Iowa State Loses to No. 7 Georgia; Florida Atlantic to Open 2004 Softball Season

MIAMI, Fla. ? The Iowa State softball team dropped games to both No. 7 Georgia and Florida Atlantic Friday afternoon at Florida International's University Park. The game were apart of the DeLong Florida International Tournament, hosted by Florida Atlantic University. In the first game of the day, Iowa State lost to No. 7 Georgia, 2-0, and fell to Florida Atlantic, 5-0, in Friday's late game. With the losses, ISU's record falls to 0-2.

Against Georgia, the Bulldogs got on the scoreboard right away by scoring a run in the first inning and one in the second inning. The Bulldogs offense stalled, but their defense held the Cyclones scoreless throughout the game. The Cyclones had one hit and one error compared to Georgia's eight hits and zero errors. ISU received its lone hit from junior Misty Kimura. Freshman Alyssa Ransom was on the mound for the Cyclones and struck out one Georgia batter. Georgia's Michelle Green was the game's winning pitcher and had 13 strike outs.

Against Florida Atlantic, the game was scoreless until Florida Atlantic scored a run in the fifth inning and two each in the sixth and seventh to pull away from the Cyclones. Senior Kelly Wardein was the lone Cyclone to reach base and the team had three errors. Sophomore Kristen Karanzias was on the mound for the Cyclones and struck out four Florida Atlantic batters and walked three.

“For the most part, I thought we played pretty well against some teams who were in the NCAA Tournament last year,” head coach Ruth Crowe said. “I thought our defense was solid but unfortunately we didn't help ourselves offensively.”

Iowa State will continue competing in the Florida International Tournament on Saturday, where they will square off with No. 13 Oregon at 1 p.m., and against host Florida International at 6 p.m.