2018 Softball Season Review

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State softball team completed its 2018 season, as the Jamie Pinkerton era got underway in Ames. Iowa State finished sixth overall in the Big 12 and advanced to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Softball Championship for the second year in a row, as the talented, young squad posted a single-season program record with 45 home runs on the year.

Cyclone Softball Headlines
-The Iowa State softball team concluded its 2018 season with a 23-33 record overall, including a 4-14 mark in Big 12 play. The Cyclones advanced to the 2018 Phillips 66 Big 12 Softball Championship as the No. 6 seed. The Cyclones' 2018 campaign came to a conclusion with a 5-1 loss to Oklahoma State in the fifth-place game in Oklahoma City.

-Sophomore Sami Williams was named to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America Division I Softball Team, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Williams maintained a 4.0 GPA in software engineering to become the first Cyclone softball player to be named a CoSIDA Academic All-American since 2001 (Kristin Ferguson).

-Williams and Senior Nychole Antillon were both honored by the league's coaches as All-Big 12 Second Team selections. It is Williams' second All-Big 12 honor, while Antillon is making her debut on the all-conference team. Iowa State had not had multiple All-Big 12 selections since 2015.

-Head coach Jamie Pinkerton was masterful in late-game situations during his first season at the program's helm. With a 4-3 eight-inning victory over Kansas on May 5, Iowa State improved to 6-0 in extra-inning games in 2018, and also went 9-3 in games decided by one run. The previous season, Iowa State was 1-2 in extra innings and 8-7 in games games decided by one run.

-Iowa State hit a single-season school record 45 home runs this season, breaking the previous program mark of 40 set during Pinkerton's first stint at Iowa State as an assistant coach in 2013. Sami Williams led the way with 12 home runs on the year, followed by Sydney Stites, Kaylee Bosworth and Nychole Antillon with seven each. Freshman Cara Beatty hit the record-breaking home run, on what was the first homer of her career.

-The Cyclones weren't strangers to playing on the road this season, with just seven of their 56 contests being played at home. ISU is the only Power 5 program in the nation that played fewer than 12 home games in 2018, and tied for No. 7 nationally in NCAA DI for fewest home games played.

-The NCAA released the first RPI rankings of the season on March 20. Iowa State was ranked No. 57 on March 27, the program's best standing since the NCAA began to release weekly RPIs in 2011. The Cyclones are No. 75 in the final RPI rankings, and have the No. 27 strength of schedule.

-The Cyclones secured their bid to the conference postseason tournament with an extra-inning win on May 5 vs. Kansas. Freshman Skyler Ramos recorded the first extra-base hit of her career in the top of the eighth inning, and later scored the game-winning run on a wild pitch to lock Iowa State into a Big 12 Championship berth.

-Williams tallied three hits at Kansas as she continued to climb Iowa State's single-season top 10 for the second consecutive season. She is just the second player in program history to appear on the single-season hits chart multiple times (Brittany Gomez). Williams tallied 66 base hits as a freshman to tie for sixth on ISU's season charts, and had 76 in 2018 - three shy of the single-season record of 79 set by Gomez in 2015.

-As a sophomore, Williams has already secured spots in the program's top-10 for career doubles (34 - No. 7) and home runs (20 - No. 8). Her .373 career batting average would rank No. 2 on Iowa State's career list, while her .384 average in 2018 would place No. 6 on the single-season list.

Players Mentioned

Nychole Antillon

Cara Beatty

Kaylee Bosworth

Brittany Gomez

Skyler Ramos

Sydney Stites

Sami Williams

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics