Although it began poorly, the Cyclone softball team finished the San Diego State Campbell/Cartier Classic strong with a win against Sacramento State Saturday afternoon.

Both teams were scoreless until the bottom of the third inning when freshman Ashley Killeen singled to center field, bringing in Fallon Johnson and putting Iowa State on the board first.

The Cyclones held Sacramento State scoreless until the top of the seventh inning, when Stephanie Lockhart scored for the Hornets due to a fielding error by Iowa State.

However, the Hornets couldn’t hold off the Cyclone bats for long, as Julia Lindsey hit one to right-center and brought in Jennifer Bigbee in the bottom of the seventh inning, ending the game.

Hits for the Cyclones also came from Johnson, freshman Jessica Quade and junior Misty Kimura.

Freshman Alyssa Ransom was the winning pitcher for the Cyclones.

“It was good to go out winning the final game,” Lindsey said. “It felt good.”

Unfortunately, the Cyclones did not fare as well earlier in the tournament, losing to Cal State- Northridge, San Diego State and Long Beach State.

The Cyclones lost their first game of the tournament Friday night to Cal State Northridge, 6-3.

The Matadors scored all six of their runs by the third inning, with Iowa State scoring single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

Later that evening, San Diego State shut out the Cyclones.

The Aztecs scored on Iowa State early in the first inning, but Killeen and Quade helped keep the Aztecs from scoring more than four runs by fielding six outs apiece.

Pitching for the Cyclones, Ransom had five strikeouts and three walks.

Saturday afternoon, the Cyclones lost to Long Beach State, 6-2.

Freshman pitcher Katie Reichling took the loss for the Cyclones, but shared the mound with Ransom and sophomore Kristen Karanzias. The three pitchers combined for four strikeouts and one walk.

Senior Ashley Core and sophomore Cary Atkins scored Iowa State’s two runs during the bottom of the sixth.

Iowa State was scheduled to play No. 23 Fresno State Sunday, but the game was canceled due to rain Saturday night in the San Diego area.

Cal State-Northridge won the tournament with a 4-0 record, while the Cyclones finished 1-3, making their overall record 2-7.

Lindsey said the Cyclones did not do as well as they would have liked, but showed some improvement on offense by stringing several hits together.

“We need to be a little more consistent,” Lindsey said. “We have talent and a great lineup; we shouldn’t be making errors.”

— ISU Media Relations contributed to this article.