Cyclones Set For Stanford's Demarini Invitational

Iowa State at The Demarini Invitational

CYCLONE NOTEBOOK
1. The Iowa State softball team is traveling west to participate in the Demarini Invitational, hosted by Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif. The Cyclones will take on Colorado State twice, Stanford, Pacific and Portland State at Boyd and Jill Smith Family Stadium. All of this weekend's games will be streamed live here.

2. The Cyclones are looking to bounce back from a 1-4 opening weekend at No. 1 Florida State's JoAnne Graf Classic. Iowa State battled the defending national champs twice in Tallahassee, including a 1-0 nail-biter on Feb. 8 in Iowa State's first game vs. a No. 1-ranked team since April 28, 2013. The one run allowed by ISU's Savannah Sanders was the fewest ever by an ISU pitcher against a No. 1-ranked foe.

3. Four of Iowa State's first five games were against 2018 NCAA Regional squads (Florida State twice, UNCG twice).

4. Junior Logan Schaben had a strong opening weekend, starting all five games at third base while posting a team-best .583 on-base percentage. Schaben drew four walks and was hit by pitch twice during the tournament.

5. Iowa State star infielder Sami Williams is coming off a Second Team All-Big 12 selection in which she hit .388 (No. 6 single-season batting average in school history), to go with 12 home runs and 14 doubles. Williams was named to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America Division I Softball Team, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Williams maintained a 4.0 GPA in software engineering.

6. Williams continues to climb the ISU career record charts during her junior campaign. The native of Laguna Niguel, Calif., is already No. 2 on Iowa State's all-time list in batting average (.376), No. 4 in doubles (35) and No. 7 in home runs (21). She needs seven more doubles to break the program record held by Lexi Slater (41 - 2012-15).

7. Iowa State is looking to build off a 23-33 overall record in 2018 in what was the first year of the Jamie Pinkerton era. The Cyclones finished sixth in the Big 12 to advance to the conference postseason tournament for the second-consecutive season. The Cyclones finished No. 75 in the final RPI rankings, and played the No. 27-toughest schedule.

8. Pinkerton also gets an all-region addition to his lineup in the form of senior Kelsey McFarland. McFarland, a First Team All-Midwest Region selection in 2017, missed the entire 2018 campaign with an injury. The outfielder returns as a redshirt senior. She hit .345 with 12 doubles and four home runs while starting all 58 games as a junior in 2017.

9. Iowa State hit a single-season school record 45 home runs in 2018, breaking the previous program mark of 40 set during Pinkerton's first stint at Iowa State as an assistant coach in 2013. Williams led the way with 12 homers on the year, as ISU returns 36 of its 45 dingers from a season ago.

10. The Cyclones will look to continue in their ability to win close games this season. Head coach Jamie Pinkerton was masterful in late-game situations in 2018. Iowa State went 6-0 in extra-inning games in 2018, and also went 9-3 in games decided by one run.

11. The Cyclones aren't strangers to playing in hostile environments, with just seven of their 56 contests being played at home in 2018. ISU is the only Power 5 program in the nation that played fewer than 12 home games in 2018, and tied for No. 7 nationally in NCAA DI for fewest total home games played.

COMPLETE GAME NOTES
For complete game notes, click here (PDF).

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Players Mentioned

Kelsey McFarland

Savannah Sanders

Logan Schaben

Lexi Slater

Sami Williams

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Iowa State University Athletics