An unlikely friendship: Iowa State softball, West Virginia baseball 'family now'

When West Virginia baseball coach Randy Mazey made a pitching change during the Mountaineers road game against Oklahoma State, he didn’t expect to hear a roar from the crowd.

“Who in the world was that?” Mazey asked, before an assistant said it was the Iowa State softball team, and it had reached out about getting tickets. He was caught off guard, noticing anytime his team did something good, there was the Cyclone team cheering them on.

Mazey still didn’t think much of it, but after the game, he learned his team and Iowa State formed an unlikely friendship that has only gotten stronger since, all thanks to a tweet meant to support women’s athletics.

“It's been like a month or two, and we're still going strong,” Iowa State senior outfielder Lea Nelson told USA TODAY Sports.

‘Well this is awkward’

This surprising bond began March 20, when an Iowa State fan account tweeted there were no sports to talk about until August since the school has no baseball team. Nelson quoted the tweet with “well this is awkward.”

“It was really frustrating that since the ‘big name sports,’ like football and basketball, were done, the fact that they thought there's nothing else to tweet about,” Nelson said. “We just couldn't leave that tweet unnoticed.”

That’s when the West Virginia Barstool account stepped in, responding, “we have decided to be your biggest supporter," because West Virginia has no softball team.

Nelson initially thought the comment was mostly for “clout.” But as the days went on, West Virginia fans continued popping in on Iowa State's social accounts, wishing them good luck, celebrating wins and offering words of encouragement during losses.

A road trip to remember

As fate would have it, less than a month after Nelson’s viral tweet, Iowa State was scheduled to play at Oklahoma State the same weekend as West Virginia's baseball team.

Iowa State softball coach Jamie Pinkerton mentioned it to his team, and Nelson tweeted at the WVU Barstool account asking if it could help make it possible for the team to attend. The following morning, the team had tickets to go watch the Mountaineers play Saturday night, following its own afternoon game.

Nelson said her team was “a little stressed” before the game, unsure West Virginia knew about the friendship formed online. But as the game went on, everyone took notice. When Iowa State cheered, Oklahoma State would show the score of its softball team's win earlier that day and, having fun, fans would boo them.

“I mean, we're softball players. We're gonna be really loud,” Nelson said. “We're like, ‘Wow, this is literally the most fun baseball game we've ever been to.'”

But the Cyclones and Mountaineers, or “Cycloneers,” got the last laugh. After taking a 6-5 lead in the top of the eighth inning, West Virginia effectively ended the game when junior outfielder Landon Wallace launched a three-run homer. The Cyclones celebrated in the stands, and as Wallace rounded the bases, he made sure to direct his celebration their way.

“When I hit my bombs, I'll do my signature all the way to our bullpen. But since I hit the bomb in the eighth, I was like, ‘Wow, they're showing love. I should show love back and acknowledge them,'” Wallace said. “In a way, I was saying thanks for all the support they showed in that game.”

Country roads, take us home

The Mountaineer baseball win wasn’t the only celebration that weekend. The next day, the Cyclones pulled off an upset and beat the then-third-ranked Cowgirls.

With the weekend they had, there was only one way the Cyclones could celebrate: Sing “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”

“A bunch of girls in Iowa know the words to ‘Country Roads.’ That was pretty cool to see how excited they were to do that. I know our guys really loved it,” Mazey said.

The big win carried the Cyclones for the rest of the regular season. They were 13-25 before seeing West Virginia play, but after? They finished the season 12-5, advancing to the Big 12 Tournament semifinals. WVU has gone 15-3 since Iowa State saw them and are having one of their best seasons in recent memory, on pace to win their first Big 12 regular season title and ranked No. 7 in the USA TODAY Sports coaches poll, their highest-ever ranking ever.

“Some people can say it's a strange coincidence. Some people could say it's the friendship. I personally think the friendship has shown us that wherever we go, especially on road games, we can create fan bases and somehow turn that around to help better us and to help us win games,” Wallace said. “The friendship has benefited us for the better.”

Continuing the friendship

Whether it's showing the Iowa State games at WVU’s jumbotron or the Cyclones saying “for the boys” and throwing up the WVU hand sign before every game, the bond continues to blossom. The Mountaineers even sent a signed jersey to the Cyclones, which Nelson said they plan to hang in the locker room.

“I think it just strangely worked out that we don't have a baseball team and they don't have a softball team,” Nelson said. “It's almost too perfect.”

Mazey and Pinkerton said they’ve been able to text about hopefully being able to meet each other in person. The teams won’t match up for any possible meetup in 2024, but Pinkerton said “maybe between (Mazey) and myself, we can pull some strings.”

But with the way the Mountaineers season is going, Nelson is aware a meetup could happen in Omaha for the College World Series. Pinkerton said it’s only a 2-hour, 15-minute drive.

“I would not be surprised if Lea did get a plan together with a bunch of our team over there,” he said.

Meetup in Omaha or not, both sides are grateful for each other. Nelson said the whole thing is surreal and is proud it's bringing more attention to women's sports. Nelson and Pinkerton said there are enough young players to carry the tradition for years to come, and West Virginia will make sure of it, too.

“When new people come, the older guys will show them the way,” Wallace said. “They're our softball team. We’re their baseball team. We show support for each other. That's just how it works here.

“It's a family now.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Iowa State softball, West Virginia baseball form unlikely friendship