Iowa State falls in doubleheader against No. 1 Oklahoma

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Tyler Coe

Tiana Poole tracks down a fly-ball in right field in game one against Oklahoma on Mar. 24, 2023.

The Iowa State softball team fell to No. 1 Oklahoma Saturday in a doubleheader. Oklahoma has now swept the Cyclones after winning both games by mercy rule Saturday and winning Friday’s match.

In the first game, the Cyclones got off to a hot start by putting up two runs on Oklahoma’s Nicole May who had an 0.18 ERA before entering the day.

Iowa State’s center fielder Milaysia Ochoa started off the scoring after hitting a double off the top of the wall in right field that scored Carli Spelhaug to make it 1-0 Iowa State.

Ochoa has played very well these past two days against some very tough competition. Both offensively and defensively, she has produced for Iowa State when it needed her the most.

An error by Oklahoma’s first baseman scored Ochoa from second base as Iowa State’s first baseman Angelina Allen was the one to get the run across.

The last run of the game for Iowa State would be scored by Lea Nelson as she hit her first collegiate home run. Nelson came in to pinch hit in the bottom of the fourth inning and she made a memory for herself that she will never forget.

“It was honestly so exciting,” Nelson said. “It felt really good off my bat and when I saw that it went over the wall, I was really emotional and when I started to round third base my teammates and coaches were cheering for me so it was just overall so surreal.”

While it may seem that Iowa State had some successes, Oklahoma had other plans. The Sooners went on to hit six home runs that counted for 13 runs as they dominated the Cyclones by a score of 13-3 in a five-inning mercy rule.

In the second game, Iowa State could not find any success at all.

The Cyclones were forced into a mercy rule due to lack of scoring as they fell to Oklahoma in five innings by a score of 10-0.

Oklahoma took advantage quickly by having an eight-run first inning that was capped off by a two-run home run to make the game out of reach for Iowa State.

Iowa State was forced to make two different pitching changes in one inning as it tried to halt the Sooners explosive offense.

Oklahoma would only score two more runs in the game as a solo home run in the second, and an error in the fifth gave them a 10-0 win.

Jordy Bahl started the second game for Oklahoma and she dominated as she only gave up a single hit in the five innings of play.

Iowa State’s head coach Jamie Pinkerton didn’t expect any less from the Sooners as he knew what they had the potential to do coming into this series.

“That’s what they do [Oklahoma],” Pinkerton said. “They just have an innate ability to take advantage of your mistakes and it happened today.”

The Cyclones now look to prepare for the Red Raiders as they will travel to Lubbock, Texas, to face off against Texas Tech starting on Friday.