The Cyclones are wasting no time jumping into the softball season. Although the weather doesn’t feel quite right yet, Iowa State will to head north for the Metrodome Tournament this weekend. The tournament will consist of six games, against five different teams, in three days.

“I think it’s a great tournament to start off, and I think it’s going to be a really good gage for where we are at and what we need to do to have success for the rest of the season,” said head coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler.

There, Iowa State will meet two arch-rivals; Iowa and Drake. The Cyclones have already had some struggles against those two teams losing to Iowa 6-2 and Drake 4-1 in the All-Iowa Classic during the pre-season this fall.

“Both those teams are good teams, and then when you add that [in-state] rivalry, anybody can win,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. Iowa State also lost to Drake last season 6-0, but the team feels they are poised to get revenge.

“Drake beat us in the fall, and that is the first team that we are going to play,” said senior catcher Alex Johnson. “So we definitely aren’t looking past them. It’s going to be important to get that first win.”

Another team that the Cyclones surely will not look past is Iowa. Iowa State has not beaten the Hawkeyes yet in Gemeinhardt-Ceslers first five seasons in Ames. The team feels that this time around will be different though.

“This is the year to make some changes and get some wins that we haven’t gotten before,” Johnson said. “To start it off in the first weekend would be great.”

Iowa State will also play Western Illinois, Arkansas, and Minnesota twice at the Metrodome Tournament. Both Arkansas and Iowa qualified for the regional tournament last year. They will be just two of the 24 games that the Cyclones will play against teams that made regional tournaments last season. It is part of an effort to raise their RPI ranking so they will be more attractive to make a regional tournament themselves this season.

That challenge excites the team.

“Especially my senior season, I want to play the best, and I want to beat the best,” Johnson said.

After four weeks of practice, the team feels prepared to do just that.

“I think that we are ready,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “We’re physically ready, we’ve practiced hard, we are mentally ready, and I just think it is going to be a matter of reacting to whatever is thrown our way.”