The ISU softball team cleared a pivotal hurdle this weekend by capturing its first conference win of the season, against Big 12 foe Oklahoma State, but was unable to complete a weekend sweep, losing Sunday.

On Saturday, neither team started any offensive production until the top of the sixth inning, when Oklahoma State’s Shanel Scott led off with a single. A base hit and a sacrifice fly followed, sending Scott home and putting the Cowgirls in the lead.

Iowa State’s Cary Akins garnered a walk and then went to second when a Cowgirl error allowed Jessica Quade to reach base. Both runners advanced on a groundout, and a smash single to center field by catcher Ashley Killeen put the final score at 2-1.

“I had been struggling a little bit before that, and it was nice to help the team out,” Killeen said. “It was good to get the conference win and help get the monkey off our backs.”

Kim Rodgers and Katie Reichling each had a hit in the game, and Killeen had both of the team’s RBIs.

Alyssa Ransom earned her seventh win on the year with a six-strikeout, five-hit performance.

“The win felt good after that bad streak, and we got a good pitching performance out of Alyssa,” said ISU coach Ruth Crowe. “Ashley’s hit was huge, and, despite some miscues, we shut down their defense.”

An attempt to sweep the series was cut short on Sunday when the Cyclones couldn’t make their bats connect in a 3-1 loss.

Oklahoma State (29-16, 4-7 Big 12) had a strong showing from sophomore pitcher Jessica Hoppock, who struck out nine ISU batters and gave up only two hits. Reichling, who started the contest for Iowa State, was replaced by Ransom in the fifth inning after giving up five hits to the Cowgirls. With the loss, her record slipped to 6-9 on the season.

Oklahoma State lit up the board in the third inning when Jennie Killman laced a double to right field. After a sacrifice bunt by Lacy Darity advanced Killman, she scored off an RBI single by Scott.

Darity added salt to the wound in the fifth inning after a single by Rachel Johnson when she sailed a home run over left field to bump the score to 3-0.

Iowa State tried to cover ground in the seventh inning with a leadoff walk, followed by a hit that was misplayed by the defense. Another walk loaded the bases and Akins connected on a sacrifice fly that scored one. Reichling was caught looking and struck out to end the game at 3-1, though.

“We had lots of opportunities, but we had no key hits,” Crowe said.

“We stack the bases the best we could, but we couldn’t capitalize. Their defense made mistakes and we didn’t cash in on it.”

The Cyclones are 13-25 on the season and 1-10 in the Big 12.