ISU Defeats Santa Barbara, Cal Pony, to Tie for Santa Barbara Tourney Crown

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The Iowa State softball team defeated Santa Barbara, 2-0, Sunday afternoon in the team's final game of the 2003 Santa Barbara Softball By the Beach Tournament to tie the host school for the tournament championship with a 4-1 tourney record.

The Cyclones defeated Cal Poly, 1-0, in the Saturday night game. With the wins, Iowa State's overall record improves to 7-8.

Against host Santa Barbara, Erica Martinez was the team's winning pitcher, with a season-high 11 strikeouts and only two hits. ISU got both hits in the first inning as Martinez hit a homerun, scoring junior Julia Lindsey and herself.

The Cyclones had six hits on the game, two by Lindsey, two by Kelly Wardein and one each by Martinez and Cary Akins. Martinez also had two RBI. Santa Barbara only had two hits on the day.

Against Cal Poly, the game went into extra innings as Iowa State scored on a late run. Senior Adi Blackmon was placed on second to start the bottom of the eighth inning. Martinez reached first base on an error by Cal Poly's shortstop and advancing Blackmon to third base. Wardein singled up the middle, advancing Martinez to second and scoring Blackmon.

Per tiebreaker rules, the game ended as soon as Blackmon scored, giving ISU the 1-0 win. Martinez was the game's winning pitcher and ISU had seven hits to Cal Poly's two.

Iowa State defeated Cal State Northridge, Utah, Cal Poly and Santa Barbara, while losing to San Diego State in the Softball By the Beach Tournament. It was ISU's best showing at a tournament this season.

"We played really well this weekend," Head Coach Ruth Crowe said. "The kids played tough and I was really proud of the effort they gave this weekend. To go 4-1 at this tournament with the kind of competition we faced really says a lot about this team and how far we can go this year."

The Cyclones continue tournament play next weekend when they travel to Carbondale, Ill., to take part in the Southern Illinois Tournament. ISU will play both Southern and Northern Illinois on Saturday, March 1 and Syracuse and Southern Illinois on Sunday, March 2.