The ISU softball team lost all three of its games against No. 6 Texas in Ames this weekend. The series kicked off the Big 12 schedule for the Cyclones (9-18, 0-3 Big 12) and marked their first homestand since early February.

Despite losing all three games this weekend, there were a number of positives taken away from the series.

The Longhorns (26-2, 6-0 Big 12) sport a team ERA below 1.50 and are one of the top all-around teams in the nation. The Cyclones put up nine runs total on the weekend and led for parts of both Friday’s and Sunday’s games, proving that they are capable of playing against a more talented team.

“We did play with them for parts of it,” said junior Tori Torrescano. “We have to take that with us, and the fact that we put up runs on a team that doesn’t give up a lot of runs.”

Torrescano started both Friday’s and Sunday’s games on the mound for the Cyclones, in addition to driving in two runs Saturday afternoon.

“We took steps of improvement,” said freshman Madison Jones. “We obviously still have a lot of work to do, but I think overall we had a lot of good progress throughout the games.”

The Cyclones received a strong pitching performance from Jones on Saturday afternoon, as she threw 4.1 scoreless innings to end the game.

“I thought she came in and kept them off balance,” said ISU coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler. “I thought she did spectacular.”

Sunday, however, was not so spectacular for Jones, who gave up four earned runs without recording an out. After Sunday’s game, Gemeinhardt-Cesler was uncertain of the reason for Jones’ lapse.

“Whether it’s them just seeing her from yesterday and making those adjustments quickly or she didn’t have the same command that she had, I’m not sure,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said.

The Cyclones kept themselves in games by playing a fairly mistake-free brand of softball throughout the weekend, recording just three errors total.

“We didn’t make a lot of mistakes, which is also an awesome thing, because they’re known to be a pretty clean team,” Torrescano said.

In a conference as competitive and highly skilled as the Big 12, maintaining an optimistic attitude is very important for the Cyclones, especially when they lose.

“I think there’s always something you can take away,” Jones said. “I think one thing we took away is jumping out, getting ahead early and definitely never easing up to teams like this because they will come back and bite you.”

The Cyclones did not begin the Big 12 season as they had hoped, but they are always hopeful for the next game.

“You still have to just keep on working,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “Who’s going to be able to gut it out and tough it out? You’ve just got to keep fighting.”

The Cyclones move on to face in-state rivals Northern Iowa on Tuesday and Drake on Wednesday.