BROOKINGS, S.D. — For the second day in a row, the South Dakota softball team went to extra innings with South Dakota State at the Summit League Tournament. This time, however, with the help of some late game magic from Abi Brown and Rylie Jones, the Coyotes won 3-2 and advanced to championship Saturday.
Clara Edwards turned in one of her best performances of the season in the circle for the Yotes. The Coyote senior pitched all 8.0 innings, allowed seven hits and just two runs (one earned) and held the Jacks scoreless in the seventh and eighth innings to close out the win.
The Yotes looked to break open the game early, loading the bases in the second inning with a Madison Evans single and a pair of walks. With two outs, Brooke Carey put the ball in play up the middle, and while the Jackrabbit second baseman snagged the ball, Autumn Iversen beat the throw and the Yotes put across the first run of the game.
The Jacks responded in the sixth, taking the lead for the first time with a two-run infield single by Emma Christensen. SDSU nearly had a third run in the inning with runners on second and third. The Jacks laid down a bunt that was picked up by Brown right in front of the plate and she applied a diving tag to beat the runner coming home.
Needing a run to extend the Coyotes postseason hopes, Brown led off the inning by blasting a home run over the center field fence to even the score at 2-2. The Yotes were held to just the one run in the frame and would need to keep the Jacks off the board to push the game to extra innings. Edwards continued her dominance in the circle, putting the Jacks down in order to send the game to the eighth.
Evans doubled early in the eighth, but the Jacks would secure a pair of early outs. Jones stepped up to the plate, with Evans on second and two outs, and delivered for the Yotes with a single up the middle that drove in Evans for the game winning run.
After back-to-back outs in the bottom of the frame from Edwards, the Jacks put together a pair of singles. Edwards, however, dug in and forced a groundout to close out her complete game win and send the Yotes to the championship game.
The Coyotes will make their third appearance in the Summit League Championship game and the first since the 2019 season.
South Dakota advances to the championship where they’ll face No. 1 seed Omaha tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. If South Dakota wins the first game, the Yotes and Mavs will play again at 3:30 p.m. for the championship due to the double elimination format.