This conference season, opponents always seem to have one big hit or a big inning that takes the ISU softball team out of the game.

The rest of this season, the Cyclones are hoping to turn that around and have big innings for themselves.

Iowa State hosts Missouri in a doubleheader on Wednesday at the Southwest Athletic Complex with the first game set for 2 p.m.

In order for the Cyclones to produce a big inning, they need to start off the inning on a good note.

“We need to [start] the inning off with people getting on base,” Kelly Wardein said. “We need to stop putting pressure on ourselves when we get to the plate. We just need to get people on base one at-bat at a time.”

Missouri dropped a 2-0 decision to Texas A&M on Saturday. The Tigers are currently 21-22 overall and third in the conference with an 8-3 mark.

Missouri relies on two pitchers. Junior Erin Kalka is 17-13 on the season with a 1.46 ERA, and sophomore Samantha Fleeman is 4-6 overall. Both the Cyclones and the Tigers are hitting .208 as a team.

ISU head coach Ruth Crowe said the pitching of the Tigers is allowing them to win conference games.

“They have really good pitching,” Crowe said. “They’re second in the conference in pitching, and they also have pretty good defense. They’re not hitting the ball, but they don’t have to since they’re making other teams not score runs.”

Julia Lindsey leads the Cyclones in batting with a .330 average. Freshman Alyssa Ransom has a team-high eight wins on the mound and has a 2.77 ERA.

With postseason success a long shot, Crowe said the rest of the season will still be very important for her younger players to get some experience for next season — namely Ransom.

“It comes to where we are with our upper and younger classmen,” Crowe said.

“Alyssa is a freshman, and she has a whole lot to learn. If that kid didn’t hit the home run [off Alyssa at Baylor], the score could have been 3-2.

“We need to learn from our mistakes and go back to the drawing board. We need to work hard in the summer so that we can learn what improvements we need to make.”