Iowa State looks to bounce back against North Dakota
Tiffany Herring/Iowa State Daily
Junior Lexi Slater bats against Oklahoma on March 29 at the Cyclone Sports Complex. The Cyclones fell to the Sooners 2-14.
April 15, 2014
Last year when Iowa State took on Texas, the Cyclones couldn’t catch up. Throughout the three-game series, the Cyclones scored just six runs compared to the Longhorns’ 27.
The Cyclones took on the Longhorns this weekend at home with a devastating three-game loss, repeating history once again. Iowa State scored only seven runs compared to Texas’ 38 runs.
After a hard weekend, the ISU softball team is set to play against North Dakota at home Tuesday. They said they hope to move on from the games last weekend and just focus on the games against North Dakota.
“The big thing is we just have to let it go. It is what is it is. It was a bad game and we need to come right back. We need to come back and have great offensive bats and work ahead of the batters,” said ISU coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler.
This will not be the first time that Iowa State has faced North Dakota. They have played each other earlier in the season at the Shocker Softball Classic in Kansas in early March.
Iowa State came out victorious over North Dakota winning 13-2 in only five innings. The Cyclones are optimistic they can come back and win once again. Gemeinhardt-Cesler believes her team can have just as much success Tuesday as they did in early March.
Junior infielder Lexi Slater said what really hurt Iowa State last week was its pitching. Starting pitcher freshman Katie Johnson is out due to medical reasons.
“We didn’t have KJ [Katie Johnson]. We just didn’t have a pitcher. I think that hurt us but we just have to get past it,” Slater said.
Gemeinhardt-Cesler said they have no idea when Johnson will be able to return to the field but the Cyclones have already looked ahead to what they need to work on to beat North Dakota.
“I think we need to pull our hitting together. I think when we have our bats we’re unbeatable,” Slater said. “We need to execute, one by one.”
Iowa State will take on North Dakota in a double header at 2 p.m. Tuesday at home.
“We need these wins. We’re looking for 10 games to get to regionals and I think these wins will help us out,” Slater said.
