Cyclone softball defeated the North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) Trojans 12-3 in its second game of the fall season. The Cyclones showed improvement that they will look to expand upon even further.

Pitching

Iowa State is in the process of finding its main pitchers. In a continuation of the narrative, five Cyclones took the mound against NIACC, each pitching two innings.

Janessa Jasso started the game on the mound for Iowa State. A combination of a hit with pitch, an errant pitch allowing a stolen base and two walks caused the bases to be loaded after the first four at bats.

Another wild pitch allowed the Trojan runner on third to score. The next two batters were walked, causing NIACC to score another run.

A Trojan runner was tagged out at third to end the inning.

Jasso started the second inning with two strikeouts. Next, a single, a full count walk and a hit by pitch caused the bases to be loaded again.

A fly-out ended the Trojans’ hopes of extending their 2-1 lead.

Shannon Mortimer’s pitching stint started with a catcher’s interference. NIACC was able to register two hits off of Mortimer and score their third run.

Mortimer made quick work of the fourth inning. Three straight ground outs made this inning one of two 1-2-3 innings for the Cyclones.

It took only four at bats for Karlie Charles to end the fifth inning, two of which were strikeouts.

Charles also contributed to the other 1-2-3 inning as the sixth inning saw one strikeout, one ground out, and one fly-out.

Ellie Spelhaug’s time on the mound began in the seventh inning with two strikeouts. This was followed by a 4-1 walk and another strikeout.

In the eighth inning, a combination of two singles and three ground outs didn’t allow the Trojans to capitalize on those two early hits.

Tatum Ksiazek began the ninth inning with two strikeouts, 0-3 and 1-3 respectively. The next batter hit a single but was tagged out at second on the next at bat.

A ground out and strikeout started the final inning. A walk, a single, and a wild pitch allowed the Trojan players to reach second and third base. A fly-out by the next batter kept these runners from scoring.

Quick Innings

In six of the 10 innings, the Cyclones did not allow more than five Trojan batters.

The Trojans returned the favor, doing the same to the Cyclones in four of the innings. They were also able to record a 1-2-3 inning of their own.

Bunched Scoring

Iowa State scored its 12 runs across only four innings.

The seventh inning proved fruitful for the Cyclones offense, where they scored half of their runs.

The first, second, and fourth were the other innings that saw Cyclone scoring, with one, three, and two runs respectively.

NIACC’s three runs were scored in two innings. Two of the runs came in the first with the other in the third.

Up Next

The Cyclones have a busy stretch upcoming. The game against DMACC was rescheduled for 4 p.m. Monday. This game will take place at the Cyclone Sports Complex.

They will take on Drake on Friday at 6 p.m., Northern Iowa on Saturday at 2 p.m., and Iowa on Sunday at 11 a.m.

All three games will take place in Des Moines.