The Iowa State softball team played the series finale versus Oklahoma on Sunday, ending in a 22-2 loss.

Facing the highest offensive-producing team in the country troubled the Cyclones. With depth throughout its batting order and lineup, Oklahoma was able to capitalize to outscore the Cyclones by 20.

“I don’t think we need to change anything, we just had a bad series. We are 22-8 now and last time I checked we were just outside the top 25…I think we just need to regather and regroup for Tuesday night against Drake,” Iowa State Head Coach Jamie Pinkerton said.

Even though there were small defensive efforts from the Cyclones, it was too much to handle in the end. The Cyclones switched pitchers three times to try and stop the Sooner offense but each had trouble shutting them down.

Defensive ruts halted the Cyclones in the third and fourth innings. The ruts came from missing discipline. A lack of communication between teammates was a lost opportunity to cut the flow of the Sooner offense.

Defensive ruts pushed the Cyclones away from having a chance to battle with such a powerful offense. As Oklahoma kept hitting, the Cyclones kept digging a bigger hole to climb out of.

In the fourth inning, the Sooners put on 10 more runs, leaving the Cyclones with no defensive answer.

“It’s not the first time [Oklahoma’s] done something like this to someone this year, and it won’t be the last,” Pinkerton said.

The Cyclones aren’t the first team to face the offensive power of the Sooners, with 16 of their 22 games ending in a run rule. This comes from both defensive and offensive efforts.

The challenge for the Cyclones on Sunday and the other two games over the weekend was finding ways to stop them before it got too late. On the defensive side, more communication coupled with disciplined defense on plays could’ve changed the course of the game. 

There were moments in the game where the offense was able to produce for momentum. At one point there were three Cyclones on base, which led to a run for the team. 

The offense wasn’t attacking either for the Cyclones. 

For coming games, the team has the ability to slow down the offense with more discipline on defense, which comes with tracking and focusing on each play at a time.

“I think in order to stay in the game we need to fight back and punch back to defend ourselves,” sophomore Alesia Ranches said.