IOWA CITY — Iowa State outlasted the Iowa Hawkeyes 9-7 on Wednesday evening at Pearl Field. The meeting marked game one of two in this season’s Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series.
A pair of two-run home runs in the top of the third inning kick-started a back-and-forth fight that kept fans on the edges of their seats the rest of the game. Each team only had one scoreless half of an inning the rest of the game.
Three different Cyclones each hit a home run at some point in the game, and all three of them were two-run shots. Senior shortstop Reagan Bartholomew’s home run came at the most important time. Bartholomew’s two-run shot broke a 7-7 tie in the top of the seventh inning to give the Cyclones a two-run lead.
“Both teams continued to throw punches back and forth,” Bartholomew said. “Being able to take a punch and being able to respond to it is just what this team is really good at right now and hopefully we can keep doing it.”
Despite all the big swings by the Cyclones, the Hawkeyes simply wouldn’t go away. Hawkeye senior right fielder Tory Bennett crushed a three-run home run to left field to make the score 4-3 in the bottom of the third. After the three-run shot, no team led the other by more than two runs the rest of the game.
In the top of the fifth, junior pinch runner Ireland Buss scored while the Hawkeye defense caught senior third baseman McKenna Andrews in a pickle between first and second base. In the bottom of the fourth, Iowa freshman first baseman Mariah Myers launched a two-run shot to left field to make the score 5-5.
Wednesday’s game for the Cyclones carried similarities to their game on Monday against No. 13 Arizona. Having the recent experience kept the confidence high late in the game.
“As long as you have an out and you have an opportunity, you have to keep playing,” head coach Jamie Pinkerton said. “That’s what I saw on the team across the field today.”
After that three-game series against Arizona, the Cyclones proved they can battle adversity against anyone, including the Hawkeyes.
“After this past weekend, we know that we can battle and we can go against any team,” senior centerfielder Tatum Johnson said. “Obviously, we’re kind of used to that, the going back and forth.”
Johnson had the first two-run home run in the top of the third that kick-started the back-and-forth battle. She finished with three hits in the game. The second two-run shot of the inning came from sophomore second baseman Kadence Shepherd, her only hit of the game.
