The ISU softball season is just about underway.

Iowa State will host the Cyclone Invitational Saturday and Sunday in Ames. After that, the Cyclones will not have another home game until March 23.

Senior outfielder Sarah Hawryluk said she isn’t too worried about not having a home field advantage.

“Being on the road right now is indifferent to us because we’re excited about being on the road,” Hawryluk said.

After the long stretch of away games the team will have, the Cyclones will have the home field advantage to help boost them in the second half of the season.

Being in the Big 12, there is no easy schedule. Iowa State planned out its schedule at the beginning of the year to see which would be the easy games and which ones would be the most challenging.

Hawryluk said the team sees a lot of success happening at the beginning of the season.

Coming from last season, the Cyclones lost two key seniors, Tori Torrescano and Erica Miller. But this loss won’t shake Iowa State. The team said it is eager to spread the load and emerge with new leaders on and off the field.

ISU coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler hopes to improve on defense this season. The pitching staff will take off this season with freshman Katie Johnson starting.

“In our sport, pitching its most important with how well you’re able to throw the ball,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said.

Iowa State hopes to improve from last season to this season. Sophomore Brittany Gomez said she hopes to focus through all nine innings and starting games off strong. She wants for the team as a whole to communicate with each other more and to stay together through the game.

Last season, Gomez rewrote a school record with the most stolen bases with 31 in a season. Hawryluk was just behind her with 26 stolen bases last season.

Gomez said she hopes to break her record from last season to this season. There will be friendly competition between Gomez and Hawryluk this season offensively.

“I definitely want to break my own record personally and me and Brittany are always trying to get the most steals for the team and it’s always friendly competition between us both,” Hawryluk said.