March 31, 2008
- Big Ten Network: Programming Schedule
- 24 Hawkeyes to Watch
- gohawks.com
- Big Ten Network: Free Hawkeye Video
IOWA CITY – On Deck ? The University of Iowa softball team will step out of conference action to take on intra-state rival Iowa State Tuesday. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m.
Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series ? Tuesday’s game is the final event in the 2007-08 Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series. The Cyclones have already clinched this year’s series and currently lead, 18-7. Two points will be available for Tuesday’s game.
Iowa won the innagural series in 2004-05 and also won the 2006-07 series. Iowa State captured the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series trophy in 2005-06.
Hawkeyes on the Web ? Fans can follow along with Gametracker via hawkeyesports.com. Gametracker links can be found on the softball schedule page.
The remainder of Iowa softball games will be broadcast live on hawkeyesports.com. Fans can listen for free, but do have to go through a quick registration. Audio links can be found next to the Gametracker links. Rob Brooks will handle the play-by-play.
Opponents in the Polls ? Seven Iowa opponents are ranked in both the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 and ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 polls. Arizona State (1st/1st), Florida (4th/4th), Michigan (9th/9th), Northwestern (12th/12th), DePaul (15th/19th), Louisiana-Lafayette (17th/17th) and Ohio State (19th/21st) are all ranked.
In addition, North Carolina is receiving votes in both polls while Florida State is receiving votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.
Both polls are released every Tuesday.
Hawkeyes Split With Ohio State ? Iowa opened Big Ten play at No. 22 Ohio State last weekend. The Hawkeyes dropped game one (4-3), but rebounded for a 1-0 win Saturday.
Ohio State jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in game one, but Iowa responded with one run in the fifth and two in the top of the seventh to take a 3-2 lead. Ohio State’s Sam Marder hit a home run to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh and an additional run later in the inning gave Ohio State the win.
Iowa scored the lone run of game two in the fifth inning when an RBI single by junior Quinn Morelock plated junior Erin Riemersma. The win snapped Ohio State’s 25-game regular season winning streak at Buckeye Field.
Scouting Iowa State ? The Iowa State Cyclones are 23-14 overall and 1-3 in the Big 12.
Ariel Coburn leads the team with a .400 batting average and also has a team-best six home runs and 20 RBI. Coburn has an impressive .738 slugging percentage and a .455 on-base percentage. Courtney Wray is batting .363 while Kelsey Kidwell has a .309 average.
Three Cylcones have seen time in the circle. Rachel Zabriskie is 11-5 with a 2.02 earned run average and leads the team with 95 strikeouts. Amie Ford is 4-4 with a 2.30 ERA and 56 strikeouts while Charissa Carlin is 8-5 with a 2.79 earned run average and 35 strikeouts.
Last Time vs. the Cyclones ? Katie Brown recorded a pinch-hit, two-RBI double to help Iowa defeat Iowa State, 2-1, last season in Iowa City.
Colleen McGlaughlin doubled in the bottom of the fourth to get things started and Rachel West singled, moving McGlaughlin to third. West then stole second and both runners scored off Brown’s second double of the season.
Brittany Weil earned her 11th win of the season, throwing four innings of relief. Weil allowed one run on three hits and struck out four. Amanda Zust started thre game and threw three innings. She did not allow a hit while striking out five.
Impressive Week for Zust ? Sophomore Amanda Zust did not allow a run in 14 innings of work last week.
Zust started the week with an impressive complete game, one-hit shutout against Northern Illinois Wednesday. She retired the first nine batters in a row before allowing a hit, then sat down the final 10 batters of the game.
She then silenced the top offense in the Big Ten (Ohio State) Sunday. She allowed only two hits while striking out four in Iowa’s upset win over the nationally-ranked Buckeyes. She retired eight of the first nine batters in a row, with one intentional walk in the first inning. She then managed to retire seven of the next eight, with another intentional pass.
Zust limited her opponents to a .070 batting average and did not allow an extra base hit, as all three hits were singles.
Gold-Glove Carmody ? Freshman Chelsey Carmody played outstanding defense last weekend in Columbus, recording nine putouts and 10 assists without committing an error in 27 innings of play.
In Friday’s game against Ohio State, Carmody recorded an unassisted double play to help Iowa escape a jam in the sixth inning and also threw a runner out at home in the seventh to keep the game tied.
In Saturday’s upset win over the Buckeyes, Ohio State threatened with runners on second and third with only one out. After Erin Riemersma tagged a Buckeye runner between third and home in a rundown, she fired to Carmody at second base, who blocked the bag and tagged out a retreating Sam Marder for the third out of the inning. She also made a terrific diving stop on a ground ball in the fifth to keep a Buckeye runner off the bases.
Morelock Heating Up? Junior Quinn Morelock recorded some big hits for the Hawkeyes last week.
The Solon, IA, native smacked a home run for her first hit of the season against Northern Illinois Wednesday. She then roped an RBI single to score the winning run Saturday against No. 22 Ohio State.
Iowa State Tidbits ? Iowa is 28-28-1 all-time vs. Iowa State.
? The Hawkeyes are 4-1 over the past five seasons against the Cyclones. The lone loss came at Pearl Field in 2003 (4-3 in 12 innings).
? The series has been close since 2003. Iowa came away with one-run wins in 2003, 2006 and 2007.
? Tuesday’s game will mark the first time since 2003 that Iowa has not faced Iowa State pitcher Alyssa Ransom, who graduated and is now an interim assistant coach. Ransom threw complete games against Iowa from 2004-07.
? Iowa State sophomore Kelsey Kidwell is from the same hometown (Solon) and graduated from the same high school as current Hawkeyes Quinn Morelock and Jenny Schuelke.
? The Cyclones have three players from Iowa on their roster while the Hawkeyes have nine.
? Iowa State Head Coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler is on medical leave from the team as she is expecting twins. Gary Hines and Cyrstal Turner are serving as Acting Head Coaches.
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