After being outscored 25-7 in a doubleheader on April 24, 2013 against Minnesota, the ISU softball team was fully ready to critique its games.

“I definitely don’t take away anything from [Minnesota],” said coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler. “They are a good team, but I think we are a lot better than what we showed today.”

After the team struggled in almost every aspect of the game, Gemeinhardt-Cesler said they are not going to win many games if they perform like they did April 24.

Throughout both games, there were glimmers of good moments that showed what Iowa State could do when it plays at a top level, but the good did not outweigh the bad.

Minnesota’s top pitcher was one of the largest contributors to Iowa State’s poor performance offensively and the team knew what it had coming.

“We faced a very good pitcher,” said assistant coach Jamie Pinkerton. “We knew coming in — we have faced her three other times — that she hits her spot. When you can get ahead and find the strike zone, then it makes hitting a lot tougher.

“That’s what she’s known for, is getting ahead in the counts. She was able to basically impose her will on us.”

Overall, Minnesota got the best of Iowa State’s hitting, but some of the fault lies within the players and their mental challenges throughout the game.

“At the plate we were guessing a lot instead of seeing the pitch and hitting it,” said sophomore Lexi Slater. “Guessing on the field, just playing [shortstop] I know I was setting up for one spot and it wouldn’t go there then I just started guessing where they are going to hit and we just need to play the ball.”

The guessing game didn’t fare well for the Cyclones. In both of the games played, they totaled six errors, resulting in only 10 of the 17 runs earned.

Playing at home instead of away is exactly what the Cyclones wanted, but when the game came around, they were sitting ducks.

“You have two choices: You either attack something or you get attacked,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “Winners don’t put themselves in situations like we did tonight and not get out of it.”

Not many positives were taken away from the April 24 doubleheader, but coach Gemeinhardt-Cesler found one positive.

“It shouldn’t be that hard to make it better.”