For the second week in a row, members of the South Dakota State softball team captured both the Player and Pitcher of the Week award. Pitcher Tori Kniesche has collected the honor now four weeks in a row. Outfielder Lindsey Culver won Player of the Week yesterday, and catcher Brooke Dumont captured the award the week prior.
These individual honors are a biproduct of what has been a dominant team run during conference play. At 27-18 overall this season, SDSU has won 14 games in a row, which includes all 11 conference games to this point. Dating all the way back to 2022, the Jackrabbits have won 29 games in a row against Summit League opponents.
Tori Kniesche, who owns most of the school records for pitching, has been a stalwart for the team this year. In 11 conference games, she has pitched a complete game in seven of them, with five shutouts. In 45 innings against the Summit League, Kniesche has allowed just one run, for an impossible 0.16 ERA.
While the pitching has been unbelievable, the offense has also gotten their worthy recognition. Lindsey Culver has started every conference game, and is hitting .424 with two home runs and 10 runs batted in. Infielder Mia Jarecki is batting .429 with seven stolen bases, and Brooke Dumont is .355 with 10 batted in.
These are just the players who have won the awards. As a team, South Dakota State is hitting .308 in-conference with 13 home runs and 63 runs scored. Meanwhile, in those same 11 games, their opponents are batting a measly .138 while scoring only six runs.
SDSU will try their luck against some Big 10 teams next week, going to Wisconsin on April 23 and Minnesota April 24, before returning home to Brookings for a conference matchup with St. Thomas on April 27 and 28.
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