Omaha captures third straight Summit League softball title

May 10—BROOKINGS — The USD softball team just refused to give in all weekend at the Summit League tournament, but after pushing top-seeded Omaha to the brink with a deciding rubber game in Saturday's finals, the Coyote magic finally ran out in a 4-2 loss to the Mavericks.

For the third straight year, Omaha will represent the Summit League in the NCAA tournament. The Coyotes season ends at 32-24.

USD opened the tournament with an 8-3 win over Kansas City, then fell in 13 innings to rival and host South Dakota State, putting them on the brink of elimination. The Yotes were forced to play that elimination game immediately following their 13-inning loss to SDSU, and after falling behind 5-0, rallied back for another extra inning win.

Then came yesterday's 3-2 win over the Jackrabbits that put them into Saturday's finals, where USD would need to beat Omaha twice.

The Yotes promptly smashed the Mavs 9-1 to force a winner-take-all championship game, and after digging themselves a 4-0 hole again refused to go quietly, scoring twice in the seventh on a single by Sara Iburg, but that was as close as they could get.

Maddia Groff went the distance for the win in the deciding game for Omaha, allowing two runs on seven hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Maggie O'Brien, Marra Cramer and Sammy Schmidt had two hits apiece for the Omaha offense, while Rylinn Groff drove in two. Rylie Jones went 3-for-3 for USD. Clara Edwards worked four innings in the circle and took the loss.

Ella McGee went 3-for-3 with two runs scored in the win over Omaha, while Abi Brown, Delaney White and Autumn Iversen each had two hits. Brown and Brooke Carey homered, and Brown had three RBI and White two.

Edwards worked all five innings in the mercy-rule five inning win.