The Iowa State and Texas Tech softball teams have played two games in the past two days. Both games have been highly competitive and have resulted in a win for each team. What has made the difference in each matchup is extra base hits as 13 have been hit combined.

There have been two specific situations where both teams have come up with clutch at bats in the series.

In the first game, the Red Raiders had a 4-3 lead over Iowa State in the top of the seventh inning. Taylor Satchell hit a grand slam to give the Red Raiders an 8-3 win over the Cyclones.

In the second game, it was Iowa State that had a clutch at bat, this time it was senior Sydney Stites that came in as a pinch hitter and put the ball in play and allowed senior Kirsten Caudle to score the game-winning run.

Caudle’s score was set up by a sacrifice bunt by freshman second basemen Kasey Simpson that resulted with her on second base and Caudle on third base.

“To be able to move runners and play selfless softball with the sacrifice bunt and with Sid’s ball to the right side is something that you often talk about and teach, but is often hard to execute,” said softball coach Jamie Pinkerton. “We’ve been having trouble with that, but we were able to do that today.”

According to Stites, it wouldn’t matter if it was her or one of her teammates taking the at-bat, because of the trust that the team has in their teammates.

Out of those 13 extra base hits, Iowa State has had seven of those and junior shortstop Sami Williams hit three, all of which came in game two against the Red Raiders which resulted in a 6-5 win for the Cyclones.

Williams, the Cyclones lead-off hitter, has had a stellar season so far as she has a .422 batting average, seven home runs and 20 RBI’s.

“I’m not the typical lead-off hitter,” Williams said. “Being at Iowa State is the first time I’ve been put into the lead-off spot.”

Despite having two home runs in the game two of the Cyclones series against the Red Raiders and leading the team in home runs, Williams isn’t focused solely on hitting home runs.

“My focus is more on quality at-bats,” Williams said.

Iowa State is now 18-14 (1-4 Big 12), and Texas Tech is 28-6 (1-4 Big 12) with one more game against one another.