2022 Softball Season in Review

AMES, Iowa - Iowa State finished the 2021-22 season with a 28-27 overall record and a 6-12 mark in the Big 12. The Cyclones placed fourth in the league standings, their best finish in the history of the conference.

Key Storylines

Iowa State won seven of its final 10 games and advanced to the semifinals of the Big 12 Championship courtesy of a walk-off sac fly by Kasey Simpson against Baylor in the first round.
Four Cyclones garnered All-Big 12 honors, the most the program has had since 2015. Mikayla Ramos and Carli Spelhaug were each named to the All-Big 12 Second Team while Angelina Allen and Kaylee Pond received All-Big 12 Freshman Team honors.
Mikayla Ramos and Carli Spelhaug were named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Region Second and Third Teams, respectively.
ISU upset No. 6 Oklahoma State at home on April 9, the highest ranked opponent the Cyclones have defeated since beating No. 3 Texas in 2005. It was just the eighth win over a top 10 foe in program history.
Iowa State clinched the 2021-22 Cy-Hawk Series with a 5-4 victory over Iowa in front of a record crowd (1,450) at the Cyclone Sports Complex.
Iowa State placed a league-best 15 student-athletes on the Academic All-Big 12 Team. Pond was one of seven players in the conference with a 4.00 GPA. Pond and Carli Spelhaug were each named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team.
The Cyclones were no strangers to playing in close games in 2022. Twenty-one of ISU's 55 games were been decided by two runs or less. The Cyclones went 8-13 in such games, including 6-8 in games decided by one run. Iowa State left the tying or winning run stranded in scoring position in the final inning of three of those 13 losses. The Cyclones lost via walk off three times and won via walk off twice, both on sac flies by Kasey Simpson.
Six runs seemed to be the magic number for the Cyclones in 2022. Iowa State went 22-3 when scoring six runs or more compared to 6-24 when scoring less.
ISU hit 82 doubles during the season, the second most in a season in program history and tied for the 25th-most nationally this year.
Jamie Pinkerton led the Cyclones to their second consecutive winning season, and third under his tutelage, marking the first time since 1988-89 Iowa State has posted back-to-back winning seasons.

Player Notables

Angelina Allen led the Cyclones at the plate with a .325 average, including nine doubles, two triples four home runs and 31 RBIs. Her 55 hits ranked 10th in the Big 12 and were the second-most among league freshmen.
Mikayla Ramos logged 53 RBIs in 55 games, five shy of breaking the single-season school record (57) that she set in 2021. Ramos became the only player in program history to drive in 50+ runs in more than one season of her career. Ramos' 14 home runs tied for the third-most in a single season in program history.
Carli Spelhaug, who is 43-of-44 on stolen base attempts in her career, is tied for second among active Division I players in stolen base percentage (.977). Spelhaug averaged 1.02 runs per game (20th nationally). She is one of two players in program history to score 50+ runs in a season twice in her career.
Milaysia Ochoa paced ISU with 13 doubles on the year. She started all 55 games in right field and was one of three Cyclones with at least 10 multi-hit performances.
Karlie Charles came on strong late in the year. The righty struck out 20 batters, walked only one and allowed just three earned runs in her last seven appearances (25.2 IP).
Charles notched a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 7:1 (77 K, 11 BB) during the season, the 10th-best mark in the nation and best in the Big 12. She allowed only .84 walks per seven innings, the best in the Big 12 and seventh fewest nationally.
Saya Swain was one of 11 pitchers in the nation to log two games with 16+ strikeouts this season. She broke Iowa State's single-game record with 17 strikeouts against UNI back on Feb. 13. Nationally, it tied for the 18th-most strikeouts in a game this season.
Ellie Spelhaug was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week once this season after she posted a 1.66 ERA across 12.2 innings and picked up two wins in four appearances against Iowa and Baylor. She logged 5.2 innings of work against the Hawkeyes while striking out three in a 5-4 ISU victory. Spelhaug then allowed one run in seven innings at Baylor, including back-to-back outings in which she allowed only one hit.

To view the entire end-of-season release, click here.

Players Mentioned

Angelina Allen

Karlie Charles

Milaysia Ochoa

Kaylee Pond

Mikayla Ramos

Kasey Simpson

Carli Spelhaug

Ellie Spelhaug

Saya Swain

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics