The regular season for Iowa State softball is drawing closer. The season begins Thursday.

“This offseason was about growing in our skills, challenging different skills that we have, different things that we need to work on and getting stronger mentally and pushing ourselves harder than we have in the past,” said junior shortstop Sami Williams.

Last season, the Cyclones finished with a record of 23-33 and a 4-14 record in Big 12 play. The Cyclones finished sixth out of seven teams in the Big 12 last season.

“On the surface last season looked the same to a lot of people based on the record, but as the year went on we improved quite a bit,” said coach Jamie Pinkerton.

Offensively the Cyclones had a .257 batting average last season, but that number will likely improve the Cyclones return seven of their nine starters in the lineup from last season.

Among of those returning starters is Williams who earned a spot on the All-Big 12 first team in the 2017 season and led the Cyclones last season in home runs hit with 12, runs batted in with 27, an on-base percentage of .415 and batting average with an average of .388.

The Cyclones gave up an ERA [earned run average] of 4.17 which was last in the Big 12. With seven returning starters in the field as well as senior pitchers Emma Hylen and Savannah Sanders the Cyclones have the potential to improve their ERA from a season ago.

Six of the returning starters from last season are now seniors and will provide the Cyclones with some valuable experience and leadership. However, the Cyclones still have a good amount of players that are inexperienced.

“In some key positions we’re very young, but we also we have a lot of seniors,” Pinkerton said. “They’ve [the seniors] have grown and become confident women, now we’ve got to translate that to the field.”

While the Cyclones do have a good amount of senior leadership, the Cyclones also have five freshmen that have the opportunity to learn from this year’s seniors.

“They’ve [the freshmen] blended in really well,” Hylen said. “They have so much personality and their going to make an impact in the years to come.”

Going into Pinkerton’s first season, the Cyclones had three coaches in four seasons. Now going into this season, Pinkerton is continuing to try to change the culture of the program.

“When you take over, and the players have had three coaches in four years you have to try to change the culture, and you have to try to put in your system,” Pinkerton said. “I think they [the players] did a great job of buying in and we made strides, but we still have a long ways to go, they know that, and we as a staff know that.”

The Cyclones have had 10 losing seasons in a row and haven’t finished with a winning record since 1995.

While the team’s record last season was similar to previous seasons, that does not mean that the team culture hasn’t changed.

“There was a lot of subtle changes in the program last year that may be beneath the surface that we in the room know, but maybe the fans don’t know,” Pinkerton said. “There was a shift in the right direction.”

“In my four years here this has been the best team chemistry that we’ve had,” Sanders said. “We understand that no matter what happens off the field we have to have each other’s back and that really plays over on to how we play on the field; it’s been our Achilles heel in the past.”

The Cyclones were picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 this season.

The Cyclones’ first game this season is against the University of North Carolina-Greensboro Spartans at 9 a.m. Thursday, followed by a game against the defending national champions, Florida State, at 4:30 p.m.