The ISU softball team pulled several upsets of ranked Big 12 teams last year and hopes to continue that trend this year in its Big 12 Conference opener.

The Cyclones (17-22), have won 9 of 13, but face Texas A&M, who is rated third in the USA Today/NFCA poll and fourth the ESPN/USA Softball poll. The Aggies (26-3) and Cyclones are both coming into the game after victories Wednesday.

Coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler said the team is excited to get the conference season rolling.

“[Texas] A&M is a great team and we just have to come in focused,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “We just have to worry about the things that we can control.”

Iowa State swept a doubleheader from the Western Illinois Westerwinds, winning the first game, 3-1, and the second in extra innings, 5-3. Texas A&M defeated Texas State, 5-0, and have won 13 of their last 14. Of the Aggies’ three losses, two of them came against No. 5 Arizona early in the season.

Gemeinhardt-Cesler said she was very happy with the performances of her two pitchers, Charissa Carlin (8-5) and Alyssa Ransom(6-7).

“We battled back really tough in the second game,” said Gemeinhardt-Cesler. “Anytime you can win two games it’s pretty good.”

Last year, the Cyclones split their season series with the Aggies, who were ranked fifteenth at the time, winning the first game, 14-6. The Cyclones, however, were shutout in the second game, 7-0, by two-time reigning Big 12 player of the year, junior Amanda Scarborough, who is 12-2 this year with a 1.31 ERA.

Ransom, who picked up the victory against the Texas A&M in Ames last season, said beating the Aggies last year gives the team added confidence going into this weekend’s series.

“We have freshmen who don’t have that in the back of their minds, but they’re playing lights out right now,” Ransom said. “The older people know that we can beat them.”

A big key in the Cyclones’ recent hot streak has been the play of freshman shortstop Courtney Wray, and freshman first baseman Alex Johnson, who is three hits shy of the freshman record.

Wray said the freshmen who are playing are a little bit surprised by their success because they didn’t expect to come in and play right away.

“We need to keep practicing hard, though,” Wray said.

“We have come in a lot on our own time and we just need to keep the faith and keep working hard.”