One day was all it took for the ISU softball team to turn around its play against Texas Tech this weekend.

Iowa State started Big 12 play with a two-game series against Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas, on Saturday and Sunday and came home with a series split.

In the first matchup, Iowa State opened a 3-1 lead before allowing six unanswered runs, eventually losing the game 8-5.

Assistant coach Chris Cochran said Saturday’s game was weak in all areas — pitching, hitting and defense.

“Most of the problems we made were correctable mistakes,” Cochran said.

“It wasn’t a very clean game in that aspect. It just was not one of our clean performances.”

Freshman Alyssa Ransom was the starting pitcher for Iowa State and struck out four batters. Seniors Ashley Core and Julia Lindsay and junior Heather McLatchie all scored runs for the Cyclones in the losing effort. Lindsay also went 4-for-4 and had one RBI.

Sunday’s game against Texas Tech had a different outcome.

“From Saturday to Sunday, we were just much better in all cases,” Cochran said.

Iowa State put up big offensive numbers to get the 7-3 win, improving its record to 1-1 in the Big 12.

Cochran said the difference between Saturday’s game and Sunday’s game was the mental aspect.

“Mentally, we spent some time thinking about the game afterwards [Saturday night],” Cochran said. “Essentially, we saw the same pitching. There were some different pitchers up there, but there was also the same person up there who threw against us Saturday. It just came down to us taking better swings.”

Iowa State took advantage of three errors by Texas Tech, although they were outhit by the Lady Raiders 8-7.

Ransom and Katie Reichling shared time on the pitching mound. Ransom picked up the win, and Reichling helped the cause with her first home run of the season.

With an 8-17 overall record, every game is a must-win as the Cyclones travel to Des Moines Tuesday to play Drake.

“We need to look to win every game at this point,” Cochran said. “We are not at the point were we need to see what we can do anymore.”

Cochran said she doesn’t feel there is a great intrastate rivalry between Drake and Iowa State.

“All four of the Division I teams in Iowa like to be successful against each other, but I don’t feel there is a big rivalry here,” Cochran said.

“Right now, all the games in the midweek are kind of a prep for the Big 12 games [on the weekends].”

Although Iowa State played Drake in the fall, Cochran said she thinks Drake will be a quite different team this time around.

“We played them this fall, but that’s different because then, some of the players are new and young and now they’re more used to playing,” Cochran said.

Cochran said one thing Iowa State will have to be concerned with is Drake’s baserunning ability.

“They have some speed on the bases, more than they have had in the past,” Cochran said. “They’ve got some quickness up and down their lineup.”

Iowa State will continue its matches against intrastate teams by playing host to Northern Iowa on Thursday and Big 12 opponent Texas A&M on Saturday and Sunday.