AMES (ISU) — Iowa State produced two runs and five hits in the seventh inning, capped off by an Erica Miller single to right that brought home the winning run as the Cyclones (13-28, 1-11 Big 12) knocked off Iowa (17-22, 7-5 Big Ten), 4-3 Wednesday afternoon at the Southwest Athletic Complex.
The win gives Iowa State a 17-10 advantage in the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series with only one academic point remaining up for grabs for each institution.
Jorden Smith led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to left field, becoming the first Cyclone to reach base since the bottom of the third. After a Kayla Hardiman fly out, Amandine Habben got a pinch-hit single to right, moving Smith over to second and Lexi Slater followed that with a single of her own to load the bases with one out.
Sara Davison evened the score as her blooper to center just eluded the diving effort of Johnnie Dowling to bring home Smith and tie the game at 3-3. With the bases still loaded, Iowa pulled pitcher Chelsea Lyon (9-13) and brought in Kayla Massey. Her first duty was to retire Miller, and it proved to be a task too tall. The Cyclones’ star first baseman sent a line drive over the glove of Katie Keim to bring home Habben’s pinch-runner Jennifer Drahozal and give Iowa State the victory.
Miller evened the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the third with a high bomb to straightaway center field. It was the 26th home run of Miller’s career, tying her for second place with former catcher Alex Johnson (2006-10) on Iowa State’s all-time list. The blast was Miller’s eighth of the season and extended her career-best hitting streak to 13 games. Miller finished the game 2-for-4 with three RBIs.
The Hawkeyes finally broke the deadlock in the top of the sixth as Megan Blank won a tough battle with Tori Torrescano with a home run over the right field wall that just eluded the leaping effort of Anna Cole to give Iowa a 3-2 lead. Katie Keim tried to give the Hawkeyes back-to-back home runs the next at bat with a high fly ball to left field, but Jorden Smith positioned herself well along the fence and timed her jump perfectly to prevent the homer.
Iowa got the first run of the game in the top of the second as Keim led off the inning with a home run off Torrescano that cleared the left field wall to give the Hawkeyes a 1-0 lead. Liz Watkins equaled the feat the next at bat as she drove one over the right field wall to double the Iowa lead to 2-0.
Taylor Smith (4-3) picked up the win in relief, allowing two hits over 1.1 innings. Torrescano threw 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out three. Lyon was pinned with the loss, going 6.1 innings, credited with four earned runs on six hits while striking out six. Lyon retired 10 consecutive Cyclones before Iowa State’s seventh-inning rally.
Iowa State returns to Big 12 action with a three-game series at Kansas this weekend. The first game in Lawrence is Friday at 5 p.m. CST.