It has been no secret the ISU softball team has struggled to score runs and win ballgames these past two weeks.

After dropping two more games at Oklahoma State, the Cyclones (22-19, 1-5 Big 12) believe Tuesday’s game against the University of Northern Iowa (20-16, 7-5 Missouri Valley) will be the game where they turn things around and start winning again.

“[Tuesday’s game] is extremely important, but I think all the games we have from here on out are equally important,” said coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler. “But it’s time to play better and it’s time to get on a roll because we’re getting closer to the end.”

Iowa State will try to end its six-game slide against the Panthers. Gemeinhardt-Cesler remains confident that with the team’s leadership and experience, the Cyclones will overcome this losing streak and bounce back well.

“It helps that our team is older and more mature,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “I think that it is important not to go into panic mode and understand that we don’t have to do anything exceptionally different than what we’ve been doing. If you take out the last six games and go back to the early games, we were scoring a lot of runs. We just need to try and remember how it felt to [score runs] and try to repeat that.”

No doubt the past six games have not been pleasant for the Cyclones. As a team, Iowa State is hitting just .210 these previous six games. The middle of the order has especially struggled. Iowa State’s three, four and five hitters have gone a combined 9-for-52 (.173) with no runs driven in during this current stretch of games.

These problems have been the biggest reason the Cyclones now find themselves in their six-game losing streak.

“We’re not scoring enough runs to win,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “We have people on base and we have people in scoring position, but we just haven’t been coming through. These problems are why we’ve been one run behind or one run ahead, which, either way, makes it difficult for our pitchers to throw.”

Tuesday’s game versus the Panthers may be just the team Iowa State had hoped for. UNI pitchers are allowing a .281 batting average and have an earned run average of 3.52, two categories in which the Cyclones have struggled.

However, putting statistics aside, the humbled Cyclones will not be taking the Panthers for granted. It is unclear who will get the start for the Panthers, but either way, the Cyclones will have a challenge ahead of them.

“[Northern Iowa] has a great team,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “I think they’re good competitors, they have a good pitching staff and you throw in the fact that it’s an in-state rivalry. They’re always good games between Drake, UNI and Iowa. It’s going to be just like any other game that we go out and play all the time.”

It is likely the Cyclones will face senior UNI pitcher Jen Larsen, who is 11-5 with a 3.55 ERA. Her last start was Sunday versus Drake but she went just two innings. Larsen leads the Panthers in wins, complete games and strikeouts and is off to one of her best seasons as a Panther.

Northern Iowa’s other starter is lefty sophomore Melissa Tillet (4-10, 3.52 ERA). Despite being the loser of 10 games, Tillet’s win/loss record does not show how strong of a season she has had. The southpaw ranks second on the team in strikeouts and complete games. However, opposing hitters are batting .290 off her, with 11 home runs.

Iowa State travels to Cedar Falls on Tuesday with the first pitch expected to be thrown at 4 p.m.