Normally, a four-hit, three-walk, six-strikeout pitching line would be a solid performance in a double-header.
But unfortunately for Chelsea Lyon, those stats in Iowa’s second game against South Dakota on Sunday didn’t match the no-hitter thrown by Hawkeye senior Amanda Zust in the game before.
Zust helped the Iowa softball team (14-12-1) to a double-header sweep of South Dakota (4-16) at Pearl Field, 8-0 and 10-2, throwing her second career no-hitter. She gave up two walks and received several diving stops from her infielders in the later innings to save her effort.
“[The infield] played great behind me,” Zust said. “And that’s part of a no-hitter, when your team is able to make plays behind you. Katie Keim did a great job at third, and I have to attribute a no-hitter to defense.”
Her second career hit-shutout was as great as the first one, she said, but she maintained that while in the circle, she didn’t think about the historical achievement.
“I just tried to stay aggressive,” she said. “We’ve been talking all year about just staying after them and getting aggressive, so that’s what I wanted to stick to. Just go pitch-by-pitch and inning-by-inning.”
Pitching continued to be the Hawkeye strength well into the later game.
After Lyon started the second game by retiring five-straight hitters, the Coyotes broke through with their first hit of the day — a bloop infield single over the pitcher by Jessica Lussman. Even with the hit, though, South Dakota wasn’t able to score until the sixth inning on a two-run single by Lussman.
While the Hawkeye bats were stagnant at the start of the day, the aluminum pinged from the first pitch of the second game. Iowa scored two runs in the first inning and then added to its early 2-0 lead.
Freshman infielder Jordan Goschie, who recorded her first career hit and RBI in the opening contest, also hit her first career home run to lead off the second frame.
“It was awesome,” she said. “All the hard work this fall and spring. It finally paid off. I was really excited that it went over.”
That blast was topped five hitters later, however, when sophomore catcher Liz Watkins sliced the ball over the fence for a three-run home run — her second of the year.
The final run of the game also came on a dinger, this time by Katie Brown, who recorded her fourth home run of the year to push the game to an eight-run mercy rule in the seventh inning.
Iowa coach Gayle Blevins had a theory that maybe the home-run outburst was the reason for the great pitching during the team’s first home games of the year.
“It should help our pitchers to think, ‘Wow, look at the run production today,’ ” she said. “And from a hitting standpoint, it will help our confidence.”