For the first time in the Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler coaching era, the ISU softball team will get to play their first game of the season at home.

The Cyclone Indoor Invitational will be held at Bergstrom Indoor Training Facility from Friday to Sunday. The Cyclones will face teams from Creighton, Western Illinois, South Dakota State and Valparaiso.

“What a great opportunity for us to play at home,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “We haven’t played at home probably ever as a weekend opener.”

For exactly half of the Cyclones’ 20-player roster, the team’s Friday match-up against the Creighton Blue Jays will be their first collegiate softball experience.

“Being a freshman, it’s kind of an ignorance is bliss type situation,” Gemeinhardt Cesler said. “All they have to do is just go out and play.”

The Cyclones have an experienced duo of seniors, pitcher Rachel Zabriskie and outfielder Carleigh Berry, to lead the team with the help of several of last season’s returners.

Zabriskie ran up a 20-17 record as junior, registering 255 strikeouts and had an ERA of 2.74.

Berry, a speedster with a .288 batting average last year, currently needs 10 more steals to pass the ISU all-time record of 48 held by Adi Blackmon, who played for the Cyclones from 2000 to 2003.

“Last year, we had five seniors so none of us had to be in leadership roles, not even Carleigh [Berry] and I. Transitioning to that is kind of difficult,” Zabriskie said. “But this is the best mesh of a team that I’ve been on since I got to Iowa State. I don’t want to say this is a coachable group, because I’m not a coach, but they have been very willing to learn and get better.”

Gemeinhardt-Cesler has also pointed to junior Heidi Kidwell as one of the leaders of the team, calling Kidwell, who will bat the lead-off position, a “leader by example.” 

Zabriskie, Kidwell, Berry and sophomore Erica Miller are the only players taking the field this weekend for the Cyclones who started more than half of the 55 games last season.

Gemeinhardt-Cesler said she thinks her team is ready to “just have a good time and let it rip.”

The Cyclones kick off the weekend with a double-header starting 5 p.m. Friday against Creighton, followed immediately by a game at 7 p.m. against Western Illinois.