Iowa State powered its way to a dominant 18-7 win in five innings over Utah on the road Saturday. The win secured another series victory for the Cyclones, who scored their most runs in a single game since 2017 in the contest.
Saturday’s victory is the fifth in a row for the Cyclones, who are 28-19 this season. Now 13-7 in conference play, Iowa State sits in third in the Big 12 standings, only a half game behind Arizona.
The Cyclones are hot at the right time. With six games left in the regular season, they’re 9-1 in their last 10.
Big impact players
Freshman Karlee Ford was the hero of the day. She had six RBIs, including a grand slam to bust the game wide open in the third inning. Ford was 2-for-2 on the day, adding a double to her home run in the fifth and walked twice.
Iowa State got much of the bullpen involved on Saturday. Freshman Sami Potvin started the game and handed the reins off to sophomore Lauren Schurman in the second inning. Junior Jaiden Ralston took over for Schurman in the fourth and closed out the game, being awarded the win.
Cyclones grab the lead
After going down 1-0 in the first inning, the Cyclones fired back in the second. With two outs and runners on first and second, junior Tiana Poole singled up the middle to bring in Ford.
Junior McKenna Andrews followed Poole up with a double to center field, which brought in two runners and extended the lead to 3-1.
The Utes rallied to take the lead at 4-3 in the bottom of the second inning, but the Cyclones fired back with five runs in the top of the third. Freshman Jessie Clemons kicked off the action with a double to left field. Junior Tatum Johnson walked and senior Angelina Allen brought in Clemons with another double.
Junior Sydney Malott walked to load the bases and Ford came to the plate to maximize the opportunity. She blasted a home run to left center field for the grand slam.
When all was said and done for the top of the third inning, the score was 8-4 with the Cyclones leading.
Utah scored on an error in the bottom of the third, but Iowa State continued the onslaught in the fourth inning. After she was walked, Clemons scored on a sacrifice fly from Allen.
Johnson got on with a single and Malott crushed a home run to left center field to bring the pair home.
Iowa State’s massive finish
The Cyclones were not done yet, though. After a scoreless bottom of the fourth for Utah, Iowa State added seven runs in the top of the fifth.
Utah walked the first four batters of the inning to load the bases and bring in a run. Allen brought home another run with a single to bring the score to 13-5. After Malott was walked again, another run scored.
Ford brought home two more with a double to left center and a double from sophomore Isabelle Nosan that ended up scoring the final pair of the inning for Iowa State, who closed out the top of the inning with an 18-5 lead.
Utah scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning, but could not avoid the run rule and the game was concluded. The final was 18-7 in favor of Iowa State. The Cyclones recorded 10 hits and walked 14 times during the game.
The Cyclones and Utes will face off again at noon Sunday in Salt Lake City. The final game of the series will be live-streamed on ESPN+.
