The Iowa State softball went 3-1 in last weekend’s Holy City Showdown, with wins against Marshall, Radford and Dartmouth with its lone loss coming to Appalachian State by one run.

“I think that pitching and defensively we played very well,” said coach Jamie Pinkerton. “Offensively we still got a lot of work to do.”

The Cyclones have won five out of their last six games.

Building off a strong showing

The Iowa State softball team is coming off its best weekend of the season so far.

With three wins in the Holy City Showdown, Iowa State had its first tournament that resulted in a winning record for them.

In three of the four games Iowa State played, the margin of victory was one run.

The Cyclones are now 6-6 this season and are fine-tuning their skills as the season rolls along.

“We need to keep working hard, playing hard and doing what we do,” said senior first baseman Sally Woolpert.

Fielding and pitching thrive

So far this season the Iowa State’s defense has been one of the best in the country as the Cyclones have the 12th best fielding percentage in the country with a percentage of .979, which is tied for first among Big 12 teams. 

One of the main reason for the Cyclones’ success in the field this season is because the players are now more familiar with coach Pinkerton’s system in his second year.

“In year two our system of cuts, relays, defensive assignments and things like that have become more comfortable and familiar in what we want and what we’re going to do game plan wise,” Pinkerton said.

In last weekend’s Holy City Showdown the Cyclones held their opponents to four runs and a .114 batting average in four games.

The Cyclones pitching staff had an ERA of 0.78 at the Holy City Showdown and have an ERA of 2.24 which ranks 51st nationally.  

“A lot of the success falls back on our pitching coach; Kate [Sinnott] goes above and beyond for preparation,” said senior pitcher Savannah Sanders. “We’re always prepared for games, and we always know the scouting report.”

Offense trying to find it’s rhythm 

While the Cyclones pitching and fielding have been stellar so far this season, the same can not be said for the Cyclones in the batter’s box.

Despite offensive outbursts against the Colorado State Rams and Dartmouth, Iowa State has a batting average of .208 which is last among Big 12 teams and in the bottom 40 among the 289 teams in Division I softball.

Even with a low batting average, Pinkerton is not pressing any panic buttons.

“We’ve been stressing plate approach, jumping on our pitch when we have it and taking advantage of those opportunities,” Pinkerton said.

In the last game of the Holy City Showdown, the Cyclones took care of the Dartmouth Big Green by scoring 12 runs off 15 hits.

“In the last game, we got our stuff figured out, and if we take that aggressive mindset once again then we’ll be fine,” said junior left fielder Hannah Carter.