ISU freshman pitcher Savannah Sanders sat alone in an airport somewhere near Mercer, Ga. The team was coming off its first losing weekend of the season, and its record had dropped from a sparkling 10-4 to a murky 11-8.

She sat reflecting on the disappointing weekend, trying to find ways to never have to feel the way she did again.

“I was sitting there thinking about the things I didn’t like [from that past weekend] and I knew I didn’t want to have those feelings anymore.” Sanders said.

Sanders is extremely competitive. Everyone on the team knows she hates losing, and she self-identifies as a “sore loser”. Most athletes hate losing, it’s in the nature of college sports.

But Sanders did not make a single appearance that road trip. She was too sick to play.

“Savannah is a fantastic competitor, said coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler. “She’s just someone who loves to play and win at anything. She’ll want to beat you at checkers, she’ll want to beat you to the door, she’ll want to beat you in whatever it is, as long as you say go.”

Iowa State’s pitching has been put through the ringer these last few weeks. The team has faced impressive opponents, some of which the best softball players in the country play for. 

So far, the Cyclones’ young pitching staff has taken its lumps. ISU was sporting an impressive 2.06 team ERA before these last two weekends but now sits at a still respectable 3.00 ERA on the season. However, to jump almost a whole run as team in ERA and in just two weekends, is alarming.

Sanders has seemed untouchable at times this season, even being named Big 12 pitcher of the week in February. However, the past two weekends, Sanders and the entire Cyclone pitching staff have been hit hard, allowing 46 runs during the stretch.

Even though it’s been hard at times for the freshman, Sanders still oozes confidence beyond her years.

“I mean, yeah it was rough a weekend but you can’t let that define you in a negative way, but I think having all that happen is just a setback and it shows you that you have this much more to improve on” Sanders said.

Sanders and her freshman counterpart, Emma Hylen, have been the Cyclones best pitchers this season. The two have found success playing off each other, learning from each other’s mistakes and differences.

“Well we are completely opposite pitchers for sure, she throws harder and I’m more of a movement pitcher, so we are a good balance,” Sanders said.

And it is those differences that have made the two Iowa State’s most consistent pitchers, combining for 31 appearances and a 2.68 ERA.

As impressive as those numbers are, Sanders is still a freshman, and she still has her struggles.

This past weekend, Iowa State was losing to UCLA 2-1, with Sanders keeping the Bruins in check for most of the game. It wasn’t until the 6^th inning that the Bruins would burst open the game, scoring five times and beating the Cyclones 7-1.

Sanders had the same problem later that day against Long Beach State, after coming in early in relief of Brianna Weilbacher, Sanders shut down the 49ers for 6 innings and was in line for the win before the final inning. She would walk in two runs and allow an RBI single to end the game in a walk-off for Long Beach State.

Beyond just the softball field, Sanders, a native of Mt. Julie, TN., has also been missing home.

“I know that my freshman year has been hard on me for sure,” Sanders said. “I’ve had a lot of struggles, a lot of ups and downs with everything inside and outside of softball. And being across the country, I don’t have family here, so they are my family”

Savannah cited her visits with the coaching staff and meeting with some of the team as the main reason she came to Iowa State. She feels a strong connection with her teammates and coaches.

She said she wants to be the best for them, to perform at her best every night. So when she cannot do so, she feels like she’s letting the team down, even if that’s not the case.

It is why she cares so much about winning or losing, even if she had no input on the outcome. She feels like she can always do something to help.

Even though this season has had some ups-and-downs for the freshman, Gemeinhardt-Cesler sees it as just part of the process.

“I think you know [Sanders] is going to hit rough patches,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “She’d thrown fantastic up until [these past few weeks]. I know she’s going to come back out and pitch well.”