be a year we will remember for sure.”

It was a year in which South Dakota State was put on the NCAA Division I softball map. 

SDSU tied the program record for wins (43-8), went 21-1 in conference and didn’t lose two games in a row until the regional tournament. The Jacks scored regular-season wins over NCAA tournament qualifiers Wichita State, Iowa State and Northern Iowa, and swept the top conference individual awards.

But what stands out most to Kniesche, a freshman from Wayne, Nebraska, was “how cohesive the offense and defense worked together. Each player on the team played an important role, and we all had each other’s back.”

A 7-year journey under Wood

SDSU isn’t known for fielding a salty softball team, but the program has been on the rise since Wood arrived from Wayne (Nebraska) State College, where she turned the program into a national contender.

Between 1998 and Wood’s arrival in 2015, SDSU had one winning season (30-29 in 2005). The turnaround was gradual under Wood. In 2014, the Jacks went 11-36 and 2-16 in Summit League play under interim Coach Alex Hupp. Wood’s overall and conference marks her first three years: 23-29, 7-11; 23-34, 8-10; and 19-35, 4-12.

The major turnaround came in 2018: 37-18, 10-4. That was followed by 37-19, 11-7 with a senior-dominated team. The 2020 campaign was cut short by COVID-19 at 15-8 with no conference games.

As she looked toward the 2021 season, Wood said, “I knew we had a lot of talent. Our goal is always to win The Summit League. With the talent we had, I knew we had a shot at it. I wasn’t sure how we would perform being so inexperienced. We had one starter (Peyton Daugherty) who had played in a Summit League series or tournament. So I didn’t know where we would end up due to our inexperience.”

On the 24-player roster, 10 were freshmen and eight of them started.

Mental strength, team bonding key to season

How was it possible to have so much success with such a young team?

Wood said, “We were very talented, and it was all about how we continued to develop fundamentally; how we would continue to grow as a team and work together. How are we going to grow mentally? They’d never played college softball before. 

I thought our coaching staff did a really good job of preparing them.” An example of the Jacks’ resiliency is that in more than 50% of the innings when an opponent scored, SDSU scored in its next at bat. 

Wood said the team’s personality played into that.

“We played our best when we were a little loose,” she said. “Good vibes” was the dugout mantra. The team created a rally chain out of carabiners. Using the hashtag “be remembered,” each team member submitted a word they wanted to be remembered for during the season. The words, such as passionate and supportive, were taped to the carabiners.

“When a player did well—got a hit or struck someone out—they got the carabiner chain put on them in the dugout,” Wood said. It was a byproduct of how the team felt.

‘Everyone moving in same direction’

“I really think they loved each other, they cared about each other. The team culture was meshing very well,” Wood said. “We had 24 players, and we made sure everybody felt important whether they were pinch runners, charting in the dugout or cheering their teammates. Everyone did a good job of appreciating everyone in their roles. Everyone was moving in the same direction.”

That direction was to heights never reached before, and it’s a direction the young squad intends to return.

After tasting success at the NCAA level in 2021, freshman pitcher Grace Glanzer, of Sioux Falls, said the 2022 Jackrabbits “have the ability to make it to a super regional, so that is something that will be on our minds. But I think it is even more important to focus on the process, commit to it and trust it like we did this year.

“Our next mission is possible, and I have no doubt that the 2022 Jackrabbits softball team will make next season just as memorable as this one was.”

– Dave Graves