The Iowa State Cyclones were back to action in today’s outing versus the No. 19 Baylor Lady Bears.

The game was hosted at the Cyclone Sports Complex, which featured a windy afternoon for both teams.

Coming into the game, right-handed pitcher Emma Hylen got the start.

She had previously came from a five-hit game against in-state rival Iowa. In that game she allowed two earned runs on five hits.

Today, she came out and gave five innings of production. In those innings, Hylen gave up 11 hits and six earned runs. She allowed a Baylor home run in the fourth inning.

Senior Brianna Weilbacher came in for Hylen during the top of the fifth inning. Her time on the mound saw her allow three hits, and one earned run on the only run scored during her outing.

“We didn’t get the first out of the inning, they found holes on the field,” Hylen said. “I feel for the most part at the beginning of the game. I was throwing decent pitches but they got their bat on the ball.” 

The Cyclones played against one of the most explosive offenses without having a proper response.

The Lady Bears put up 14 hits and scored in half of those hits.

“They just kinda just got little bleeders. But that’s what they do, they’ve got good speed,” said coach Jamie Pinkerton. “They put the ball on the ground and unfortunately for us today, our home field plays to their game.They were able to hit into the 5-6 zone.”

The Cyclones found themselves to be the first on the board when Sami Williams homered to center field. That put the Cyclones up 1-0. From there, they couldn’t produce any more scores. Their last scoring attempt was in the second inning, when they left two runners on the corners stranded.

“We had nine at bats, where we had nine pitches or less. And we got to see more pitches and do a better job at not getting ourselves out,” Pinkerton said.

Iowa State’s offense produced six hits all day. Williams and Sydney Stites produced two each. Kaylee Bosworth and Skyler Ramos each had one hit each.

Pinkerton had talked about adjusting more for the next game as far as being more selective on the pitches to hit.

“Personally, I can adjust to doing that. [We need] to make strides the next two games and not hit the pitchers pitch,” Williams said.

Williams went 2-for-3 on the day, adding a home run to her season stats. She now leads the team in home runs at 11.

“I guess you just hit them when you’re not trying to. It’s not like I was going up like ‘I need to hit a home run.’ I just saw she threw me off speed,” Williams said.

Hylen is ready to re-adjust should she be tabbed to start again.

“They had a lot of balls [where they wanted them], so I just have to make sure my pitches move a little bit more, maybe switch it up a little more,” Hylen said. 

The Cyclones need one victory to get into the Big 12 Championship Tournament and have five games remaining. They have two games remaining against the Lady Bears along with an entire series against the Kansas Jayhawks.

However, Pinkerton says the focus is still clear for the team.

“Well, we have five shots to win one and if we can’t do that, then the other teams that jump above us deserve to go,” Pinkerton said. “But that’s not really a thought. If we go out and play the way we’ve been playing most of the year, we’ll be fine.”