The ISU softball team split its midweek series against rival Northern Iowa on Wednesday at the Robinson-Dresser Sports Complex in Cedar Falls. The Cyclones won the first game, 6-3, then lost the second, 6-3.

In the first game, the Cyclones (23-12) fell behind early, giving up three early runs.

“They got three in the first two innings, but there are seven innings, so I knew we would be able to come back,” said junior third baseman Jacquelyn Beatty. “We played well yesterday and we played well this weekend, so I knew we would come back.”

Rather than panicking, the Cyclones saw their opponents’ early lead as a wake-up call.

“We played them in the fall and we run-ruled them both times we played them, so I think we just came out thinking it was going to be easy and so we were a little flat,” Beatty said. “Then we picked it up when they started getting hits and runs.”

That happened for Iowa State in the top of the third inning, when sophomore left-fielder Courtney Wray hit a two-run homer to get the Cyclones going.

Iowa State tied the game in the third when freshman Carleigh Berry, pinch running for Beatty, scored on an error committed by UNI third baseman Brittney Balduf. The Cyclones broke the game open in the fifth inning, scoring three runs. With the bases loaded, Sydni Jones walked and Carrie Monroe was hit by a pitch, bringing two across the plate. Sara Stinson singled to give Iowa State a 6-3 lead.

Defensively, sophomore pitcher Charissa Carlin relieved Amie Ford in the third inning and put a stop to the Panthers’ (11-13) offense for the rest of the game, allowing only two hits in the final five innings.

In the second game, the Cyclones got off to an early 1-0 lead in the second inning on a single by Monroe. Then the Panthers exploded for two runs in the third inning and four runs in the fourth. The Cyclones sent Carlin back to the mound to relieve freshman pitcher Rachel Zabriskie after 3.2 innings and allowed just one earned run the rest of the way.

The Cyclones’ bats, however, went cold against Northern Iowa’s Ashley Lepley, who pitched the entire game and struck out six batters.

“We didn’t get hits. The pitching was a little different,” Beatty said of Lepley’s style. “Coming from slow back to fast is always kind of hard, just timing her. We have just been struggling – hits haven’t been coming for us as well lately.”

Despite the Cyclones’ six runs in the first game, co-head coach Crystal Turner was not impressed with her team’s offense all day.

“I didn’t think that we were really sharp today, overall,” Turner said. “I think we played well defensively, but we didn’t have very good at-bats through the entire day – people didn’t make some adjustments. We were swinging at pitches we shouldn’t have, getting down in the count and not swinging and just not having a real sense of what we need to do with the ball.”

After playing four games in 24 hours, the Cyclones will be off until they host Texas this weekend.