The Cyclone softball team dropped a pair of road games over the weekend to the No. 3 Texas Longhorns.

“Overall, I thought we went in and played well,” said ISU coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler. “We put the ball in play quite a bit and we had good at-bats. I thought our defense was pretty good; we didn’t have any errors.”

The hitters for the Cyclones (19-19, 1-7 Big 12) were shut down by Longhorn ace Blair Luna in a 3-0 Texas (37-4, 9-0) victory Saturday

Luna improved her record to 21-2 with the win, giving up just two hits all day while striking out 11 of the 23 batters she faced and walking none.

In the bottom of the first with two outs, Longhorn catcher Amy Hooks drove a double to left-center field to bring teammate Lexi Bennett home. In the top of the third, Hooks struck again when she connected on a two-run homer off of Cyclone pitcher Rachel Zabriskie.

Hooks went 3 for 3 at the plate and accounted for all three of the Longhorns’ RBIs in the game.

Zabriskie pitched five innings for the Cyclones before Gemeinhardt-Cesler called on Lauren Kennewell to finish out the game.

Texas got another solid pitching performance, this time out of Rachel Fox on Sunday.

“Fox was really moving the ball in and out, and she worked well,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “I still think our hitters did a good job of putting the ball in play against her. Texas made some great defensive plays today, too.”

Texas started off well, manufacturing two runs in each of the first two innings to take a 4-0 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Texas shortstop Taylor Thom further extended the Longhorn lead on a solo home run. Thom was perfect at the plate on the day, batting 3-for-3 while also scoring three runs.

The Cyclones’ only run of the weekend came in the top of the fifth inning, with Texas leading 5-0.

ISU right fielder Anna Cole reached first on a fielding error by the Longhorns’ left fielder. With two outs, ISU second baseman Erin Johnson doubled to left-center field as Cole raced home.

Texas tacked one more run on the board in the top of the sixth off of Cyclone reliever Bree Holliday to get the 6-1 victory.

The Cyclones next game is against the Iowa Hawkeyes at 5 p.m. Wednesday in Iowa City.