Over the last four seasons, the ISU softball team’s win total has been steadily climbing. The Cyclones’ record last season of 24-40 gave them the most wins they’ve had since the 1988-89 season. In order to continue this rise, the team will have to overcome youthful mistakes and a challenging schedule.

“We’re young, but we return a lot of players who saw [playing] time last season,” said head coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler. “The Big 12 conference is a phenomenal conference, and it’s arguably the best in the country. Between us and the Pac 10, everyone is so good and it’s very competitive.”

With five freshmen, seven sophomores, one junior and three seniors, the Cyclones have the youngest roster in the Big 12 and are picked to finish last in the conference.

“With youth comes mistakes, but I have confidence that we won’t keep repeating our mistakes,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “That’s the biggest obstacle for us.”

Despite the young roster, senior outfielder Kristy Olsen believes her team is mature enough to compete.

“Even though we’re really young, I feel that everybody is ready to step in and get it done,” she said.

The team had a nice blend of power and speed last season, hitting 24 home runs and stealing 63 bases. Gemeinhardt-Cesler’s continued emphasis on speed has created a viable weapon for ISU softball. Her teams have increased their steal totals for every season of her tenure at Iowa State.

The Cyclones are capable of improving their record for the fifth consecutive season, but they’ll have to do it against a strong Big 12 conference. Texas A&M is ranked third, Oklahoma fifth, Baylor ninth, Missouri 21st, and Texas is tied with Cal State Fullerton for 24th in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Preseason Top 25 Poll. Nebraska was not ranked, but received 13 votes. Nine teams on the Cyclones’ schedule made it to the postseason tournament last year.

While Gemeinhardt-Cessler and the team acknowledge the difficulty of their schedule, they are not intimidated by it.

“We don’t pay a whole lot of attention to preseason polls – we focus more on getting better every game and showing improvement from week to week,” Gemeinhardt-Cessler said.

Sophomore standout catcher/infielder Alex Johnson, who set the school record for hits by a freshman with 62, agreed with her coach.

“Knowing the competition from last year, and knowing how tough it’s going to be, we’re really excited because we know we’re just as good as anybody in the conference,” she said. “I think we’ll surprise a lot of people this year.”