Rawlings Classic Primer

Who: Iowa State vs. Delaware / Lehigh / Virginia

Where: Palmer Park – Charlottesville, Va.

When: Feb. 23 / 24 / 25 – 9 & 11:30 a.m. / 9 a.m. & 2:30 p.m. / 9 a.m.

Leading Off
The Iowa State softball program (6-3) will head to Charlottesville, Va., this weekend for another non-conference tournament. The Rawlings Classic, hosted by Virginia, features the Cyclones and Cavaliers (6-4) as well as Delaware (5-4) and Lehigh (2-5).

After opening the season in Mexico and going 2-2, Iowa State traveled west for the UNLV Desert Classic where it went 4-1. The Cyclones will now travel to the east coast hoping to continue their strong start. ISU is 6-2 in neutral site games and 0-1 on the road.

Only one game this weekend – Feb. 24 vs. UVA at 2:30 – will be streamed. The rest will be stat feeds only.

Quick Hits:

Iowa State has homered in eight of its first nine games of the season. Three of those eight games featured multi-homer efforts from the Cyclones.
Iowa State has used a fifth inning or later comeback in five of its six wins. In its most recent game, ISU was down to its final strike before a three-run Ranches HR tied the game and sent it to extras against Bradley.
Alesia Ranches tied the school record for most walks in a game (3) and homers in a game (2) over the weekend in Vegas.
Angelina Allen recorded the first inside-the-park homer run by a Cyclone since 2017 over the weekend.
- Allen had a monster showing in Vegas, going 11-19 with seven extra-base hits. She had three homers over the weekend.
- Allen recorded her 100th career hit against UCSB last Saturday.
Iowa State has recorded double-digit runs in a game three times so far this season. It had only two such games in 2023.
ISU will have its second true road game this weekend, playing against tournament-host Virginia on Saturday. The Cyclones are 0-1 in true road contests this year.
Senior pitcher Saya Swain picked up career save number seven this last weekend. She recorded six saves last season, the most in a single season in program history. She needs two more to tie the all-time program record.
Milaysia Ochoa currently sits as the second-most hit by pitch player in Cyclone history. One more will give her 28 to tie the record and two more will break the mark.

Leading the Cyclones
Junior outfielder Angelina Allen leads the team in most hitting categories, bolstered by her staggering weekend in Vegas. Allen leads the team in batting average (.514), at-bats (35), hits (18), doubles (4), home runs (3), RBI (12), total bases (31) and on-base percentage (.538).

Ochoa has a team-best 11 runs and is the only player to tally a triple so far. Senior Carli Spelhaug also has three homers on the year while Alesia Ranches has a team-high nine walks drawn. Ashley Minor is second on the team in RBI (10) and leads the squad in sac flies (3).

All six pitchers on staff have taken the circle with senior Saya Swain leading the way. Swain has an early 4-1 record in seven appearances and 24 strikeouts to her name. Lauren Schurman has a 3.82 ERA as a rookie and a 1-0 record with nine strikeouts of her own – the second most on the team. Aziza Rodriguez and Jaiden Ralston have also looked good on the season, with Ralston throwing a career-high five innings the last time out.

Series History
Iowa State will match up with both Delaware and Lehigh for the first time in program history this weekend.

The Cyclones will meet Virginia for the tenth time, as the Cyclones hold a 5-4 all-time advantage over the Cavaliers. The last meeting between the two teams came in 1999 in Tallahassee, Fla. where they played twice as part of a tournament. ISU took both games, 1-2 and 6-4 (8 inn.).

On Deck
Iowa State is back in action next weekend, as it'll travel to Colorado for a pair of games against Northern Colorado and three against Colorado State as part of the Colorado Classic. Next weekend's tournament is the final non-conference weekend series before conference play. Action begins next Friday, March 1, at 1 p.m. vs. CSU.

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Players Mentioned

Angelina Allen

Ashley Minor

Milaysia Ochoa

Jaiden Ralston

Alesia Ranches

Aziza Rodriguez

Lauren Schurman

Carli Spelhaug

Saya Swain

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics