Upcoming Event: Softball versus DMACC on September 17, 2025 at 4 p.m.
4 p.m.
Softball
DMACC
Iowa State University Athletics
Friday, February 22
Charleston, S.C.
11:15 AM
Iowa State University
vs
Marshall
Iowa State Bound For Charleston's Holy City Showdown
02.21.2019 | Softball
CYCLONE NOTEBOOK
1. The Iowa State softball team will travel to Charleston, S.C. this weekend to play in the Holy City Showdown, hosted by College of Charleston. The Cyclones will take on Marshall, Radford, Appalachian State and Dartmouth while at the tournament.
2. A 2-1 showing at the Demarini Invitational left the Cyclones with a lot to build on, picking up wins over Colorado State and Portland State to close out the weekend, despite being rained out on the first day of the tournament.
3. Senior Taylor Nearad had perhaps her best weekend as a Cyclone at the Demarini Invitational. The native of Solon, Iowa hit .444 over the weekend and was a catalyst to Iowa State's improved offensive output. Nearad had a double, a triple and a home run, with two RBIs and three runs scored on the weekend. She's also been excellent defensively in center field.
4. Tatum Ksiazek, a sophomore pitcher who transferred to Iowa State in the offseason, led the Cyclones past Portland State in her ISU debut. Ksiazek, who grew up as a Cyclone fan in Bondurant, Iowa, gave up no runs and no hits in 5.2 innings of relief work with six strikeouts against the Vikings. She notched career-highs in strikeouts and innings pitched while picking up the second win of her collegiate career.
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 (.370), No. 3 in doubles (37) and No. 7 in home runs (21). She needs five more doubles to break the program record held by Lexi Slater (41 - 2012-15).
7. Savannah Sanders made just one appearance in the circle in Palo Alto, but continued to impress early in her senior campaign. Sanders has been at her best against top competition, holding No. 1 Florida State to a season-low one run in a 1-0 loss to the defending national champs on Feb. 8. She also allowed just two runs in a 2-1 extra-inning loss at Stanford.
8. Junior Logan Schaben has provided a boost to head coach Jamie Pinkerton's starting lineup this season. Schaben has a team-best .500 on-base percentage while drawing five walks and three hit by pitch while starting all eight games this season at third base. Schaben also hit a two-run home run to lift Iowa State past Portland State.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. The Cyclones are no strangers to playing in hostile environments, as just seven of ISU's last 64 contests have been played at home, dating back to 2018. ISU was 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).
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
RHP
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
IF
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