South Dakota has qualified for next week's Summit League Softball Tournament in Fargo, North Dakota, but where the Coyotes will be seeded will be determined Friday and Saturday on the final week of the regular season.
 
South Dakota begins a four-game set with Omaha at noon Friday and concludes with a Saturday doubleheader at noon. All games will take place at Connie Claussen Field at Maverick Park, which opened less than two months ago and is the first on-campus home for Omaha softball. The Mavericks are 6-6 at their new facility and within Summit play there, went 2-2 against both North Dakota and Western Illinois.
 
Omaha (15-25, 9-10 Summit) stands a half-game ahead of South Dakota (12-34, 7-9) in the conference standings. South Dakota State (34-5, 17-1) has secured the top seed at the tournament, but seeds 2-6 are all up for grabs and USD can claim any one of them depending on how scores play out throughout the conference. The top two seeds get a first-round bye while seeds 3-6 square off Wednesday in a play-in game to a four-team, double-elimination tournament that will send one team to the NCAAs.
 
South Dakota has played one game since competing at South Dakota State on April 25. Last week's final home series was wiped out due to a COVID-19 infiltration at Western Illinois. USD ended the Jacks' 16-game win streak during that last conference series and has won seven of eight against Omaha dating back to 2017.
 
Omaha is getting hot at the right time. They took two out of three games against defending champion North Dakota State in Fargo and backed that up by taking three out of four on the road at Kansas City last weekend. That series opened with an exhausting 1-0 win in 12 innings.
 
Junior outfielder Lexi Burkhardt and sophomore pitcher Kamryn Meyer swept the Summit Player of the Week Awards last week for their play in that KC series. Burkhardt was 6-for-12 with two doubles, two homers and seven RBI. Meyer pitched all 12 innings of that shutout in game one and came back the next day and tossed six more innings in a 9-2 win in game four. She totaled 20 strikeouts in those 18 innings.
 
Junior left fielder Courtney Wilson and senior shortstop Lauren Eamiguel have been the hot bats throughout Summit play for the Coyotes. They are batting .404 and .362, respectively, and have combined for half of the team's six homers. Senior pitchers Sarah Lisko and Gill Woodward have six of USD's seven Summit wins in the circle.
 
How to watch: Omaha offers a free web stream and has live stats available for all games.
 
Milestone watch
Eamiguel enters the series with 99 career runs. Lauren Wobken enters with 99 career hits. Plus, fifth-year senior center fielder Camille Fowler has been climbing the career lists throughout the season:
 
USD All-Time Hit Leaders:
2. 242 – Julie MacRunnels (2000-03)
3. 240 – Tiffany Davis (1998-2001)
4. 239 – Camille Fowler (2017-pres.)
 
USD All-Time Runs Scored Leaders:
3. 145 – Katie Dinning (2012-15)
4. 142 – Julie MacRunnels (2000-03)
5. 141 – Camille Fowler (2017-pres.)