Over the past couple weeks, ISU softball players have seen their offensive output drop dramatically. Getting their confidence back offensively will be at the forefront as the Cyclones take on the Texas Longhorns in two games this weekend.

“We need to talk to our hitters about what has been going on and give them a little bit of a scouting report for these last four games so they can see what’s going on, what pitches they are swinging at and what they are missing,” said co-head coach Crystal Turner. “We just need to go back to practice, get back to the fundamentals.”

This may not be the best week to get their offense back on track, however, as Texas is bringing second-team All-Big 12 pitcher Meagan Denny.

Denny has been among the top 20 pitchers in the nation in strikeouts last season and so far this season.

“Denny is a good pitcher; she throws a lot of rise and a lot of screw,” said sophomore Jacquelyn Beatty, who played Texas the last two years while at McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas. “We have to get on top of her early. We need to lay off the rise and turn on the screwball.”

The Cyclones will have to do more than just hit, however. Texas is a complete team.

“They have strong pitching, and they have always had pretty good offense,” Turner said. “I think we just have to get back to our gameplan of seeing the ball, taking good at-bats, playing well defensively to keep us in the ballgame and our pitcher just being on is going to be key for us.”

Many of the Cyclones will have the added motivation of playing their hometown team. Beatty, freshman shortstop Carrie Monroe and freshman pitcher Rachel Zabriskie are all from Austin, Texas. Freshman catcher Sara Stinson and senior pitcher Amie Ford are from small towns in Texas.

“They don’t recruit a lot of people from Texas, so you always want to just shove it down their throat, like, ‘You missed a good opportunity,'” Beatty said. “I think it is good that a lot of us are from Texas, because we have seen them play, we have been around it for a long time. There are actually three of us from the Austin area, and I know I went to the camps, so I’m sure they did.”

The games are scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday.