The ISU softball team continues with Big 12 Conference play as the Cyclones host Baylor this weekend at the Southwest Athletic Complex.

Saturday’s first game is set for 2 p.m. and Sunday’s game will start at 1 p.m.

Baylor is recently coming off a split with Texas Tech on Tuesday, winning the first game 2-0 as sophomore left-handed pitcher Cristin Vitek fired a three-hit shutout to spark the Golden Bears.

She allowed three hits, had five strikeouts and walked four in the win. Baylor scored both its runs in the sixth inning.

Texas Tech won the nightcap 1-0. As of Tuesday, Baylor was 26-19 overall and 2-8 in the conference.

ISU head coach Ruth Crowe said even though the Bears have a losing conference record, they will still present a great challenge.

“They have a very good overall record and they have a deceiving conference record,” Crowe said. “They started out the conference season playing the top teams in the conference. We can’t look at a record. We just need to show up and play this weekend.”

The Bears are led offensively by Kelly Osburn with a .369 batting average, seven home runs and 17 RBIs.

Kim Wilmoth is second on the team with a .366 average with a team high 49 hits. Sarah Caudle rounds off the Baylor offensive with a .314 average. Caudle also is second on the team with six home runs and leads the team with 30 RBIs.

Vitek leads the team in pitching with a 12-10 record and a 1.88 ERA and 148 strikeouts. Katie Decker, Joni Miller, and Sara Caudle have also split in pitching time for the Bears.

In the first two conference games, Iowa State managed to score first and hold on for the wins. Crowe said that is a point of emphasis this weekend.

“It’s help us to score first this season. We scored a ton of runs last year,” Crowe said. “Runs have not come as easy for us this season. But scoring first helps us emotionally and has given us the intensity.”

In last season’s game at Baylor, both teams split as Iowa State won the first game 2-0. Baylor took the second game 6-4 after the Bears score five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to rally from a 4-1 deficit.

After hosting Baylor, the Cyclones will return to action on Wednesday as they travel to Iowa City to face rival Iowa. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.

The score for the Iowa State-Missouri game on Thursday night was not available as of press time.