Iowa State walked away Sunday with an impressive 24-2 win over Iowa Central to open the fall season strong in all three phases. Though the fall season does not impact their win-loss record, this dominant win gives the softball team great insight as to what works and what does not.

Iowa State came into the game looking to get quality practice in and begin the process of figuring out a lineup for the spring season. 

Excellent hitting

The Cyclones put on a hitting show at the plate on Sunday. With 32 hits over ten innings, it didn’t come to anyone’s surprise that Iowa State walked away with a 24-2 victory over Iowa Central. 

Out of the 21 players that had at bats, 18 of them walked away with a hit. Nineteen batters got on base at some point during the game.

Iowa State was looking to make up for some of the offense that last year’s seniors brought. The biggest reason that Iowa State walked away with this large victory was the patience that the batters had at the plate. 

Iowa Central’s bullpen recorded zero strikeouts over the ten-inning game.

Great all-around defense

One point that Head Coach Jamie Pinkerton made clear before the game is that he wanted to try out different combinations of players to figure out what worked and what did not work on defense.

Over the course of the ten-inning game, he tried out three different sets of players on defense and moved people around constantly throughout the game. This gave the team great insight into figuring out their starting lineup as well as the backups for the upcoming season.

Iowa State started and ended the game strong, only allowing one run off of five hits and having no errors over seven innings. 

Of course no game goes perfectly, especially when the team is still trying to figure out its identity. Iowa State had three errors in the fifth through the seventh inning, but were able to quickly clean up the mistakes to only allow one run.

The defense performed well overall and was able to give the coaching staff good insight into what combinations are going to work well together going forward.

Solid pitching

With all five pitchers coming back from last year, it was expected that the bullpen would be improved. With only one earned run given through ten innings, the bullpen looks to be as strong as ever. 

The pitching started off hot with Sophomore Saya Swain striking out four of the seven batters she faced. She would only let up one hit in her two innings at the mound.

Senior Shannon Mortimer did let up a solo home run in her second inning at the mound but cleaned up the rest of the batters she faced, to only allow one run off of four hits.

Junior Janessa Jasso and Sophomore Karlie Charles did a great job getting through their four innings pitched, only allowing one hit in each of their appearances. 

To close out the night, Sophomore Ellie Spelhaug displayed great pitching, finding the strike zone 21 times on 30 pitches to strike out four of the six batters she faced. She would allow no hits or walks, to secure Iowa State’s victory over Iowa Central.

The Iowa State bullpen did a great job finding the strike zone throughout the game.  They were able to keep Iowa Central’s batting under control, by recording 13 strikeouts between the five pitchers.

The Iowa State pitchers also did a great job giving the defense chances to make plays. Through all ten innings, only two walks were allowed. 

Iowa State is going to look to take this momentum into the rest of the fall season and continue to improve each game. The next games are set to take place Sept. 19 with a double-header against DePaul.