SIOUX FALLS, S.D.—South Dakota softball has a conference-high seven players on the 2022 All-Summit League Softball Team as voted on by the league's head coaches and announced by the conference office Tuesday. The Coyotes have placed at least seven players on two of the last three teams.
 
First-teamers Aleesia Sainz (Jr., Casa Grande, Arizona) and Jordyn Pender (Jr., Phoenix, Arizona) highlight the list. Clara Edwards (Fr., Clay Center, Kansas), Bela Goerke (So., Tucson, Arizona), Tatum Villotta (Fr., Blair, Nebraska), Gabby Moser (So., Central City, Nebraska) and Courtney Wilson (Sr., Grand Island, Nebraska) earned second-team honors. Wilson is an all-Summit outfielder for the second year in a row. Edwards and Villotta are two of three freshmen on the 28-member team.
 
South Dakota is the No. 4 seed in this week's Summit League Tournament, which runs Wednesday-Saturday in Brookings, South Dakota. The Coyotes (27-23) take on fifth-seeded Kansas City (13-33) at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the opening game of the tournament. The winner advances to face top-seeded South Dakota State (37-10) at 11 a.m. Thursday in the double-elimination portion of the event.
 
Information on all seven Coyote honorees follows:
 
Sainz is batting .346 with team-highs of 11 home runs and 42 RBIs. She has been walked 32 times, seven more than any other Summit League player. Combine that with the power numbers and she boasts the second-best OPS in the conference at 1.182. Sainz is 6-for-6 in stolen bases and has been solid defensively at third base. She is the only third baseman representing infielders on the first team.
 
Pender is the first-team utility player/designated player. She has started 17 games at catcher, two at first base and 26 as the DP. She leads the Coyotes and ranks eighth in the Summit with a .347 average. That includes four home runs, eight doubles and 32 RBIs, second on the team only to Sainz and eighth-most in the conference.
 
Edwards led the Summit in innings pitched (179.2). She has a 2.77 ERA and a 15-13 record in 29 starts and 39 appearances. She has pitched six shutouts, combined on a seventh, and her five saves rank ninth nationally. Edwards ranks fourth in the Summit for wins, sixth for strikeouts (114) and seventh in opposing batting average (.248). Her 15 wins are eighth-most in USD's single-season record book.
 
Goerke is batting .303 with six home runs, five doubles and 29 RBIs, 10^th-most in the Summit. Half of her six homers came in Summit play where she hit .333 and slugged .604, second on the team only to Sainz. Defensively is where she has truly made her mark. The Coyotes allowed 95 stolen bases last season. That number has been cut to 46 as a team and opponents are 22-of-30 against Goerke who has picked off two runners.
 
Villotta is one of two second baseman on the team. She hit .373 in Summit League play and her .335 overall average ranks third on the team. Among her Summit peers, she has the fourth-most hits (57), fourth-most steals (11), and eighth-most runs scored. Villotta enters the tournament on an 11-game hitting streak, the longest by a Coyote this season. She leads USD with 16 multi-hit games including a pair of four-hit performances.
 
Moser is an infielder who has converted to an all-Summit outfielder in 2022. She led South Dakota with a .375 average in conference play and turned in the fifth-highest OPS among all Summit players (1.185). Overall, she is batting .330 on the year with a Summit-high 13 doubles. All four of her home runs have come during the last five Summit League series.
 
Wilson was an all-Summit left fielder last season. She is an all-Summit center fielder this season. Wilson is batting .319 with three doubles, a triple and a homer. She has scored 29 times, driven in 19 and stolen eight bases. Defensively, she's added five more outfield assists giving her 18 in her four seasons. She is batting .314 throughout her career, which has spanned 173 games and 165 starts.
 
2022 All-Summit League Softball Team
First Team
P – Grace Glanzer, South Dakota State
P – Tori Kniesche, South Dakota State
P – Kamryn Meyer, Omaha
C – Allison Yoder, South Dakota State
INF – Rozelyn Carrillo, South Dakota State
INF – Brooke Ellestad, St. Thomas
INF – Cylie Halvorson, South Dakota State
INF – Cameryn Maykut, North Dakota State
INF – Aleesia Sainz, South Dakota
OF – Dez Cardenas, North Dakota State
OF – Izzy Eltze, Omaha
OF – Kloe Hilbrenner, Kansas City
OF – Madi Moore, North Dakota
DP/UTL – Jordyn Pender, South Dakota
 
Second Team
P – Clara Edwards, South Dakota
P – Paige Vargas, North Dakota State
P – Mia Hoveland, Kansas City
C – Bela Goerke, South Dakota
INF – Cheyanne Masterson, South Dakota State
INF – Lynsey Tucker, Omaha
INF – Tatum Villotta, South Dakota
INF – Ally Vonfeldt, Kansas City
INF – Jamie White, Omaha
OF – Emilee Buringa, North Dakota State
OF – Jocelyn Carrillo, South Dakota State
OF – Gabby Moser, South Dakota
OF - Courtney Wilson, South Dakota
DP/UTL – Reanna Rudd, North Dakota State