The Iowa State softball team has a record of 9-8 so far this season and currently sit at sixth place among the seven Big 12 teams and are only one game behind the fifth-place Baylor Lady Bears.

The Cyclones have less than three weeks before Big 12 play begins against the Texas Longhorns on March 24.

Cyclones feel optimistic after a winning record in the Lopes Up Classic

In the Lopes Up Classic, the Cyclones came away with three wins that came against the Northern Colorado Bears, Utah Utes and the South Dakota Coyotes while losing a game to the Bears and the Grand Canyon Antelopes.

“Offensively we did well, defensively we’ve been playing at a good clip all spring, so I’m happy with our defense and the pitching hasn’t been as good as it has been previously, but it’s serviceable and puts us in a position to win,” said Iowa State head coach Jamie Pinkerton. “Minus a bad inning in game one, they held everyone else to four runs or less and if you do that you a chance to win ball games.”

In three of the games that the Cyclones played in the Lopes Up Classic, their offense posted six more or runs in a game which they had only done twice up until then.

This week Iowa State will work to do that again against the Cal Poly Mustangs and the Utah State Aggies.

Team chemistry remains a strength of the team

Going into this season, some of the Cyclone players believed that the team had the best team chemistry that they have had in years.

So far this season, the team’s chemistry has only to get stronger as the season moves along.

One thing that makes many teams successful is players not playing for themselves but rather for their team.

The Cyclones seem to be doing that thus far this season.

“It’s easy to play as a team when we enjoy each other’s company and play for the person next to you,” said senior catcher Kaylee Bosworth.

This senior class has been through a lot of change in their tenure at Iowa State when it comes to coaching, but they have stuck it out and have seemed to build a solid rapport with one another.

“It’s [the team chemistry] is the best it’s ever been, I can’t believe how far it’s come,” said senior pitcher Emma Hylen. “Our communication on the field, in the dugout as well as before and after games has been really good.”

Iowa State is remaining competitive, even in losses

Only three of the games that Iowa State has played so far this season have resulted in a margin of victory greater than three runs.

Out of those fourteen games, the Cyclones have won seven and lost seven. Ten of their games have resulted in a margin of victory of one run. In those games, the Cyclones have won five but lost five.

In order for the Cyclones to win more of those close games, the Cyclones will need to come up with more timely hits, which will put more runs on the board.

“We’ve got to come up with timely hits,” Pinkerton said. “In the games, we have lost we haven’t come up with big hits in clutch situations, that’s the metric that we have to work on.”

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