They came, they saw, they cracked the starting lineup.

This year, the ISU softball team was inundated by 10 newcomers, seven of which are freshmen. This year’s freshman class has more than just quantity, however – it is full of quality players.

In fact, three freshmen, shortstop Courtney Wray, second baseman Amanda Bradberry, and designated hitter Alex Johnson, have worked their way into the starting lineup, along with starting pitcher Charissa Carlin, who usually starts the second game of the teams’ doubleheaders.

These players haven’t just made the starting lineup – they are thriving in it. Johnson is leading the team in batting average at .335. She also holds the freshman record for hits and is in the top 10 for freshmen in home runs, RBI and doubles.

Bradberry is third on the team with a .257 batting average. She started the season slap hitting (running toward the pitcher while swinging) but she has been hitting above .300 since coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler decided to switch her back to hitting regularly.

Wray is fourth on the team with a .252 batting average and is in the freshman record books for being in the top 10 for hits, doubles and stolen bases. Wray is also playing a little bit out of position. She moved from second base to shortstop and has been learning her new position at the college level.

Carlin is the No. 2 starting pitcher for the Cyclones, but she is leading the team with nine wins (one short of the freshman record) and carries a 2.97 earned run average. She is also in the top 10 for ISU freshmen in strikeouts and ERA.

The numbers, however, tell only part of the story.

“I think that they are good ballplayers,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “But they are also good competitors. It isn’t always your skills but the way that you approach the game and the way that you think about things and how good you think that you are.”

With the freshmen playing so well, sometimes it is easy to forget they are so inexperienced. Coming into the season, however, they all had one common goal – to earn playing time.

“My main goal was just to play,” Wray said. “There are a lot of people on the team and everybody was fighting for spots, so I just wanted to work hard and try to earn a spot.”

On arrival, however, earning a spot became harder than it sounded. The Cyclones have seven seniors and lost just one starter from last year’s team.

“It was a little intimidating because they are all really good players, but they support you,” Johnson said. “If you have a bad day or a good day they are behind you. I don’t think age really matters, I think everybody contributes the same if they put their heart into it and work hard.”

With such a large incoming class, magnified by the fact that some of them were beating out existing starters, the staff was worried about the upperclassmen accepting the new players.

“That was a concern that we had as a staff,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “We had 10 newcomers and seven seniors. I think that our upperclassmen and our underclassmen have done a good job. I feel good about our team chemistry. I enjoy being around the team and they enjoy being around each other.”

The team seems to sense this chemistry as well.

“I love playing with this team and these girls,” Bradberry said.

With these four girls playing together and forming the core of ISU teams for the next three years, the future looks bright.

“It feels good know that we all worked hard enough to get where we are now. So as long as we continue that for the next three years then I think we are on a good track.”