Iowa State, Texas Tech Split Doubleheader

AMES, Iowa - Honors were even at the Cyclone Sports Complex Saturday as the Iowa State softball team and Texas Tech both left with a win. On the back of a Brittany Gomez grand slam, Iowa State won the first game 5-2. Tech bounced back to take the second game 2-1 in eight innings, taking advantage of a pair of ISU errors. Iowa State is now 26-24 overall on the season, 3-11 in Big 12 play. Texas Tech moves to 24-26 on the year, 8-9 in conference competition.

Game One: Iowa State 5 Texas Tech 2
The Red Raiders were first on the board in unconventional fashion. Kierra Miles drew a two-out walk, but it looked like it would be for not as Susan Welborn struck out against Stacy Roggentien, her third of the inning. However, ISU catcher Sammie Hildreth dropped the strike and Welborn was able to make it to first. Brittany Warnecke made ISU play, firing an RBI-single to right-center to make it 1-0 TTU. Roggentien would strike out Brooke Scott to end a rare four-strikeout inning.

The Iowa State offense bounced back in the bottom of the third. Jorden Spendlove led off the inning with a base hit to left. Nychole Antillon laid down a sac bunt to get Spendlove over to second, but Tech decided to go for the force at second, but Spendlove got to the bag before the ball. Tech would have another bad break in the field, as Hildreth rolled one to short, Spendlove had to hop over the ball to prevent hitting it, and that was enough to put off Scott at short and load the bases with no outs.

That set the stage for Brittany Gomez, who shocked everyone at the Cyclone Sports Complex with a line-drive grand slam to move ahead 4-1. It was just the third homer of Gomez's career, and her first that was for more than one run. Two batters later, Lexi Slater joined the party with her ninth home run of the season, a no-doubter to left to make it 5-1.

Roggentien continued to pitch strong, allowing a run in the fourth, but continuing to get the outs. The luck ran out in the top of the sixth, as Ashley Fultz and Miles each got singles to put runners on the corners with no outs. ISU called on Paris Imholz to get the outs. The senior delivered, getting a groundout and a double play, which saw a miscommunication lead to a fly-ball and a throw back to an abandoned third base for an easy third out.

ISU would have to dodge one final close call in the seventh, as TTU staged a two-out rally with a Devon Thomey walk and a Kristi Belshe single to get two on. Lea Hopson, Tech's top power hitter, gave it all she had to tie it on one swing, but it just had warning track power as Cathlin Bingham made the final catch against the fence to end the game in ISU's favor.

Game Two: Texas Tech 2 Iowa State 1 (8 innings)
The second game saw Tech first on the board again in the bottom of the second. With a runner on second and two outs, Susan Welborn rolled a slow one to third, Nychole Antillon had to make a quick throw, but was late and off-target with it. That allowed Lea Hopson on second to come around and score on the error to make it 1-0 Tech.

Iowa State equalized in the third. Sammie Hildreth drew a walk, Brittany Gomez got an infield single and Cathlin Bingham was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Lexi Slater struck out, but a wild pitch on the strikeout pitch allowed Gomez to come home and tie it up. However, ISU would leave the bases loaded that inning, three of 11 runners left on base for ISU in the second game.

The scoring slowed down from there with Brianna Weilbacher for Iowa State and Cara Custer for Texas Tech, taking care of business time and time again. However, both teams had their chances. In the bottom of the fourth, ISU got runners on second and third with two outs, but all Gomez could do was fly out to end the inning. ISU got another chance in the bottom of the fifth, getting runners on first and second with one out, but back-to-back pop ups ended that threat.

The Red Raiders then got runners on first and second with two outs in the sixth, but could only fly out to left and not do any damage to the scoreboard. ISU missed another chance when Antillon got a one-out double in the bottom of the sixth, but never got any further. Tech got a pair one with one out in the seventh, ending Weilbacher's day as Stacy Roggentien checked in. The senior came up big, getting back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat. Aly Cappaert led off the bottom of the seventh with her 13th double of the season. However, ISU missed the chance again as a pop up and a pair of groundouts meant extra innings.

The game was decided in the field. Kristi Belshe led off with a double, and Hopson decided to bunt her over. Antillon came up firing to first to get Hopson, but her throw was off-the-mark and into right, allowing Belshe to score and make it 2-1. While that was all Tech got, it was all they needed, as Custer retired the side in order to end the game.

Gomez Record Watch
Brittany Gomez went 1-for-3 in each game this season. That increases her season hits total to 74, three from tying and four from breaking ISU's single-season record of 77 by Jenny Condon in 1988. Gomez is now one from tying and two from breaking Condon's career hits record of 216, as Gomez moved to 215 career hits.

While Gomez moved in on the hits records, her 2-for-6 day at the plate dropped her batting average to .426, nine points behind the single-season record of .435 by Mary Jo Collins in 1978.

On Deck
Iowa State and Texas Tech will play the rubber game of its series tomorrow at noon at the Cyclone Sports Complex.

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Players Mentioned

Nychole Antillon

Cathlin Bingham

Aly Cappaert

Brittany Gomez

Sammie Hildreth

Paris Imholz

Stacy Roggentien

Lexi Slater

Jorden Spendlove

Brianna Weilbacher

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Iowa State University Athletics