It has been a long time coming, but for the first time in over a decade the Cyclones (25-21, 3-7 Big 12) are still in the hunt for a top four finish in the Big 12 with only a few weeks left in the season.

Since losing six straight games, the Cyclones have picked up three wins, including two big wins against Nebraska, and have found themselves two and a half games out of fourth place in the Big 12.

“We try not to talk about [reaching milestones],“ said coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler. “You don’t want to add any pressure. You just go out and play the game and at the end of the day you do everything you can do that’s in your control and that’s the reality of it. We need these games to get to where we want to be.”

This weekend, the Cyclones will travel to Waco, Texas to face Baylor (24-19, 4-8) and maybe move up a few places in the standings.

With Missouri playing Texas A&M and Oklahoma playing Nebraska this weekend, the Cyclones could possibly jump two spots to the fifth seed in the standings with two wins over Baylor this weekend.

“When you look at the Big 12 standings, Baylor’s one spot ahead us,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “The reality of it is if we want to get into postseason, if we want to not play that first day of the Big 12 tournament and reach our goals then we need to go out and win these games.”

Despite suffering a frustrating six-game losing streak during the beginning of April, the Cyclones are still in the hunt for a postseason berth.

Sitting at 25 wins, the Cyclones are just one win away from tying their win total from last year and just five wins shy of their first 30-win season in 21 years.

However with just eight games remaining in the regular season and Big 12 tournament play beginning soon, the Cyclones will need to play near flawless softball to reach the 30-win plateau and have a shot at the postseason.

“Yeah, [the Baylor series] is important,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “But I still think you have to go back and play one pitch at a time. You don’t worry about the outcome, all you do is compete during that pitch and when that pitch is over, you compete during the next and that’s really the best you can do.”

This weekend’s two-game series against Baylor will provide another tough test for Iowa State.

Baylor’s pitching staff has a combined 2.29 earned run average and are allowing opponents to hit .235.

Despite Baylor’s pitching strength, the Bears have struggled as of late, allowing 24 runs these past five games. This may play to the Cyclones advantage as they have scored 24 runs during the most recent five-game stretch.

“We need to understand that we’ve been getting runners on and in scoring position [in the past] it was more of a situation of not quite bringing them in,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “You can’t worry about [not scoring runs]. You just need to have the same approach no matter who’s on base or what the situation is. We’re just putting the ball in play and the rest will take care of itself.”

One of Iowa State’s biggest comforts has not been its success hitting but also pitching. Last year at this time, the Cyclones were relying on junior pitcher Rachel Zabriskie mostly because of injuries to her fellow pitchers.

This year, the Cyclones have a much deeper and more reliable pitching staff.

Looking ahead, Iowa State’s pitching depth may be what helps its postseason chances. It seems as though the best teams in the Big 12 are the ones that have a deep pitching staff.

And with the solid three-inning performance by sophomore pitcher Lauren Kennenwell against Nebraska on Tuesday, the Cyclones are confident they can match up well against some of the better pitching teams in the Big 12 such as Baylor and Texas.

“It’s a great comfort [to have pitching depth],” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “If you look at last year [Kennenwell] threw some games and got some wins for us at the end of the year which was great. This year she has that confidence back and that should help [Zabriskie] feel better and make our team feel better knowing that we have a lot of players that can contribute.”

Both teams will try to get past each other’s deep pitching this weekend. The two teams will begin play on Saturday at noon and the series finale will be played on Sunday at 2 p.m.