The ISU softball team saw nothing but goose eggs sprawled across the home line of the scoreboard for nine innings on Sunday, until Courtney Wray’s fielder’s choice plated Ashley Killeen for the lone run of the day in the final inning of the doubleheader.

Just three days after racking up 11 runs on 17 hits against Northern Iowa, the Cyclones (19-26, 0-4) were held to just one run on six hits in 14-0 (5 inn.) and 10-1 (5 inn.) losses to Oklahoma State (23-19, 2-2).

“We dug ourselves a hole we couldn’t get out of,” said senior outfielder Katie Reichling. “We got down early and didn’t really do anything about it. The hole just got deeper and we weren’t being aggressive and attacking them like we should have been.”

The Cyclones found themselves down six runs after two innings in game one, and down four runs after two innings in game two.

“It just gets you down a little more,” Reichling said. “When you’re behind like that, you get up to the plate and start to press more, and you’re not as focused as normal.”

The Cyclones put just nine runners on base all afternoon, which was less than the 12 strikeouts they racked up against the Cowgirl pitching staff.

The defense also didn’t help out the struggling offense, as the Cyclones surrendered runs to the Cowgirls in nine of ten innings.

“Getting down as quickly as we did really hurt us,” said coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler. “We didn’t come back at all. We just stopped being aggressive, became tentative and just folded.”