After playing two non-conference games against Iowa and Northern Iowa, the ante has been upped for the ISU softball team as it resumes Big 12 play and heads back on the road to face Texas Tech twice this weekend.

The Cyclones (16-16) are 1-3 in the Big 12 and are at a point in their season where winning two games to get to 3-3 in the conference could be huge.

“Getting the wins is the most important thing we can do and we know we can beat them,” said Cyclone shortstop Cary Akins. “We’re definitely going to go in there expecting to take two games from them.”

Despite the Raiders’ sub-.500 record (13-23, 2-4), they have been playing well lately. They have won five of their last 10 games, including a win over No. 15 Texas A&M, giving Iowa State good reason not to overlook its opponent.

“We should know better then to look past anybody in the Big 12,” said ISU coach Stacy Gemeinhardt. “I think they will definitely be good games, but we just need to make sure we control the things we can control and we should have success.”

Iowa State suffered through a five-game losing streak before a 2-1 win over Northern Iowa stopped its slide.

Although the Cyclones had been losing, they still felt as though they were playing better softball than the record showed.

“I think we were playing fine over the losing streak,” Akins said. “Our defense was the best it has ever been, so hopefully they continue to get better.”

The Cyclone defense, which has been a weakness, showed the most noticeable improvement, committing only three errors over the last five games.

Pitcher Alyssa Ransom, despite losing her last two games, has pitched well, giving up only six runs. Ford, however, struggled in her last three games, posting an earned run average of 7.00. She bounced back with an impressive complete game, one-run performance in the Cyclones 2-1 win over Northern Iowa.

Although the defense and pitching emerged during the losing streak, the offense has been a different story, averaging a mere 1.33 runs per game.

Team members feel that if they can get all three aspects – offense, defense, pitching – working together they could be very dangerous.

“We were just a little bit short of the No. 1 team in the nation,” Akins said. “I think we have a real great team, so when we get it all together I don’t think there is any team that can beat us.”

With the losing streak out of the way, the Cyclones hope to begin a winning streak of their own.

“I think that a winning streak would be good,” Gemeinhardt said. “We want to make sure we’re getting better and eliminating mistakes, and if you do those things you’re usually all right.”