Cyclones To Face Texas In Home Opener

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State Softball team (18-18, 1-2 Big 12) will play its home opener vs. Texas (16-13, 3-0 Big 12) on Thursday at 4 p.m. at the Cyclone Sports Complex. The Cyclones and Longhorns will play a three-game series, with game two on Friday at 4 p.m., followed by an 11 a.m. game on Saturday. This weekend's series will be ISU's first games at home after opening the season with 36 games on the road.

All home games at the Cyclone Sports Complex this season are free to attend.

vs. Texas
Where: Ames, Iowa
When: Thursday, March 29 – Saturday, March 31
Live Stats: Live stats will be available on the schedule page here.
Watch: All of this weekend's games will be broadcast live on Cyclones.tv
Live Updates: Follow @CycloneSB on Twitter for live in-game updates from the field.

Cyclone Headlines
- The Cyclones are 3-49 all-time vs. Texas. However, Iowa State won last year's series in Austin, two games to one. It was the first series victory over Texas in program history and was part of a turnaround that saw the Cyclones win six of their final seven Big 12 contests.

- Iowa State is coming off its biggest win of the season, defeating No. 24 Oklahoma State in a 12-inning thriller in Stillwater, 5-4. It was the program's first win over a top-25 team since 4/25/2015 vs. No. 16 Baylor. The Cyclones trailed 4-0 after five innings, but got home runs by Logan Schaben and Sydney Stites in the top of the seventh, and a solo home run by Taylor Nearad in the 12th inning to complete the comeback. It was ISU's second-largest come-from-behind win of the season (5-run deficit vs. Omaha).

- Pitcher Emma Hylen had one of the finest performances of her career in Sunday's win over the Cowgirls. Hylen, a junior, entered in relief in the bottom of the fifth inning and proceeded to shut down OSU's explosive offense. Hylen held the Cowgirls scoreless on just five hits with two strikeouts in 8.0 innings of work. Dating back to last season, Hylen has been the pitcher of record in five of ISU's last six conference victories.

- The NCAA released the first RPI rankings of the season on March 20. Iowa State is ranked No. 57 in this week's RPI, the program's best standing since the NCAA began to release weekly RPIs in 2011.

- Taylor Nearad, a junior college transfer from Kirkwood, is tied for fourth in NCAA DI in doubles this season with 13. She also hit the first home run of her Cyclone career in the top of the 12th inning to lift Iowa State past No. 24 Oklahoma State. Nearad made history in ISU's 7-3 victory over North Texas, tying a single-game school record with three doubles in the contest. Nearad went 3-of-4 at the plate and scored a run while becoming the fourth Cyclone ever to record three doubles in one game.

- First-year head coach Jamie Pinkerton has the Cyclones playing their best in tight games. With a 5-4 12-inning victory over Oklahoma State on March 25, Iowa State improved to 4-0 in extra-inning games, and is now 8-3 in games decided by one run. Last season, Iowa State was 1-2 in extra innings and 8-7 in games games decided by one run.

- Sami Williams is once again powering the Cyclone offense, leading Iowa State in hits (49), runs (26), home runs (9), RBIs (20) and total bases (86). The sophomore also leads the Big 12 in hits, while her .398 batting average ranks seventh among league hitters. As a freshman, Williams was named to the 2017 All-Big 12 First Team. She was one of three freshmen to garner first team accolades and is just the second newcomer in program history to be named to the first team. She is also a finalist for the 2017 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year.

- Williams was on fire at the plate during Iowa State's eight-game swing through the state of Texas. The sophomore went 15-of-29 (.517) at the dish with five home runs, nine RBIs, four stolen bases on four attempts and 11 runs scored, all of which were team-highs. She went 3-of-3 with two solo home runs to lift the Cyclones to a 2-1 win over UT Arlington. It was the second multi-home run game of her career. Williams also notched a career-high four base hits with a double and a home run in ISU's 6-1 win over Lipscomb.

- Senior pitcher Brianna Weilbacher was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week following a dominant weekend at the Osprey Classic. On the week, Weilbacher recorded a 0.00 ERA in 15.0 innings pitched with 22 strikeouts for a league-leading 10.27 strikeouts per seven innings. Iowa State has three pitchers on its roster (Emma Hylen, Savannah Sanders and Brianna Weilbacher) that have won Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honors during their career. That's tied with Oklahoma for the most in the Big 12.

- Iowa State bolstered its roster with the addition of three transfers: 2016 Big Sky Freshman of the Year Sydney Stites (Montana), two-time Junior College National Player of the Year Taylor Nearad (Kirkwood) and NSAA Co-Newcomer of the Year Hannah Carter (Bellevue). Nearad and Stites have started every game this season and have been featured prominently in the ISU batting order, while Carter has 28 starts. Nearad and Stites are tied for first on the team in triples (2) while Nearad is No. 1 in doubles (13). Stites is second in runs (21) and Carter has assumed the No. 3 spot on the team with five stolen bases.

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Players Mentioned

Hannah Carter

Emma Hylen

Taylor Nearad

Savannah Sanders

Logan Schaben

Sydney Stites

Brianna Weilbacher

Sami Williams

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