The ISU softball teams struggled to put a complete game together, but the pieces fell in place Wednesday afternoon as Iowa State upset the No. 12 ranked Iowa Hawkeyes, 6-4 in Iowa City.

“I think we’ve been struggling as of late, just putting everything together,” ISU head coach Ruth Crowe said. “Today we had very good defense, we didn’t have any errors. We had a couple of really good plays defensively, I felt like good pitching and more than that I feel like our hitting really came on today.”

Iowa State trailed their intrastate rivals entering the top of the seventh inning, 3-1.

“We’ve always been very competitive with Iowa,” Crowe explained. “Year in and year out, they have never blown us out of the water in the past five years we’ve been playing them.”

Sophomore Adi Blackmon started the Cyclone rally by leading off the inning with a single followed by another single from third baseman Lauren Cathey. Designated hitter Erica Martinez drew a walk to load the bases.

Pinch-hitter Morgan LeCluyse drew another base on balls from Iowa pitcher Kristi Hanks, scoring Blackmon and cutting the Hawkeye lead to one.

Left fielder Amberly Lessenger got the big hit of the inning, clearing the bases with a triple and giving the Cyclones a 5-3 lead.

“That just obviously pushed us over the top,” Crowe said of Lessenger’s clutch triple.

Catcher Mindy Ogan added an insurance run as she drove Lessenger home from third with a single. Ogan was 3 for 3 for the day with one RBI.

The five runs in the seventh proved to be the difference as Iowa only managed one run in the inning.

“We’ve been building and building,” Crowe said. “It’s just feeling like we don’t have anything to lose and that really was the attitude that they took up there to the plate.”

ISU hurler Jen Bice picked up the victory, improving her record to 7-11 for the year. She allowed four runs on five hits while striking out eight.

Iowa’s one run in the seventh occurred when Iowa first baseman Alicia Gerlach tallied her fourth hit of the day, a double to left field.

Pinch runner Katie Boney scored from first base.

Gerlach was 4 for 4 on the day and had two RBI.

Crowe said the Cyclones were cool under the pressure in the final stanza of the seven-inning affair.

“They had a couple of kids who hit all day for them and are probably their best hitters,” she said. “We really felt like even if we gave up a run we were gonna be okay.”

“The thing that I want is not have it be our best game of the year and that’s it,” she added.

The Cyclones improved their overall record to 12-21 with the victory and are 1-7 in the Big XII.

No. 14 Nebraska will be in Ames today to face the Cyclones.

Crowe said that she hopes the victory over Iowa is just a starting point for her team.

“We feel like we can compete in our conference,” Crowe said. “We need to use this game as a stepping stone to do that.”