After their 2-1 win in extra innings against the South Dakota Coyotes on Sunday, the Iowa State Cyclones improved to 9-8 on the season and finished 3-2 in the Lopes Up Classic.

Among the seven Big 12 teams, the Cyclones are in sixth place in overall record and are a half game behind the Baylor Lady Bears.

Sami Williams’ hitting hot streak

Going to this season, junior shortstop Sami Williams was listed as one of the top 50 softball players in the country. However, Williams did not have a good start to the season offensively. 

Before the game against Dartmouth in the Holy City Showdown, Williams was on a four-game hitless streak and had a batting average of .225.

Since then, in every game (six games), Williams has had a hit, and she has a batting average of .521 in that stretch.

Williams leads the team in multiple statistical categories including hits with 19 of them and in batting average with .328.

Shannon Mortimer adds first two wins

Coming into the Lopes Up Classic, freshman pitch Shannon Mortimer had a record of 0-2 on the season in four appearances.

However, after a few solid showings in the Lopes Up Classic for Iowa State, her record has improved.

Her record in the circle this season is now 2-2 after she was the winning pitcher for the Cyclones in their games against the Utes on Friday and against Northern Colorado on Saturday.

In 13 innings pitched, Mortimer allowed two runs, and she has an ERA of 2.71.

Cyclones show progress and room for improvement

Up until last weekend’s Holy City Showdown, the Cyclones had a batting average below .200. After the Holy City Showdown, the Cyclones batting average went up to .208, and that number has risen after the Lopes Up Classic.

The Cyclones now have a batting average of .238 this season which is better than their opponents average of .231.

Up until the Lopes Up Classic, Iowa State put up five or more runs in two of their games. This past weekend, the Cyclones scored more than five runs in three of their five games, which shows that Iowa State is continuing to improve offensively.

However, in Iowa State’s final two games in the Lopes Up Classic, the Cyclones scored a combined two runs.

What’s next?

Iowa State will travel to California for the second time this season, as the Cyclones play in the ShareSLO Mustang Classic in San Luis Obispo, California, where they will play the Utah State Aggies twice and the Cal Poly Mustangs three times.