AMES, Iowa – Iowa State (2-1, 0-0 Big 12) split the second day of the Cyclone Invitational on Saturday, downing South Dakota State (0-3, 0-0 Summit League) 11-4, before falling to IPFW (1-2, 0-0 Summit League), 8-5.
Junior Sara Davison drove in a team-high four runs on three hits in the win over the Jackrabbits while Maddie Reese added three more RBI for the Cyclones. Through three games, Davison is hitting .429 with three doubles and five RBI.
Freshman Brittany Gomez continued to show off her speed, collecting four stolen bases, two in each game, for a total of six on the weekend. Gomez went a combined 3-for-7 at the plate on Saturday.
Trailing, 0-1, against SDSU in the bottom of the first, Iowa State came alive with five runs on RBI singles from Erica Miller and Reese. A bases-loaded walk to Hally Lenzine added a third run and a two-RBI double to the left-center wall from Davison capped the scoring to put the Cyclones on top, 5-1.
The Jackrabbits came back with three unearned runs in the top of the third, cutting the Iowa State lead to 5-4, but it was not enough against Cyclone right-hander Taylor Smith (1-0) who threw five innings, allowed four runs, one earned, on eight hits, struck out two and walked none.
Davison tacked on another run for the home team with a two-out RBI ground-rule double to left in the Iowa State half of the fifth, and Liana Henry collected a pinch hit RBI single in her first plate appearance of the season, making the score 7-4.
Iowa State’s final three runs came in the sixth on a fielder’s choice, a ground-rule double by Reese and a two-out double from Davison.
Kori Seidlitz (0-2) took the loss for South Dakota State, giving up ten runs on nine hits, walking seven and striking out three.
Sara Hawryluk led off the second game of the day with a triple and came home on Gomez’s single down the right field line. A throwing error by the IPFW third baseman scored Gomez from second to put Iowa State up 2-0 after one inning.
Gomez led off the Cyclone third with a single before stealing her sixth base of the weekend and coming around to score on a double by Miller, extending the Iowa State lead to 3-0.
The visitors helped themselves to seven runs in the fourth inning, behind two-run home runs by both Dani Pugh and Ashleigh Bousquet before Iowa State added two more runs to its total in the bottom of the frame on a solo homer from Jorden Spendlove and an RBI double from Hawryluk.
On Sunday, Iowa State closes out its weekend at home with games against North Dakota at 1 p.m. CST and Indiana State at 3 p.m.
