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Iowa Wins NISC Championship
ROSEMONT, Ill. (May 20, 2023) – The University of Iowa scored five runs with two outs in the seventh inning to defeat BYU, 9-7 and capture the 2023 National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC) on Saturday afternoon at Red Rocks Field in Fort Collins, Colorado. It’s the first postseason softball national title for the Hawkeyes and the first for a Big Ten softball program since Michigan earned the 2005 NCAA national championship.
Down to their final out with no runners on base and trailing by three runs in Saturday’s championship game, the Hawkeyes (35-27) fashioned a comeback for the ages. Sammy Diaz started the rally with a full-count walk and Brylee Klosterman singled. Tristan Doster then came off the bench and delivered a pinch-hit, two-run double to pull Iowa within 7-6. Freshman Anna Streff was called on to pinch hit herself and lined a triple to score Doster with the tying run.
After a walk to Nia Carter, Tatianna Roman continued the comeback, beating out an infield single (on a 1-2 pitch) to plate Streff with the go-ahead run. Tory Bennett capped the improbable rally with another RBI single before Jalen Adams set BYU down almost in order (allowing just a two-out walk) in the bottom of the seventh to secure the title.
Grace Banes hit two home runs for Iowa in Saturday’s NISC championship game, while Klosterman also went deep for the Hawkeyes, who built a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning before BYU posted six unanswered runs over the next two frames. That set the stage for Iowa’s late-game heroics.
The Hawkeyes reached Saturday’s title game with a 4-3 semifinal win over fellow Big Ten member Maryland earlier in the afternoon. Denali Loecker drove in three runs and threw the final two innings in relief to earn the victory, although the Terrapins nearly managed their own late-inning comeback, scoring three times in the seventh inning before Loecker closed the door.
Banes was selected as the NISC Championship Most Valuable Player and was joined on the NISC All-Tournament Team by Loecker, Adams and Carter, who finished the season with 101 hits, becoming the second player in Big Ten history to pass the century mark in hits for one season (Ohio State’s Anna Smith had 105 hits in 2002). Maryland’s Courtney Wyche and Megan Mikami also earned a place on the NISC All-Tournament Team.
Big Ten Conference (bigten.org) is an association of world-class universities whose member institutions share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching, and public service. Founded in 1896, Big Ten Conference has sustained a comprehensive set of shared practices and policies that enforce the priority of academics in the lives of students competing in intercollegiate athletics and emphasize the values of integrity, fairness, and competitiveness. The broad-based programs of the 14 Big Ten Conference institutions will provide over $200 million in direct financial support to more than 9,800 students for more than 11,000 participation opportunities on 350 teams in 42 different sports. Big Ten Conference sponsors 28 official conference sports, 14 for men and 14 for women, including the addition of men’s ice hockey and men’s and women’s lacrosse since 2013.
Down to their final out with no runners on base and trailing by three runs in Saturday’s championship game, the Hawkeyes (35-27) fashioned a comeback for the ages. Sammy Diaz started the rally with a full-count walk and Brylee Klosterman singled. Tristan Doster then came off the bench and delivered a pinch-hit, two-run double to pull Iowa within 7-6. Freshman Anna Streff was called on to pinch hit herself and lined a triple to score Doster with the tying run.
After a walk to Nia Carter, Tatianna Roman continued the comeback, beating out an infield single (on a 1-2 pitch) to plate Streff with the go-ahead run. Tory Bennett capped the improbable rally with another RBI single before Jalen Adams set BYU down almost in order (allowing just a two-out walk) in the bottom of the seventh to secure the title.
Grace Banes hit two home runs for Iowa in Saturday’s NISC championship game, while Klosterman also went deep for the Hawkeyes, who built a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning before BYU posted six unanswered runs over the next two frames. That set the stage for Iowa’s late-game heroics.
The Hawkeyes reached Saturday’s title game with a 4-3 semifinal win over fellow Big Ten member Maryland earlier in the afternoon. Denali Loecker drove in three runs and threw the final two innings in relief to earn the victory, although the Terrapins nearly managed their own late-inning comeback, scoring three times in the seventh inning before Loecker closed the door.
Banes was selected as the NISC Championship Most Valuable Player and was joined on the NISC All-Tournament Team by Loecker, Adams and Carter, who finished the season with 101 hits, becoming the second player in Big Ten history to pass the century mark in hits for one season (Ohio State’s Anna Smith had 105 hits in 2002). Maryland’s Courtney Wyche and Megan Mikami also earned a place on the NISC All-Tournament Team.
Big Ten Conference (bigten.org) is an association of world-class universities whose member institutions share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching, and public service. Founded in 1896, Big Ten Conference has sustained a comprehensive set of shared practices and policies that enforce the priority of academics in the lives of students competing in intercollegiate athletics and emphasize the values of integrity, fairness, and competitiveness. The broad-based programs of the 14 Big Ten Conference institutions will provide over $200 million in direct financial support to more than 9,800 students for more than 11,000 participation opportunities on 350 teams in 42 different sports. Big Ten Conference sponsors 28 official conference sports, 14 for men and 14 for women, including the addition of men’s ice hockey and men’s and women’s lacrosse since 2013.