Cyclones reflect on weekend’s upset

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Senior pitcher Tori Torrescano throws a pitch in the ISU game against Indiana State on Feb. 10 at Bergstrom Complex. Torrescano pitched the whole game and gave up seven hits in the 7-2 victory.

Isaac Hunt

The ISU softball team came away from the Fresno State Tournament with one win and four losses, but that one win came against No. 8 Oregon.

Iowa State (10-10) was able to pull off the upset of Oregon (21-4) with a complete game by senior Tori Torrescano.

“It was pretty cool,” Torrescano said. “During [the game] I wasn’t really thinking about how they were ranked higher. I just went in and went pitch by pitch. I didn’t look too far ahead in the game.”

After a weekend of close games and disappointing losses, the Cyclones found themselves down once again.

At the beginning of the sixth inning neither team had brought in a runner. After Oregon was able to score a run, it was Iowa State’s turn to bat.

Down by one, Iowa State rallied to hit in two runs going up 2-1, which would be the final score.

“It was big,” Torrescano said. “I was really frustrated at myself for giving up that run. I could have done without it. I was the first one up that inning. I got on base and the team did its job to get not only one, but two runs in.”

Hitting in the leading runner and solidifying the lead was sophomore Maddie Reese. With her only hit of the game, Reese was able to gain the lead against the eighth-ranked team in the country.

“To be honest, I didn’t even know at that point that it was the go-ahead run,” Reese said. “I was just excited that we were all hitting at that point and getting runners on base.”

With the game in her hands, Torrescano felt confident in herself and her team.

“[It gave me] a lot of confidence,” Torrescano said. “We had been having trouble with their pitcher getting base hits. Once we had done that in the sixth, then I wasn’t worried about them getting another hit. If we went back in the seventh, we would have scored if we had to.”

Although the win was nice to have, coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler can’t help but think about what could have been. The coach said her team had the opportunity to go 3-2 against Fresno State.

“Anytime you can beat anybody that is ranked, especially in the top 10, it’s good,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “You can look at it two ways. You can think ‘Yeah, that’s great,’ or ‘We lost some games that we shouldn’t have.’”

Neither of the big performers in the game got caught up in the moment, but both Torrescano and Reese can look back at a good memory.

“It was awesome,” Reese said. “You could see it in the coaches’ faces; you could see it in the players’ faces. It’s a huge win for the program.

“We have been working really hard and it just shows what we have been doing not only in practices, but also in the weight room. We deserved that win and hopefully we will get some more.”

Taking the game pitch by pitch and inning by inning the last out gave the senior pitcher time to soak it all in.

“[It set in] definitely after the last out,” Torrescano said. “She hit a hard ground ball to Erica [Miller] and she was able to knock it down and get her out. At first I thought it was foul, but it was fair, and I was really excited. It was a big win for us. Huge.”