Iowa State softball faced Indian Hills Community College and William Penn University on Sunday, beating them 15-4 and 20-0 respectively.

It was a successful day for the Cyclones who got big contributions from both the starters and backup players.

Great defense continues

One thing that head coach Jamie Pinkerton said he wanted to see on Sunday was his team continuing to play clean defense.

They certainly met that expectation, as they only gave up four runs against Indian Hills and nearly pitched a combined no-hitter against William Penn.

The pitchers were on point all day. Saya Swain pitched the first five innings of the Indian Hills game. After giving up two runs in the first inning, she didn’t allow another hit for the rest of her time pitching and closed out the fifth with three strikeouts.

Janessa Jasso pitched one and half innings in the first game and four in the second, giving up zero hits in both. Ellie Spelhaug also pitched four innings in game two and didn’t allow a single hit either.

On top of the pitching, the Cyclones had players all over the field making plays for them. In the fourth inning against Indian Hills, Alesia Ranches made a diving catch to get an out followed by an impressive throw to first to end the possession.

Kasey Simpson and McKenna Andrews also made multiple big plays throughout the two games that helped the Cyclones dominate that side of the ball.

Double header? No problem

After playing a full game against Indian Hills, one could have expected the Cyclones to have a slower start against William Penn. However, this was not the case at all.

Iowa State came out swinging and racked up 10 runs in the first four innings, including a home run from Angelina Allen in the second inning.

The team looked even stronger in their second game of the day than in their first. Players up and down the roster were getting hits and scoring in bunches. At one point, they even got a little “Cyclone Power” chant from a handful of fans.

Team finding their identity

Pinkerton said this year’s team is figuring out who they are and when it comes to their identity, he knows “about as much as you do.”

Even though the Cyclones returned a lot of key players from last year, Pinkerton said every team is different and part of fall ball is finding out what their strengths and weaknesses are.

The team is using these games to help returning players work on their game, try out new combinations of players and start getting the younger players involved.

Iowa State remains undefeated in fall play as they head into the Big Four Classic against UNI, Iowa and Drake Saturday.