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Longhorns softball clobber Iowa State in sweep to get back on winning track
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AMES, Iowa (KXAN) — The No. 10 Texas Longhorns softball team polished off a dominant sweep of Iowa State on Saturday, taking out the Cyclones 9-1 at the Cyclones Sports Complex.
The Longhorns won the series opener Thursday 8-0 in five innings and clinched the series win with an 8-1 win Friday before finishing the sweep.
Texas didn't waste any time building a lead, scoring seven runs in the first two innings. Freshman catcher Reese Atwood launched a 3-run home run in the first inning to get things going. She drove a 2-1 pitch from Iowa State's Jaiden Ralston over the left-field wall for her team-leading eighth homer of the season.
The Longhorns tacked on four runs with some help from Iowa State's defense. Two of the four runs were unearned after the second error of the inning put a pair of runners on for freshman Viviana Martinez. She slapped a single to right field and plated Mia Scott and Leighann Goode to make it 7-0.
Ashton Maloney scored on Iowa State's first error of the inning following an Alyssa Popelka single, and Goode drove in Popelka with a double.
Popelka, who finished the game 3-for-3 at the plate, drove in Vanessa Quiroga with a single in the seventh inning. Baylea Brandon had an RBI single in the fifth for the Longhorns.
Citlaly Gutierrez picked up her 11th win of the season after a strong outing. She pitched six innings and scattered five hits with an earned run and three strikeouts. She threw just 66 pitches before Sophia Simpson came in to pitch the last inning. Simpson had a quirky inning of work with four strikeouts after the first batter she faced reached on a wild pitch following the third strike.
Goode, Quiroga and Courtney Day all had a pair of hits for Texas on Sunday.
On Friday, Estelle Czech went the distance and allowed one run on two hits with five strikeouts. Alyssa Washington and Quiroga each hit 2-run home runs. Washington's came in the third inning and Quiroga was in the sixth. Scott, Washington and Martinez all had two hits and Atwood drove in a pair of runs.
On Thursday, Texas ended the game early via the 8-run rule. Mac Morgan threw a shutout and allowed two hits with three strikeouts. Martinez hit a 2-run home run as part of a 6-run third inning for the Longhorns. Texas scored twice in the top of the fifth to push its lead to 8-0 before Morgan retired the Cyclones in order in the bottom half.
Texas (33-8-1) takes a short ride down I-35 on Wednesday to play Texas State before hosting the Kansas Jayhawks for a 3-game Big 12 series beginning Friday.