Iowa State softball ready for Big 12 Tournament after historic regular season

Iowa State softball was forced to grow up fast in 2025.

On a team that featured 10 newcomers – eight freshmen and two transfers – they fought through some early struggles. But they became entrenched as a unit and finished the second half of the regular season strong.

The result? The Cyclones posted a 30-22 overall regular season record and enjoyed a program-best run through Big 12 Conference play. The Cyclones posted program records in Big 12 wins (15), conference-play winning percentage (.625) and took third in Big 12 standings, their highest finish ever.

They ended the regular season with a thrilling 4-3 win over Baylor in a back-and-forth battle to cap Senior Day festivities on May 4.

Now, they're heading to Oklahoma City as the No. 3 seed in the Big 12 Tournament and get a bye to the May 8 quarterfinals. They'll play No. 6 BYU at 7:30 p.m. CT to open their tournament.

"We got off to a slow start," Iowa State coach Jamie Pinkerton said. "When we were picked 10th (in the Big 12), I thought that was low, but if you told me we would finish third, I would cash that check.

"... Coming back, we were really only going to have two players playing their normal position. At times this year, we've been starting three to five freshmen, so I knew there was going to be growing pains. There were some games that we lost that maybe we shouldn't and maybe with growth and maturation, we would get into a good position."

Pinkerton, who has coached the Cyclones since 2018, led Iowa State to the 30-win mark for the third time. Before his arrival, the Cyclones last reached 30 wins in 1989.

Iowa State also finished above .500 in conference play for the first time since 1987, when it went 7-3 as a member of the Big Eight.

"It's cliche, they generally love and care about each other and you hear that sometimes, so you go, 'Well, do they really?'" Pinkerton, who has more than 500 career victories as a collegiate head coach and over 200 at Iowa State, said. "I've had some teams that have been on similar trajectories in my career at Tulsa, Arkansas and Montana – and we won a championship at Montana – they were friends and things were good in the room, but they had trouble sometimes holding people accountable because they don't want to hurt someone's feelings or they don't want to make their friend mad.

"I think this team has a really good mix of they genuinely care about each other, but they want to be better and they hold each other accountable in a way that's there's not a madness or an aggravation about somebody saying this is the standard and we got to hold it to that."

Iowa State lost 11 seniors from last season. This year, the Cyclones only have two seniors, including captain Angelina Allen.

The majority of the 24-person roster are underclassmen, with 14 freshmen or sophomores. Several young players had to step into big roles, and some freshmen had to start unexpectedly due to various injuries.

Iowa State started the season 11-14, hitting a low point with five losses in six games, including a series loss to Houston, which finished in last place in the Big 12.

The Cyclones started to turn things around with a three-game road sweep of UCF from March 20-22.

"It put a lot of confidence in us, and I think we all started to realize how good we actually could be and how good we are," junior Tatum Johnson said. "It just really brought us confidence. From then forward, I feel like we just played a different game. We played our game."

Iowa State closed the regular season with a program-best six Big 12 series wins, including a 2-1 showing at No. 23 Oklahoma State.

The Cyclones also had four players earn all-conference recognition, tying the 2003 and 2022 Iowa State teams for the most All-Big 12 honorees.

Freshman Jessie Clemons was a unanimous All-Big 12 first-team selection. Johnson and freshman Sereniti Trice earned All-Big 12 second-team honors.

Trice, Clemons and Karlee Ford, who filled in as starting catcher after an injury, were also named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team.

While the individual accolades are nice, they hope to keep the journey going as far as possible.

This year's team has drawn comparisons to Pinkerton's 2019 and 2021 Cyclone squads, which also eclipsed the 30-win mark.

In 2019, the Cyclones finished with 37 wins, the second-most in program history. They also broke a 31-year drought of national postseason tournament appearances when they qualified for the NISC and reached the finals.

The 2021 team secured Iowa State's second NCAA Tournament bid, first since 1988, and made the regional final for the first time in Cyclone softball history.

This year's Cyclones hope to continue to make history and finish the year on a high note.

"We're running on adrenaline right now," Trice said. "The Baylor game was huge for us to win, especially it being our senior day. We wanted to play for something bigger than ourselves and send our seniors out on a bang and we're going to continue that as we go to the Big 12 Tournament. We're really on a high right now and we're going to continue that for the rest of the season."

Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at erapay@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5.