On Saturday, the Cyclones were able to muscle through the cold and pick up a much needed 7-2 victory over Texas Tech.

The win was Iowa State’s (18-16, 1-2) first Big 12 win of the season.

“Going into it, I didn’t think a whole lot about winning,” coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “We had set four goals yesterday, and that was to score six runs, to not have any errors, to play hard for seven innings, and to attack at the plate. I was really concentrating on those four goals, not so much the outcome of the game.”

Iowa State was sparked by an impressive pitching performance by sophomore Rachel Zabriskie. Zabriskie surrendered only two runs on six hits while striking out three and allowing no walks.

The Cyclones had no problems scoring off Texas Tech’s pitcher, Ashly Jacobs. They scored seven runs off of the right hander, and collected seven hits.

Junior catcher Alex Johnson hit her third home run of the season in the first inning. It was a two-run blast that gave the Cyclones the early lead.

The snow began to fall around the third inning, but that didn’t affect Zabriskie at all. After allowing one run in the first, Zabriskie calmed down and retired 10 straight Texas Tech hitters.

Iowa State would add one more in the fifth off of a Kelsey Kidwell double, bringing her sister, Heidi Kidwell, in to score.

In the sixth inning, the Cyclones exploded for four more runs. After junior infielder Sydni Jones reached on a three-base error that allowed Johnson to score, fellow infielder Amanda Bradberry hit a two-run home run to deep left center; her first of the season. Iowa State’s senior infielder Jacquelyn Beatty would tack on one more run and give the Cyclones a 7-2 lead and, ultimately, the win.

After the game, Zabriskie said one of the key factors in Saturday’s win was ultimately something that was out of the team’s control: the weather.

“We practiced in [Friday’s] weather, which was just as cold as today, but it wasn’t snowing,” Zabriskie said. “The snow was to our advantage, but we also prepare ourselves for taking all these disadvantages and turning them our way.”

On Sunday the Cyclones will look to even their conference record to 2-2 and sweep the weekend series against Texas Tech. The game begins at noon.