Softball Clinches Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa State softball team clinched the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series with a 5-4 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes Wednesday night at Bob Pearl Field. The win moved ISU, who got its first win in Iowa City since 2003, to 21-17 on the season, while Iowa fell to 14-32.

With the win, Iowa State clinched the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series 15-11 over Iowa. It marks the second-consecutive season ISU has won the series, marking the first time either school has claimed back-to-back Cy-Hawk Series titles.

Aly Cappaert hit the game-winning home run in the top of the fifth inning while Stacy Roggentien pitched a complete game while tying a career-high with 10 strikeouts.

Big Starts
After Brittany Gomez struck out looking to start the game, the Cyclone offense got to work. Cathlin Bingham drew a walk, Aly Cappaert reached on an error and Lexi Slater also walked to load the bases. Two batters later, Kelsey McFarland stayed strong and drew a bases loaded walk to bring home the first run. That set the stage for Jorden Spendlove, who made the big play with a base hit to right-center that brought home Cappaert and Slater to expand the Iowa State advantage to 3-0 before the Hawkeyes got to bat.

However, ISU also struggled in the field as Stacy Roggentien started by issuing back-to-back walks to lead off the game. That set things up for Megan Blank as the Hawkeye star fired an RBI-single to center to cut the ISU lead to 3-1. After another Roggentien walk, she fired a pitch wide during Kaitlyn Mullarkey's at-bat. Sammie Hildreth got to the ball quickly, but Roggentien couldn't get the tag down in time and the ISU lead was down to one.

However, Roggentien settled down and started to find the zone. She got Mullarkey to strike out looking, Allie Wood swinging on a trio of higher pitches and Erin Erickson to strike out looking to get out of the inning and keep Iowa State ahead 3-2.

Reese Returns the Lead
Iowa tied the game 3-3 in the bottom of the second on an RBI-single by Sammi Gyerman. The Cyclones did not waste much time restoring its lead as Maddie Reese launched a one-out Shayla Starkenburg offering well over the leftfield wall to put Iowa State back ahead 4-3. It was Reese's ninth home run of the season.

However, the Hawkeyes fought back again to tie it in the home half of the third. The Hawkeyes got a pair in scoring position and eventually brought home the run on a fielding error by Nychole Antillon.

Cappaert Goes Long
After an uneventful fourth inning, the drama resumed in the fifth inning. Cappaert led off the inning with a deep home run to center, hitting it over the scoreboard to put Iowa State back ahead 5-4. The red-hot Cappaert had her fifth home run of the season to get the Cyclones the advantage for the third time.

ISU was able to hold its lead, even after a triple by Mullarkey, as Roggentien got pinch hitter Alyssa Navarro swinging to end the fifth inning.

Roggentien Shuts it Down
After a rocky first three innings, Stacy Roggentien was in control the rest of the way. The senior from Marengo, Iowa took care of business against the Hawkeyes. Iowa only had one base runner get into scoring position the last four innings. She closed out the game in the seventh with a pair of strikeouts, including a swinging strikeout by Mullarkey for the 10th strikeout of the game and an Iowa State victory.

On Deck
Iowa State resumes Big 12 play at Texas. The first game of the three-game series in Austin is Friday at 6:30 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Nychole Antillon

Cathlin Bingham

Aly Cappaert

Aly Cappaert

Brittany Gomez

Brittany Gomez

Sammie Hildreth

Kelsey McFarland

Maddie Reese

Maddie Reese

Stacy Roggentien

Stacy Roggentien

Lexi Slater

Lexi Slater

Jorden Spendlove

Jorden Spendlove

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