The path to a college softball career had started at an early age for Dani Broshar.

Conflicting sports schedules meant a decision: volleyball or softball. She chose softball.

Broshar learned to love the sport through playing catch with her father as a young girl. As a senior in the Boulder Valley School District, Broshar was looking to get out of Colorado to seek her degree and play the sport she loved. She ended up in Brookings believing she was given a great opportunity and wanted to make the most of it. The coaching staff she met then was quite a bit different from what it is today.

“The way it is run now is way more laid back from what I had noticed from when I was a freshman,” said Broshar. “But it has always been about hard work, and I try to show that to the freshman now.”

The SDSU senior catcher is notable for her hard work, being the primary catcher for the Jackrabbits since her freshman year in 2007. Catching around 150 consecutive games is quite a feat. When watching one of the team’s games Broshar makes it no surprise that she comes to play.

“I would have to say (my hard work ethic came) from my parents, especially my dad. He has always had high expectations for me and taught me to be responsible, and playing a college sport is like having a job. You have your own responsibilities with practice and lifting and it all carries over.”

Some things didn’t change with Broshar’s move to the Dakotas.

“I love the (Colorado) Rockies,” said Broshar. “Every morning at the breakfast table in hotels, when we are on the road, I wear my Rockies hat.”

Growing up just outside of Boulder, Colo., Broshar can make the distinction between her hometown and Brookings. She found the hospitality different in the Upper Midwest, saying it was different to have people being so nice and helpful.

“I thought it was weird of how nice people were, walking by and saying hi when they don’t even know you,” said Broshar.

The road has only risen to meet Broshar as she embarks on her future. She hopes to be involved somehow with sports, though she is not sure to what extent. In the future, she has dreams of starting a family and puts Colorado as her number one spot to live.

Broshar likely remembers most of the games in her career, but a game against Iowa State her sophomore year sticks out.

“The fact that I was a sophomore playing made it that much bigger too because we hadn’t beaten them and it was the last game of the seasProxy-Connection: keep-aliveCache-Control: max-age=0

?I think we had two outs and we had a runner on second. I ended up hitting a double to win the game,” Broshar said.

A couple of her other memories at SDSU included:

“Softball as a whole. ? If I would have to pick a memorable game, I would have to say the first time I played NDSU. It was big, and also my sophomore year beating NDSU. ? My freshman year I got my car stuck in the snow. I cried. That had never happened to me before.”

When asked about what type of farewell Broshar would like to leave SDSU with and how she would like to be remembered, Broshar hesitated. Most likely recalling some of her most precious memories spent with friends and teammates at this university, she sat silent for a moment.

“I want to be remembered as hard- working and someone you can count on. I also would like to thank all the people that helped me through the hard times. People here care. I want to thank them for all of their support,” said Broshar.

“My fresham year I cried nonstop. Whether it was from stress or being homesick, I’m not sure.”

Broshar, however, countered her previous statement with something she may have never thought she’d ever say.

“Now that I’m getting down to it, I’m actually crying because I’m not ready to leave.”

The women’s softball team put on a show April 15 as they scuffled against rival in-state school, the University of South Dakota.

The contests were the first games played between the Jacks and Coyotes in almost six years. SDSU did not disappoint, as the Jacks won two close games with scores of 5-2 in the first game and 2-1 in eight innings in the second game.

Starting out even keel, the Jacks and Coyotes each scored a couple of early inning runs. SDSU scored its first run from a double off the bat of Kelsey Lunn, managing to score Devon Reick. Mel Johnson, USD’s pitcher, made the most of Pam Nicholson’s pitch to tie the game as she hit a solo home run to right-center.

The women made a two-out dash to add another run in the bottom of the second, as Andrea New singled, Nicholson singled advancing New to second, Ashley Durazo had an infield single and Devon Reick then walked, bringing home New.

Jacks fans were granted an exciting inning in the bottom of the sixth as the Jacks racked up three more runs that the ‘Yotes would not be able to come back from.

Leading off the inning, Nicholson slapped a single up the middle. Durazo’s single put Nicholson on third. After a left-field fly-out from Reick, Dani Broshar made things interesting with a walk that loaded the bases for the Jackrabbits. Lunn reached first on an error and two runs resulted, putting the game at a score of 4-2. Krista Honken completed the Jacks’ scorecard as she placed a hard-hit single and recorded an RBI as Broshar crossed the plate. Nicholson put the game away in the top of the seventh with three strikeouts.

Game two would be a bit more of a defensive game. Errors gave each team an early run. The game was closed out when Broshar hit a grounder to third with the bases loaded, leaving Nicholson to safely clear home on a catcher’s error. Kori Seidlitz got another win with the victory.

“Kori and Pam both have shown improvement the last week,” said head coach Joanna Lane. “They have delivered in key situations; however, we still have things to work on.

With the spring season being well over halfway through, the Jacks seem to be unable to shake the monkey from their backs.

The softball team has been on a bit of a shaky streak in the past few weeks. In the past twelve days the Jacks have had to play 11 games, having only three of them on their home field. It has really been a turf war that quite possibly can only be won in the company of the home fans.

Although the Jacks have had a tough go, it looks as if they will have a chance to redeem themselves, with the bulk of their home stands coming late in the season. Of the last 14 games of the season, the women play 11 of those at home. The Jacks have a slight hold of fifth in the Summit League, but a horde of victories could propel them to the top-four spot.

Nonetheless, not all is bad news for the Jacks. The women have had some strong-goes in the past couple weeks, with conquests over UMKC and IPFW. In the win over UMKC, the team had zero errors, 10 hits and 11 runs, royally stomping the Kangaroos by a final score of 11-3.

In the game, Andrea New and Kelsey Lunn recorded home runs. New not only hit a walk-off home run to seal the win but also hit another earlier in the game, scratching the first multi-home run game since Samantha Heinzman hit two against the Huskers of Nebraska exactly two years ago to the date.

The bottom of the third inning was hot for the Jacks, scoring six runs on five hits and upping the score to 9-3 before the inning closed. New ended the game 3-for-4 with an RBI triple as her other hit to go out with five RBIs. Lunn also marked a double and was awarded a walk in a 2-for-2 day and four RBIs.

Kori Seidlitz got the win, giving up three runs on seven hits and compiling a 5-2 strikeouts-to-walks ratio. Seidlitz improved to 8-11 on the season.

In the win over IPFW, the Jacks held the very tough Mastodons from a sweep and dropped them to 12-2 in the league. In an interesting 10-9 victory for the Jackrabbit women, a team effort was the key contributing factor. More than a few Jacks made the win a reality.

Dani Broshar started the Jacks’ scoring with a double, scoring shortstop Ashley Durazo and giving Broshar an RBI. Broshar also hit another double later in the game. In the bottom of three, Tina Winter came out on top with a single, scoring three runs including Broshar, Lunn and Greta Stroh. The hit put the Jacks atop the ‘Dons 4-1.

In the top of the fifth inning, Seidlitz hit her first career home run, and the team scored six to threaten the Mastodons with the eight-run rule. IPFW ended up scoring a couple runs to prolong the game and follow the Jacks into the top of six, with the Jacks topping the ‘Dons 10-3. IPFW didn’t lose its fight in late innings, scoring six more runs in the sixth and becoming a serious danger in a must-happen win for SDSU. The game came to a close as Pam Nicholson pounded the last nail in the Mastodons’ coffin and recorded her first save in her SDSU career.

The Jacks are in town all week, starting their home stay with a double-header against rivals University of South Dakota on April 15 at 3 p.m.

The SDSU women’s softball team dropped two games in the Cougar Classic hosted by SIU-Edwardsville over the weekend of March 27 to 28.

One run in each game was the only deficit keeping the Jacks behind, with a 7-6 loss to the Northern Illinois Huskies and a 2-1 loss to the SIU-Edwardsville Cougars.

The Jacks scored their six runs against the Huskies with 13 hits and led 5-4 after six innings, but the Huskies batted in three runs in the seventh, with SDSU only making up one more run. Leaving 13 runners on base and eight in scoring position, the Jacks struggled to help their cause.

In the game versus Northern Illinois, the women displayed the most hits out of any other game this season facing Division-I opponents. Leading the team at the plate were Dani Broshar, Krista Honken and Tina Winter, who all marked one RBI, along with two hits each. Ashley Durazo hit well for the day, going 3-for-3 in the two games.

Kori Seidlitz pitched the whole first game, giving up seven runs, 10 hits, four walks and four strikeouts. The loss put Seidlitz at 7-10 on the season.

“It is tough when you face the situation of having a freshman pitcher. It’s hard,” said head softball coach Joanna Lane. “But Kori is a very good thrower, and she will have success at the college level. Kori just needs to get into her groove.”

Pam Nicholson pitched the second game of the day and gave up just two runs, both unearned, on four hits with four strikeouts and no walks, but the offense only backed her with one run.
“Pam really pitched well,” said Lane. “I think it was her best game yet.”

The only Jacks score came on a home run by Broshar in the second inning &- Broshar’s third of the season. The solo four-bagger kept the team afloat until the bottom of the fourth inning when a couple of SIU hits and an SDSU error left the game standing at 1-1. The Cougars took the lead by one in the sixth inning with another two hits and a Jackrabbit error.

The games on March 27 were the only two the Jacks ended up playing due to rain in Edwardsville. The losses put the Jackrabbits at an 8-17 record going into March 31 when the women contest the Cornhuskers of Lincoln, Neb., in a double-header in Lincoln starting at 3 p.m.

“Playing Nebraska is very exciting to us because of their very nice facilities, their notable athletics, and we also have five girls on the team from Nebraska so it will be fun for them, too,” said Lane. “It benefits us to have a challenging non-conference, but we will approach this series like any other games.”

March 24 marked the home opener for the women’s softball season &- the earliest recorded home opener in SDSU softball history &- and the Jacks did not disappoint.

The softball team figuratively ran away with the game at Jackrabbit Stadium, defeating Dakota State University by a score of 10-2. Eighteen hits and a lone error aided the Jacks to the victory over Dakota State, who ended the game with three hits and two errors.

Though the Jacks started the game slowly, only scoring one run in the first two innings combined, the pace picked up rapidly as the Jackrabbits’ bats progressively began connecting with the ball.

In the bottom of the third, the Jacks really got into the game with four runs, one of them being by way of home run.

Krista Honken came up big with the shot over the center field fence and was rewarded with a two-run home run, leaving the score at 5-0. In the top of the fifth, the Trojans tried to battle back with two runs of their own, but they would never top the Jackrabbit efforts.

In the bottom of the fifth, Kelsey Lunn scored the Jacks’ sixth run when Honken came up big yet again with a hard-hit single to scratch another hit and her sixth RBI of the season.

The Jacks then put the game away in the bottom of the sixth with an eruption of hits. Leading off, Greta Stroh sparked the offense, notching a single to left with a 1-2 count.

Four Jacks following also nabbed hits off DSU’s Maddie Willers. Brianna Postma finished the game with a deep sacrifice fly to center field, increasing the Jackrabbit lead to 10-2 and triggering an eight-run after five innings mercy rule win.

“We are limited in South Dakota for Division-I teams, so it is nice to have Division-II opponents like Dakota State to play against once in awhile,” said head coach Joanna Lane. “They are a good team and have come a long way. It was fun to have them come play us at home. In the game, we really showed what we could do in the batter’s box.”

The win over the Trojans brings the Jacks’ record up to 8-15 on the season, and starting pitcher Kori Seidlitz got the win, improving her 2010 season record to 7-9. Seidlitz pitched five innings, giving up two runs (one earned), with a 4-8 walks-to-strikeouts ratio.