In an amazing five innings, the ISU softball team opened its home schedule Thursday with a 8-0 rout of the Northern Iowa Panthers.

The Cyclones took an early lead at the Southwest Athletic Complex in the first inning courtesy of freshman catcher Ashley Killeen when she belted a two-run home run, driving in Julia Lindsey.

Three innings later, Killeen was up to bat for the third time in the game. Her previous at-bat saw her strike out with the bases loaded to end the inning. Once again, the bases were loaded with two outs. Lindsey, junior designated hitter Heather McLatchie and freshman second baseman Jennifer Bigbee were on base when Killeen took a swing at a sixth pitch and connected to send the ball over the left-field wall for a gigantic grand slam.

Head coach Ruth Crowe had nothing but praise for Killeen, one of five freshmen on the field for the Cyclones.

“She’s a great freshman catcher, she’s got a great stick, and I think as a freshman, a lot of times they come in and they have to kind of sow their oats a little bit,” she said. “They need to feel out the game, and she has been doing that early on, but now she’s really starting to come on and hit the ball really well for us.”

Killeen was also pleased with her performance. She went 2-for-3 with two home runs and six RBIs. On her third at-bat, she was determined to not miss out on a rare opportunity.

“I wasn’t not going to get a hit; I was going to do something,” Killeen said. “Again, I was looking away, but she brought it in, and I drove it hard. I knew it was out as soon as I hit it. I was surprised she gave me the pitch, but I did what I could with it.”

After the grand slam, Panther pitcher Julie Gerdes walked freshman first baseman Jessica Quade. A pitching change was made before junior right fielder Misty Kimura hit. Melinda McClintock, the new pitcher for the Panthers, gave Kimura a pitch down the middle and Kimura jumped on it. This homer was a straight away center field shot good for two runs, making the score after four innings 8-0 in favor of the Cyclones.

Superb hitting wasn’t the only thing the Cyclones had going for them. Starting pitcher Alyssa Ransom, also a freshman, gave up four hits over the five innings and recorded five strike outs to give her 81 on the season.

In the fifth inning, Ransom struck out two and got Panther Erin Strellner to fly out to left field for the final out of the game. The Big 12 has a rule that after five innings, if the winning team is ahead by eight runs, the game will be called. The Cyclones recorded their ninth win of the season, and Ransom recorded her seventh as a pitcher.

She was happy with her performance despite giving up two hits in the first, something she wasn’t pleased with.

“I think I could have done a little bit better, not giving up two hits in the first. I was throwing a lot of fastballs and screwballs to keep them off balance,” she said.

Ransom didn’t take all the credit for her fine pitching performance; she gave praise to her Cyclones in the field.

“They can hit; they’re a division one ball team,” she said. “I gave up four hits, it was really just us playing good defense, making plays and not making errors.”

Looking ahead

After the 8-0 shutout of Northern Iowa, Iowa State will take on the Aggies of Texas A&M in a two-game homestand Saturday and Sunday.

Crowe was optimistic about her team’s chance this weekend against a team that is ranked third in the conference.

“I feel we are at a better point after today, and we had a really good weekend against Texas Tech [last weekend] as far as how we finished that second day [a 7-4 win over the Red Raiders],” Crowe said. “So, with that day coupled with this day, I feel like we’re ready to go. We are at a much better point, and I feel like we’re starting to gel and we’re ready to play the Big 12 teams.”

The Aggies are fresh off a two-game sweep of the Oklahoma Sooners, picked to finish first in the Big 12 by league coaches in preseason polls. The Aggies have a 2-0 record and are 20-15 overall.

Texas A&M is fourth in the Big 12 in batting average with a .264. Iowa State is last on that list with a .186 team average. The Aggies are also fourth in ERA, at 1.98, compared to the Cyclones, last in the Big 12 at 3.25.

The Aggies are led by hitters Rocky Spencer (.325) and Jana James (.318). James also owns 22 RBIs on the season.

“They swept Oklahoma last weekend, so they’re going be good,” Crowe said. “They’ll be in the top half of the conference, so this will be a good test for us. They have really good pitching, so we’re going have to rise to the next level with a strong pitching performance — we need to be able to hit the ball, and play really solid defense.”

Game 1 will start at 1 p.m. Saturday and Game 2 will start at noon Sunday. Both games will be played at the softball field in the Southwest Athletic Complex.