An hour before the Iowa State and Baylor softball game, the music turned on at the Cyclone Sports Complex. The sun was shining and there were no clouds in sight.

The temperature was a high of 68 degrees on Sunday afternoon and it was all smiles before the game. It was the last home game for Iowa State this regular season, which meant it was Senior Day for three of the Cyclones.

The team recognized seniors Nychole Antillon, Kaila Konz and Brianna Weilbacher before the game. Antillon was singing to every song that came on and had a new dance move for each beat. Konz participated in the pregame hacky sack game. Weilbacher was practicing her pitches and becoming comfortable before facing the Ladybears.

“The three are special,” said coach Jamie Pinkerton. “I just appreciate them from the standpoint of [having three coaches in four years] that they’ve accepted us [as a coaching staff]. They bought in.”

It was all smiles and laughs before the umpire said two words.

Play ball.

Then, those smiles and laughs disappeared and Baylor showed why its ranked 19th in the country with a dominating performance from the very first pitch of game.

Two runs in the first. Four runs in the second. Three runs in the third. Fourteen hits from Baylor. Two errors from Iowa State. And a 9-0 final score in favor of the Ladybears.

Baylor completed the sweep against Iowa State to bring the Ladybears’ record up to 33-14 (10-6 Big 12) and the Cyclones’ record down to 22-28 (3-12 Big 12)

“This game I don’t take anything,” Pinkerton said. “We just got to throw it away.”

The Cyclones went through three pitchers in today’s game. It started with Weilbacher who pitched two innings giving up four earned runs and six total runs. Then, Emma Hylen came into the game, but after just 18 pitches she had to leave the game due to injury.

Hylen had a line drive come back to hit her right ankle. The ball connecting to the ankle echoed throughout the stadium and small gasp came from each of the Iowa State fans.

She laid on the ground for a few moments, but got back onto her feet and left the game. She gave up three earned runs in 2/3 of an inning. The final pitcher was Julie Lewis who pitched two and 1/3 innings giving up only two hits and zero runs.

This is the third game this season that Iowa State has been hit with the mercy rule with the other two coming against Florida and Oklahoma. Pinkerton said that there were some coaching errors as well as a handful of player errors in this game, but now it’s time to refocus for the last regular season series against Kansas next weekend.

“We need to work, as a team, on our mental game,” Antillon said. “Just touching up some softball 101 and just knowing that if we attack from the start we’ll be able to sweep [Kansas].”

Next weekend is a big weekend for not only the three seniors, but the entire team because if Iowa State can win one of the three games next weekend, the Cyclones will lock up a spot in the Big 12 Tournament. Weilbacher said the goal every season is to stretch out the season as much as possible, especially for the senior class each year.

Every senior agreed that there’s extra motivation heading into this upcoming weekend to make sure that their season doesn’t end. They also agreed that they aren’t worried because they believe the Iowa State team can not only win one game, but could potentially sweep the weekend.

If Iowa State were to win one game against Kansas, who is currently 25-24 on the season with a 0-15 Big 12 record, then the Cyclones would pack their bags for Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for the Big 12 Tournament on May 11 and 12.

“We just need to take it one game at a time,” Konz said. “We throw this game away and we now focus on beating Kansas, so we can continue our season at the Big 12’s.”