Around Iowa City, there are few bigger stars than those on the Iowa women’s basketball team. The Hawkeyes electrified the fan base with a 24-8 season that included a Big Ten regular season co-championship and the Big Ten Tournament crown outright.
How the women’s basketball team captured the hearts of Iowa City is perhaps best illustrated by the Carver-Hawkeye Arena attendance numbers during the NCAA Tournament. Iowa fans packed down Carver-Hawkeye Arena to the tune of back-to-back sellouts of 14,382.
Iowa’s season ended in a shocking second-round upset loss against 10th-seeded Creighton, 64-62. With star point guard Caitlin Clark and star forward Monika Czinano back in the fold for the 2022-23 women’s basketball season, optimism is high that the Hawkeyes can enjoy a deeper NCAA Tournament run in 2023.
Given their star status, it makes sense why Clark and Czinano were natural candidates to throw out the honorary first pitches ahead of Iowa baseball’s rubber game versus Purdue. To be kind, the results from Clark and Czinano were mixed.
Monika may be better suited for an outfield position with that arm strength. https://t.co/F8aXs3paMa pic.twitter.com/GHmWTNHKd7
— Kyle Huesmann (@HuesmannKyle) May 8, 2022
HawkeyeReport’s Kyle Huesmann may be on to something here. After Czinano airmailed the pitch to home plate, it might be time to think about better ways to use that arm strength somewhere other than on the pitcher’s mound. Her toss to home plate had to make Harry Doyle from Major League smile. It truly was “just a bit outside.”
Meanwhile, Clark delivered a pretty good pitch to home plate and showcased some velocity as well.
Caitlin with some good velocity on the fastball. https://t.co/F8aXs3paMa pic.twitter.com/O23WjoD3Mw
— Kyle Huesmann (@HuesmannKyle) May 8, 2022
In all seriousness, it was great to see both Clark and Czinano out to support Iowa baseball. The pair of stars are two of the biggest reasons why Iowa will be one of the favorites to repeat as the Big Ten regular season and tournament champions in 2022-23.
After averaging 27 points, eight assists and eight rebounds per game, Clark was up for all of the national player of the year awards last season. The West Des Moines, Iowa, native was named the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year, the Dawn Staley Guard of the Year, the Big Ten Player of the Year and earned Big Ten Tournament MVP.
Czinano had a fabulous season as well. The Watertown, Minn., product led the nation in field goal percentage and ranked sixth in field goals made. Czinano finished the 2021-22 season averaging 21.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. In the NCAA Tournament, Czinano connected on an astounding 18-of-26 field goal tries. She scored 18 points against Illinois State in the tournament opener and then 27 points against Creighton.
Here was some of the other reaction to the pair’s first pitches on Sunday.
