Iowa State Upsets No. 20 Oklahoma, 2-1

AMES, Iowa ? Junior Misty Kimura hit her seventh home run of the season to help lead Iowa State to a 2-1 win against No. 20 Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon at the Southwest Athletic Complex. The win, which snaps a four-game losing streak for the Cyclones, improves ISU's record to 12-29 overall and 2-12 in Big 12 play. Oklahoma falls to 37-17 overall. Freshman Alyssa Ransom was stellar on the mound for the Cyclones, giving up only five hits and striking out a season-high eight batters. Her record improves to 9-17.

The win, which was ISU's first Big 12 win since the Cyclones defeated Texas Tech on March 28, was ISU's first over a top 25 team this season. It was also the second year in a row the Cyclones have defeated Oklahoma in a game.

The Sooners jumped on the scoreboard right away in the first inning when Heather Scaglione, who leads the Big 12 in batting, hit a home run to right field, making the score 1-0 in favor of Oklahoma. ISU got the bats going right away in the bottom of the inning when senior Julia Lindsey hit a single to center field, but the inning stalled when sophomore Cary Akins got out on a sacrifice, Ashley Killeen grounded out to the second baseman and junior Misty Kimura struck out swinging. After a scoreless second inning, the Cyclones jumped on the board in the bottom of the third inning when freshman Fallon Johnson hit a single to right field and then advanced to second base on an error by Oklahoma's right fielder. Akins sent Johnson home when she hit a single to center field for her ninth RBI of the season. The Cyclones threatened to score again in the bottom of the fourth inning when they had the bases loaded as Johnson came up to bat. She reached first base on a fielder's choice, but the Sooners threw out Kim Rodgers at home to stop ISU's scoring threat. ISU scored the winning run in the fifth inning when Kimura homered to right field. Iowa State shut down the Sooner offense in the next inning and a half by registering four put outs and two strike outs to win the game, 2-1.

“Alyssa was the story today,” head coach Ruth Crowe said. “She went right at them and she really made clutch plays when we needed her to. She threw very consistently. All in all, it was a good win for the team. The kids finally realized that when they keep at something, good things happen. We knew that if we could keep them down in the fifth and sixth innings, we would win the game. It was a good win for us.”

Iowa State had nine hits and zero errors compared to Oklahoma's five hits and one error. ISU got hits from Lindsey (1), Akins (1), Kimura (1), Rodgers (2), Kelly Wardein (2), Jennifer Bigbee (1) and Johnson (1).

Iowa State will travel to Lawrence, Kan., to take on the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday and Sunday, May 8-9, in its last series of the regular season. Saturday's game will start at 2 p.m., and Sunday's game will begin at 1 p.m.

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