The ISU softball team heads to El Paso, Texas, this weekend to take part in the UTEP Invitational. The tournament runs Friday through Sunday, during which the Cyclones (4-9) will face Valparaiso, Texas-San Antonio, UTEP and Brown.

The Cyclones rebounded from a five-loss weekend in Tempe, Ariz., two weekends ago to win two of five games in Cathedral City, Calif., last weekend.

“We realized it was going to be a long season if we continued to play like that,” said ISU coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler.

The players said they felt more relaxed last weekend than they did in Tempe.

“There wasn’t as much pressure on us,” said junior Erica Miller. “We felt like there was more ‘nothing to lose’ type attitude. We just had more fun.” 

The Cyclones begin this weekend against Valparaiso (7-2) on Friday afternoon. The Crusaders defeated the Cyclones 11-5 in Ames on Feb. 11.

“They’re definitely a scrappy team,” Miller said. “They never die, it seems like. I think if we just get on them early and just keep them down and don’t let them have a chance to come back, then I think we’ll be fine.”

The Cyclones’ past experience against Valparaiso should help them this time around.

“We beat them once last year, so I don’t think we should have a problem beating them this year,” said junior Tori Torrescano, who had two hits against the Crusaders on Feb. 11, including her first home run of the season.

The Cyclones play Texas-San Antonio (5-8) on Saturday morning and UTEP (4-10) on Saturday afternoon.

Texas-San Antonio defeated Iowa State 3-0 in 2010 when the teams last met. The Roadrunners lost to Colorado State 10-2 in their season opener, a team the Cyclones defeated 5-4 last weekend in Cathedral City.

UTEP is currently riding a 10-game losing streak after beginning the season 4-0. This weekend will mark the first-ever meeting between the Cyclones and the Miners.

Gemeinhardt-Cesler said she doesn’t know much about these two teams, so it is important for her team to “play our game” and “do the things that we need to do, make the adjustments that we can make.”

The Cyclones conclude the weekend against Brown (0-0) on Sunday morning in what will be the first meeting between the two teams. The Bears open their season against UTSA on Friday, followed by a meeting with Valparaiso and two against UTEP before facing the Cyclones.

“I think we can beat all these teams that we’re playing this weekend,” Miller said. “Coming off of [last weekend] and going into this weekend, we feel more confident for sure.”