Iowa State softball has won two out of the last 13 games and will attempt to get back to a winning record against St. Thomas on Wednesday.

The Cyclones will face the Tommies at the Cyclone Sports Complex in a mid-week head-to-head matchup against their Summit League opponent. 

“We got a lot of work,” Iowa State head coach Jamie Pinkerton said. “We’ve got to focus on St. Thomas and try to get back above .500.”

In its most recent series, Iowa State fell to the .500 mark at 21 wins and 21 losses on the season. Iowa State will face a non-conference opponent days before traveling to Norman, Okla., to face the nation’s best team, the Sooners. 

The .500 mark, and remaining around or above it, is something Pinkerton and the Cyclones take great pride in.

Since joining the program in 2018, Pinkerton has led Iowa State to two winning seasons, not including the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. 

Iowa State had just two seasons at or above .500 between 1990 and 2017 before Pinkerton joined as head coach. It’s a team goal, Pinkerton said, to gain a second consecutive winning season. 

As a program, Iowa State has not had two consecutive winning seasons since the 1988 and 1989 seasons. 

After winning the series opener against the Red Raiders, Iowa State was shut down by the opposing pitching staff. Cyclone hitters managed four hits and two runs in the final two games of the series.

Against the Texas Tech staff of Kendall Fritz and Erna Carlin, the Cyclones struggled to make adjustments. And without a late-inning rally, Iowa State lost two conference games and dropped on the Big 12 conference standings. 

Iowa State allowed nine runs in the second inning of the series finale with Texas Tech Saturday. 

According to Pinkerton, Iowa State will need to slow itself down and eliminate big innings where the situation overwhelms the lineup. 

“This has happened too much,” Pinkerton said. “I’ve got to figure out a better approach on how to slow them [Iowa State] down, let them catch a breath, and how to encourage them to make the next play.” 

In Texas Tech’s second inning Saturday, 13 batters came to the plate. Three walks and two hit batters added to the damage done by the Red Raider lineup in that frame.

Iowa State allowed a six-run first inning in games one and two of the Texas Tech series. Thursday, the Cyclones managed a comeback. However, the opponent’s big inning was too much in both of the remaining games. 

Friday, Iowa State’s starting pitcher Karlie Charles failed to settle in. Charles recorded one out during Texas Tech’s first-inning outburst before leaving the game.

The pitching loss for Charles was her third in as many starts.

Charles is a veteran member of the Iowa State pitching staff, but her recent struggles caused Pinkerton and staff to withhold her from Saturday’s series finale. 

The junior pitched 0.1 innings the day prior but did not appear in the 9–1 Iowa State loss.

Charles pitched in 31 games in 2021, led Iowa State in innings pitched and gained 14 wins.

According to her head coach, Charles will spend time in the bullpen working with the coaching staff to return to form before the season’s final push begins. 

St. Thomas is 10–28 overall in the 2022 season and 5–7 in the Summit League competition. 

The Tommies were picked to finish last in the Summit League but are currently fifth in the league’s standings. 

St. Thomas ace Isabelle True enters the matchup, having allowed five earned runs in her last 20 innings pitched. 

The matchup will begin at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Cyclone Sports Complex in Ames. 

Wednesday’s matchup will be the first-ever meeting of the two schools.