The Iowa State softball team celebrates after winning 9-5 over Iowa in the Cy-Hawk Series at Iowa State Sports Complex on April 15, 2025, in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Angelina Allen’s interned for the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
But before Iowa State’s senior left fielder takes her shot at the big leagues in the realm of advanced analytics, she’s having a blast helping to propel the Cyclones’ softball program to previously unreached heights.
“It’s been awesome,” said Allen, whose team notched its best Big 12 finish in program history (third) this season. “It’s been cool to see this young team grow, as well.”
Third-seeded ISU (30-22, 15-9) will face No. 6-seeded BYU in today’s 7:30 p.m. quarterfinal at OGE Energy Field at Devon Park in Oklahoma City.
The game can be viewed on ESPN+.
Allen — who last season became the second player in ISU history to attain All-American honors — is one of just two seniors on the team. So the immediate and more distant future is bright for the Cyclones, but plenty of growing pains emerged early in the season, along with an untimely injury that could have knocked them off course.
Miami of Ohio transfer infielder Reagan Bartholomew missed eight games because of injury shortly before Big 12 play started, and after suffering an initial shock, ISU regrouped and reeled off four straight games — including a series sweep of UCF on the road. Bartholomew returned after the Cyclones won a series at home against Arizona State and as head coach Jamie Pinkerton put it …
“Then it was on,” he said.
ISU opened Big 12 play with a 6-1 mark and closed the conference season out with two straight wins over Baylor. Bartholomew was lost to another injury in the meantime, but other players stepped up in her absence.
“The gratification that I’ve had is just seeing a team with the youth — they’re playing free,” said Pinkerton, who has led the Cyclones to an unprecedented three 30-win seasons. “There’s no pressure. No one’s expecting anything.”
Big 12 coaches picked ISU to finish 10th in the preseason, so Pinkerton’s team has slugged through that arbitrary ceiling. The Cyclones aren’t Cinderella’s anymore, however, but they’re still playing loose and confidently; shunning nerves while simply having fun playing the game.
“As the season went on, I knew that they were building something,” Pinkerton said.
Now ISU’s intent on making more history by challenging for a Big 12 tournament title, which could set the stage for securing a second NCAA Tournament berth in the past five years after a 33-year postseason drought. The Cyclones are squarely “on the bubble” but no one would know that when watching them play.
Free and loose. No pressure. All grit.
“My end goal coming to college always is to go to (the postseason) and just to know we’re this close, and we’re on our peak and on our high right now, it’s just so fun to finish this way,” said Allen, who notched the game-winning RBI in the 4-3 senior day win over Baylor. “So no matter what, I’m so excited to finish with this squad and just finish with these girls.”
