After a disappointing weekend in Iowa City that saw the ISU softball team lose three out of four games, the Cyclones will attempt to put that tournament behind them this weekend as they travel to Cedar Falls to participate in the Big Four Challenge.

In practices this week, head coach Ruth Crowe said she talked to the players about upping consistency and staying more focused.

Another point was how the team needs to rebound after losing sophomore Ashley Killeen, its starting catcher, whose nose was broken last weekend by a foul ball. She will be out for the remainder of the fall season. “The team really suffered a letdown when it lost Killeen,” Crowe said. “We can’t let losing a player affect us so dramatically.”

Sophomore pitcher Alyssa Ransom had two dismal starts for the Cyclones. One reason Crowe said Ransom started poorly was because she wasn’t used to pitching to the new catcher, freshman Dena De Stigter.

“It’s not that she doesn’t like the other catcher, she’s just used to throwing to Killeen,” Crowe said.

“Your catcher is everything to a pitcher, and you can’t be a good pitcher without a good catcher,” Ransom said.

“Thankfully we have Killeen here because she’ll make me look five times as good in some games.”

Ransom said she has not pitched to anyone but Killeen in her college career.

Ransom and De Stigter have been working on bettering their relationship and Ransom said there should be no excuses this weekend.

De Stigter also agreed that the pair’s relationship has gotten much better this week.

“Pitchers and catchers have to have a certain chemistry and we don’t have that yet,” she said. “[Ransom] has learned so much and she’s been helping me along. I totally trust her and look up to her. I let her pitch, and I’m there for her behind the plate.”

Junior shortstop Cary Akins said the defense has been breaking its game down and getting back to fundamentals.

“We’ve been really working on our basic mechanics this week to make sure the little things are getting corrected,” she said. “Our main goal is to get to the level we should be playing at and not focusing on the [opposing] teams.”

Crowe said winning this weekend’s tournament isn’t as important as it is to improve after last weekend.

“The focus and the intensity have got to be better than what it was last weekend,” Crowe said. “That’s the biggest thing, and I think that we’ve done a good job in practice so far this week with that.”

The Cyclones will be playing two games Saturday, with their first opponent being Drake at 11 a.m. and then Northern Iowa at 3 p.m. Iowa State’s first game on Sunday will be at 10 a.m. against Iowa, with Drake rounding out the tournament at noon.