The only thing worse than losing a close game, is losing a close game to your hated rivals.

The Cyclones did just that, dropping an afternoon home game to the Iowa Hawkeyes 3-2, much to the disappointment of the Cyclones.

“All day long you tell all your friends you’re playing Iowa and you tell them you’re going to kill them,” said senior Cary Akins. “Then you get out here and it barely doesn’t happen – it’s just devastating.”

The Hawkeyes struck first after two innings of scoreless softball in the top of the third inning. After a two-out double put runners on second and third, Mindy Heidgerken, chopped a grounder up the middle past Iowa State pitcher Alyssa Ransom, plating both Hawkeyes and giving them an early 2-0 lead.

It was too hard for the Cyclones to overcome, as they never fully recovered from the early 2-0 hole.

“It’s basically the toughest thing to do,” Akins said about coming back. “Anytime you get down by more than one run it is just going to be a difficult situation.”

On two occasions, Fallon Johnson tried to use her legs to get Iowa State on the board. It worked when she took second base on an error after her single, but not on a two-out bloop single by Katie Reichling.

She tried to score from second and was nailed at the plate, ending the Cyclones first threat of the game.

“That is our style – we make them make mistakes,” said ISU coach Stacy Gemeinhardt. “That’s something were going to do, and we’re always going to do it, so there are definitely no regrets there.”

Aggressive base running is something Gemeinhardt has tried to impose as her team’s philosophy in order to help score more runs for her offense.

“We’re running a lot more aggressive this year and that’s something she’s really emphasized,” Ransom said. “Instead of just taking one base we’re taking two, like Fallon did today.”

The Cyclones wouldn’t have had to have been so aggressive if one of the two batters before Reichling could have advanced Johnson to third base. That didn’t happen, and, as a result, instead of Johnson trotting home after the single, she was gunned out at the plate.

“That’s something we haven’t been doing a very good job of, and that’s execution.” Gemeinhardt said. “It’s important, we’re not doing it and it always hurts when you don’t execute.”

Not being able to advance the runner and score the run came back to haunt the Cyclones late in the game.

The Hawkeyes added a late run in the sixth inning on a home run by Kylie Murry, making the score 3-0. The Cyclones answered in the sixth with their first run on Cary Akins’ first home run of the year. Ashley Killeen added a home run of her own in the seventh to cut the lead to one, but that was as close as they came.

The loss moves Iowa State to 15-16 in the season, and puts it on a five-game losing streak as it heads back on the road to play Northern Iowa at 4 p.m. Wednesday.