Trio of South Dakota institutions claim college softball conference championships

SIOUX FALLS — Saturday, Might 7, was day for a trio of South Dakota faculty softball packages.

Augustana College punched its ticket to the NCAA Division II nationwide match, and Mount Marty College secured its place within the NAIA bracket, as each packages received their respective postseason convention championships. In the meantime, South Dakota State claimed the Summit League regular-season title.

Right here’s a take a look at how the Vikings and Lancers reached their respective nationwide tournaments, with a further take a look at the Jackrabbits’ journey forward of their convention match going down this week.

Success within the wake of a 2019 NCAA Division II nationwide championship has been plentiful for the Augustana softball program.

Following the COVID-interrupted 2020 season, the Vikings discovered themselves again within the combine for a nationwide title in 2021, and so they’ve pressured themselves into the dialog as soon as once more this season.

On the 2022 NSIC Championships in Rochester, Minnesota, the No. 1-seeded Vikings defeated Southwest Minnesota State, 3-1, and St. Cloud State, 5-4, earlier than sweeping by Winona State, 3-0 and 13-0.

For the season, Augustana owns a 47-8 report with a 27-3 mark in NSIC play, however over the previous month, the Vikings have been almost untouchable. Since April 3, Augustana has 28 wins to only one loss, seemingly indicating the group is rounding into championship-level kind on the excellent level of the season.

The bottom particular person batting common among the many 9 gamers to start out 48 video games or extra for the Vikings in 2022 is .333, resulting in an eye-popping .372 group common on the plate. That manufacturing has helped Augustana outscore opponents 450-117.

Augustana was drawn into the Central Area because the No. 3 seed, becoming a member of a four-team pod that features first-round opponent Arkansas Tech, in addition to No. 2 seed Central Oklahoma and Southern Arkansas. Motion from Augustana’s part of the Central Area will start Thursday, Might 12, in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Not like their D-II counterparts, Mount Marty was not the favourite to win its convention title and automated qualification to a nationwide match. Nevertheless, that didn’t cease the Lancers from charging by the GPAC postseason and into the NAIA match area.

At 32-14 total and 15-7 within the convention, Mount Marty entered the convention match because the No. 3 seed. The Lancers’ run began with a 15-3 five-inning thrashing of the Faculty of Saint Mary, earlier than a pair of contests in opposition to No. 2 seed Northwestern Faculty.

Mount Marty received the primary assembly 5-3, and after NWC earned the precise to a second matchup, the Lancers repelled the Raiders once more, 9-5, to succeed in the championship sequence in opposition to top-seeded Midland.

In Sport 1 of the best-of-three sequence, Midland received 4-3. The Lancers mixed to attain simply three runs within the last two contests, however that was sufficient, as Mount Marty pitcher Maureena Vornhagen and the protection behind her stepped as much as clean the Warriors in Video games 2 (1-0) and three (2-0) to win the convention crown.

Vornhagen, who improved to 12-2 within the circle for the Lancers this season, pitched all 14 innings throughout the second and third video games, hanging out 12 batters whereas permitting simply 5 whole hits and surrendering a single stroll on 183 pitches.

Mount Marty enters the NAIA match having received 20 of 26 video games since March 26, together with separate win streaks of 5 and 7 video games throughout that stretch. The Lancers, seeded fourth of their pod will play No. 1-seeded College of Science and Arts of Oklahoma within the first spherical, with the sport to happen on Monday, Might 16, in Chickasha, Oklahoma.

An 18-2 convention report allowed South Dakota State to assert its second-straight Summit League regular-season title. Now the Jackrabbits will look to repeat what they did in 2021 by successful the convention match title, too, and the NCAA match berth that comes with it.

Led by a dominant pitching employees, SDSU has rolled to a 37-10 total report, with a mark of 16-1 since April 2.

Sophomore pitchers Grace Glanzer and Tori Kniesche have taken turns chewing up opponents’ lineups within the circle, because the pair has mixed to pitch 286 2/3 of a doable 312 2/3 innings in 2022. Each have sub-1.80 earned run averages, serving to the Jackrabbits to a group ERA of 1.90 with an opponent batting common of .197 whereas proudly owning a mixed win-loss mark of 35-9.

South Dakota State will host the Summit League postseason match, which will get underway Wednesday in Brookings. The highest-seeded Jackrabbits start their postseason on Thursday, Might 12, after they face the winner of a Wednesday contest between No. 4 seed South Dakota and No. 5 seed Kansas Metropolis.