AMES — In a must-win scenario, Iowa State prevailed, battling back and forth with the No. 22 UCF Knights. The Cyclones are sitting in ninth place in the Big 12 standings, right behind Utah. 

Iowa State fell behind 4-0 but scored four in the bottom of the fourth, then took the lead in the fifth, scoring four more. A blown seventh-inning lead led to another chaotic fight to the finish, with the Cyclones coming out on top 13-9. 

“Really proud of the grit, really proud of the way they came back,” head coach Jamie Pinkerton said. 

In the fourth inning, as the Cyclones were getting no-hits up to that point, sophomore catcher Karlee Ford had a change of plans. On a 1-0 count, she roped a solo homer over the left-field wall to start a rally. 

“I always have the same mentality of just putting the ball in play,” Ford said.

Iowa State then scratched across three straight base hits, scoring one in the process, before senior center fielder Tatum Johnson came to the plate. She wouldn’t disappoint, connecting with the first pitch and tripling to left field, tying the game at four.

The fifth inning was more of the same for the Cyclones. Ford came up to the plate with one out and drew her second walk of the game, bringing up senior leader Sydney Malott. Malott had seven hits in 19 at-bats over her last six games, after a 3-for-29 stretch dating back to April 5. 

“I automatically knew Syd [Malott] was going to hit me around,” Ford said.

Malott came through, crushing a two-run home run off the top of the scoreboard in left field, her third homer in her recent stretch. 

“It’s definitely ups and downs, and you have to keep a steady mind,” Malott said. “Just trying to do whatever I can for my team.”

Two more runners would score after sophomore left fielder Jessie Clemons drove them in with a single down the left-field line. 

When it looked like the game would be over in the seventh inning, with the Cyclones up 8-4, the Knights had other plans. 

Junior right-handed pitcher Lauren Schurman came out to the circle to start the seventh, having not allowed a run since the fourth inning after relieving freshman right-handed pitcher Liv Palumbo. 

Pinkerton made a defensive change, moving senior Tiana Poole to right field to replace sophomore Hayleigh Oliver. 

This decision proved costly as, on the first batted ball of the inning, a deep fly ball to right field was misjudged, resulting in a triple.

This started a rally for UCF, as it reached base in six consecutive at-bats on four singles, one walk and one hit batter, scoring four runs to tie the game at 8-8. 

Senior right-handed pitcher Jaiden Ralston came in to relieve Schurman and faced three batters but allowed the go-ahead run to score on a sacrifice fly, giving the Knights a 9-8 lead heading into the bottom half of the inning. 

UCF brought in redshirt sophomore ace right-handed pitcher Isabella Vega, who previously threw a complete game and struck out eight Cyclones in game one. 

After junior pinch hitter Isabelle Nosan recorded the first out of the inning, senior third baseman McKenna Andrews drew a nine-pitch walk. She was out at second on a Clemons fielder’s choice for the second out.

Johnson and senior shortstop Reagan Bartholomew then drew full-count walks, bringing up sophomore second baseman Kadence Shepherd.

Shepherd roped the third pitch of her at-bat through the left side, tying the game at 9-9. 

That brought up Ford, who was 1-for-2 with two walks, including her solo homer that broke up the no-hitter in the fourth inning. 

On a 2-2 count, Ford didn’t miss, crushing a grand slam over the right-center wall.

“Karlee Ford’s been clutch all year,” Pinkerton said. “Huge hit.”

For Malott, the moment reflected the team’s mindset throughout the game.

“We just kept fighting the whole game,” Malott said. “No one ever thought we were out of it.”

The win pushed Iowa State’s conference record to 9-14. Utah sits at 9-13-1 after its win against Arizona.

For the Cyclones to make the tournament, they need to win the season finale against UCF and have Utah lose its finale against Arizona.

DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa State Capitol Bureau ) – Survivors of sexual assault could get additional resources under a bipartisan bill that Iowa senators and representatives approved today.

If the governor signs it, the bill would provide $1.5 million to cover costs for sexual assault forensic exam services.

The money would go to nonprofits that specifically perform forensic exams for evidence for survivors of sexual assault.

Republican Sen. Cherielynn Westrich thanked survivors who advocated for the bill.

“Connect them to the care and support that they need to heal,” Westrich said. “It also helps our system respond earlier and more effectively so fewer victims fall through the cracks. This is about protection and prevention and getting survivors and victims a real chance at safety and recovery.”

The state money would also fund a new sexual assault examination center in Des Moines.

—

Isabella Warren covers state government and politics for Gray Media-owned stations in Iowa. Email her at isabella.warren@kcrg.com; and follow her on Facebook at Isabella Warren TV on X/Twitter@isabellaw_gray, and on Instagram@IsabellaWarrenTV.

Educators see the value in teaching interviewing, research, discernment, fact-checking, writing, photography, graphic arts, editing and story presentation skills.

Advertisement

• Lyle Muller is a longtime Iowa journalist who, in retirement, continues to advise Grinnell Colleege’s Scarlet & Black student newspaper.

Lydia Gerety said something recently that makes the heart of a longtime journalist melt.

“I was planning my grad party, making like grad invites,” the Ankeny High School senior started, “and I was, like, ‘What do I even put on the back?’ And I put the biggest accomplishment was: being editor-in-chief of the paper.”

Gerety, 18, was referring to The Talon, her school’s award-winning student newspaper. “I had cared so much about it,” she said. “And this year, especially, I was able to have just so much pride in my staff because they were understanding the passion and everything I was working for. It’s, like, it’s fun.”

I write this as a longtime member of the Iowa High School Press Association (IHSPA) board of directors, so I have a bias about youth like Gerety because high school students like her are impressive. They help produce a newspaper, yearbook, website, social media, video and audio to reflect their school community while also engaging in extracurricular activities, achieving high academic standards and, hopefully, having some fun with a social life.

That is why the IHSPA created, for the first time this year, an All-State team for scholastic journalism. Members of this team exhibit the best qualities that a student can put into action as a journalist, putting their work out there for all to see, absorb and embrace, but also to criticize — because what would our world be without critics?

Joining Gerety — whose stories include a piece on concerns parents have about equal access to education in Iowa — on the team are Evelyn Kraber, 18, of Iowa City West High School; Lily Rantanen, 18, of Iowa City High School; and Brooklyn Berumez, 18, Jay McOmar Esmael, 17, and Alyssa Muheljic, 18, all of Waterloo West High School. Waterloo West did not even have a high school program until four years ago, yet Berumez became the third Wahawk in a row to be named the IHSPA’s Journalist of the Year.

“I think a big thing is, like, believing in yourself,” Muheljic said about getting into high school journalism. She is the design and social media editor for the Wahawk yearbook and feature and multimedia editor for the Insider. An energetic daughter of Bosnian immigrants whose first language was Bosnian before she learned English in school, she plans to attend Iowa State University this coming fall and study psychology.

The Iowa City West’s West Side Story and City High’s The Little Hawk have been winning national recognition for years. Kraber and Rantanen could step into legacy programs and build on the excellence for which their publications are known.

More: Iowa schools shouldn’t be allowed to punish teachers to get around students’ free-speech protections

But Ankeny’s program is in only its third year. That Ankeny and Waterloo West were willing to start journalism programs at a time when school districts in Iowa seek ways to cut spending brings hope that educators see the value in teaching interviewing, research, discernment, fact-checking, writing, photography, graphic arts, editing and story presentation skills.

They learn leadership skills, too. Ankeny’s Gerety is a prime example. She said she focused on her staff in her editor’s position. “I covered an ICE protest with one of our reporters, and there was, like, an anti-protest across the street,” she said. “And he just walked up to them and started talking to them. I asked him, ‘Hey, how’d you feel comfortable doing that?’ He’s, like, ‘Well, I just was curious what they had to say.’ I’m like, ‘That’s exactly why you’re part of this team.’”

And then there is Berumez, the Journalist of the Year heading to the University of Iowa and The Daily Iowan, where she will be Gerety’s colleague. She always has been shy, lacking confidence, she said.

Journalism not only brought her out of her cocoon, it saved her.

More: Des Moines Register built legacy of litigation to protect Iowans’ First Amendment rights

“From having experience and having stuck through it, and having been on both yearbook and news, it’s really taught me the lesson,” Berumez said, “that everybody has a story. Everybody deserves to have their story be told.”

Sometimes, they do not have the means to tell that story, Berumez said. She and all of her colleagues on this Hall of Fame team have shown they are willing to help give voice to those who otherwise would not have that opportunity.

We all should celebrate that.

Lyle Muller is a longtime Iowa journalist who, in retirement, continues to advise Grinnell Colleege’s Scarlet & Black student newspaper. You may read his Substack column, “Lyle Muller Doesn’t Have a Fancy Column Title,” at lylemuller.substack.com.