DES MOINES — The ISU softball team’s bats woke up Wednesday against the Drake Bulldogs, but they waited until late in the game to do so.

Down 4-1 in the top of the seventh with one out and nobody on, Katie Reichling and Beth Tharp singled for the Cyclones. After Misty Kimura fouled out, Lindsey Black drew a walk from pitcher Jessica Hicks to load the bases.

A walk and hit batsman drove in two ISU runs, bringing Kim Rodgers to the plate with the Cyclones down 4-3. Rodgers had not recorded a hit the entire game.

“I just wanted to drive a base hit, that’s all we really needed,” she said. “On my previous at-bats, I was just thinking too much.”

Rodgers drilled a two-run double, putting Iowa State in the lead for good.

“That was big for [Rodgers],” said coach Ruth Crowe. “She had struggled early in the game, and that showed a lot of heart.”

Rodgers wasn’t alone. After scoring one run in the top of the first, Drake (21-18) held the Cyclones scoreless until the seventh. Iowa State (14-26) threatened numerous times, loading the bases in the first, third and fourth innings, but left all nine runners stranded.

“It was a battle of the uglies today,” Crowe said. “I give our kids off the bench really most of the credit; they came in and supplied a spark in the seventh inning.”

The Bulldogs responded to Iowa State’s early 1-0 lead by tying it in the bottom of the first and adding another in the third. They capped off their scoring with two in the fourth, after Emily Hajduk blasted an RBI double, and Jaci Faidley scored on a sacrifice fly.

Reichling, who pitched through three innings, allowed four runs on six hits, striking out three.

Offensively, she led the team with three hits, recording one RBI.

Alyssa Ransom relieved Reichling in the fourth and finished the game allowing two hits and striking out three.

The Cyclones had three errors in the contest, one of which allowed a run to score. Crowe said neither team displayed great fielding, but the Cyclones managed to rebound from the costly errors.

“We just hung in there,” she said. “It got a little bit better as the game went on.”

Reichling said the team had to keep itself disciplined in order to overcome its deficit.

“I think we were frustrated,” she said. “I think we knew we could play better than that, and we wanted to prove that we could.”

Iowa State returns home Thursday to face Western Illinois at the Southwest Athletic Complex, and Crowe said she hopes the team will be able to carry the momentum from Wednesday’s win with it into the contest.

“Hopefully, we start the game a little bit farther ahead tomorrow,” she said.

Reichling said she feels Wednesday’s come from behind victory was a huge morale booster for the team, which had most recently dropped a 4-0 decision to Iowa on Tuesday.

“I think we came off a pretty big high in the last inning,” she said. “I think we can carry this through to tomorrow and build off of it.”

In the meantime, Crowe reflected on Iowa State’s seventh-inning comeback without underestimating the Bulldog’s power on the field.

“Drake has a good team. It’s always a battle with them,” Crowe said. “I consider this a big win for us.”

Thursday’s game against the Westerwinds is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. The contest is a rematch of the National Invitational Championship game on Sept. 12, in which the Cyclones won 1-0.

Western Illinois is 16-20 on the season and went 2-3 last week.