Iowa State softball came home with two impressive wins against DePaul University in Sunday’s double-header, the second and third points of competition for the team this fall. It demonstrated dominance on the mound and at the plate, to outscore DePaul by eight runs in each game. The fall season is all about figuring out the new team and the games against DePaul showed areas that Iowa State excels at and areas where improvement is needed. 

Efficiency at the plate

Similar to the first game of the season, Iowa State came out hot at the plate. The Cyclones recorded nine more hits in each game than DePaul’s batters, so it is no surprise that they won each game by a large margin. The Cyclones also did a great job capitalizing on hits, by scoring eight runs off 11 hits in the first game and nine runs off 12 hits in the second. 

Iowa State demonstrated excellent plate discipline by taking six bases on balls in the first game and five in the second. 

The Iowa State batters only recorded four strikeouts in the first game and just one in the second. 

Dominant pitching 

Iowa State’s pitching would turn out to be more than DePaul could handle. The Cyclone bullpen only allowed five hits total over the weekend and only give up one run late in the second game.

Out of the five pitchers, not a single one gave up an earned run throughout the two games. In the first game, the bullpen would only allow two hits and strikeout 12 of the batters they faced. In the second, they allowed just three hits. 

Sophomore Ellie Spelhaug opened the first game strong by recording four strikeouts in her two innings pitched. She would end the day leading the team with six total strikeouts over three innings pitched. Karlie Charles, sophomore, also stood out in the doubleheader, allowing no hits in her three innings pitched and only facing ten batters. She found the strike zone on around 82% of her pitches and cleaned up three batters in just eight pitches in the second game.

Overall the bullpen displayed great efficiency. In the second game they walked zero batters and every pitcher would record at least two strikeouts on the day. 

Errors here and there

One thing that became clear throughout the doubleheader, was that the team is still trying to figure out what pieces work well together on defense. Iowa State had three errors in the first game and two in the second. Although they did win by a comfortable amount, there are things that the defense is going to have to clean up.

The fall season is a great way to experiment with the defense, and this doubleheader should give a lot of insight to the coaching staff as to what works.

Iowa State is going to look to improve on this defensive performance going forward and should know what to focus on in the upcoming practices and scrimmages. Coming off of these wins on the road, the Cyclones will look to continue their momentum in the upcoming games. Iowa State plays Kirkwood Community College at home on Friday.