The Cyclones have a chance to end an eight-game losing streak Tuesday against the team it started with when they take on Western Illinois in Macomb, Ill.

The ISU softball team fell to Western Illinois 8-7 in eight innings on March 15 to begin the skid.

“I hope to have the rematch turn out a victory for us,” head coach Ruth Crowe said.

A day prior to the first game with Western Illinois, the Cyclones (10-17 overall, 0-2 Big 12) beat New Mexico 2-1 in the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi tournament.

Sophomore Lindsey Herrin hit her first home run of the season against the Lobos and now leads the team in that category.

The Cyclones’ other run came when freshman Cary Akins hit a single to left field. She advanced home after sophomore Heather McLatchie and junior Julia Lindsey each hit a single.

Senior pitcher Erica Martinez struck out seven batters and allowed six hits from the mound. The team’s victory improves Martinez’s pitching record to 8-3.

But it has been tough going since then. The Cyclones have been outscored in the last eight games 43-13.

After the Corpus Christi tournament, the squad played in San Antonio and San Marcos, Texas, before concluding the road trip at Austin, Texas, last weekend.

The Cyclones dropped a 7-6 decision to Texas-San Antonio on March 18 and lost two games to Southwest Texas by identical 8-0 scores the following day.

Crowe said the team thought they could turn around their bad fortunes in those mid-week games, but it didn’t happen.

“The middle of the week was the worst and [we had] thought we would rebound but it did not seem to happen,” Crowe said.

Against conference leader Texas, the Cyclones faced two of the strongest pitchers in the Big 12. Crowe said the Cyclones improved their play, but Iowa State fell to the seventh-ranked Longhorns 7-0 on Saturday and 2-0 on Sunday.

Martinez struck out three batters Saturday, but Texas pitcher Cat Osterman had seven strikeouts. Senior Jen Bice came in to relieve Martinez after the fifth inning. The Cyclones had six hits to Texas’ 10. Senior Katie Ruby led the Cyclones, going 2-for-3 at the plate.

Akins, Martinez, Lindsey and junior Kelly Wardein accounted for the remaining hits for Iowa State.

Martinez also took the mound for Sunday’s game. She was only able to manage two strikeouts and her record fell to 8-6. Amy Bradford had six strikeouts for Texas.

The Cyclones outhit the Longhorns 4-3, but had two costly errors in the game, compared to zero for Texas. One miscue was a throwing error by ISU catcher Cassandra Kastler that resulted in the Longhorns scoring their first run in the fourth inning.

Senior Adi Blackmon led Iowa State in hitting, going 2-for-2. Wardein and Ruby had the other two hits.

“We had a disappointing trip, obviously,” Crowe said. “We could not seem to get all the components working at the same time. We either had good pitching and defense but not hitting or the other way around.”

The Cyclones also had a few injuries this past week including Martinez. Crowe said Martinez suffered an arm injury, which limited the innings she would have played the pitcher.

Crowe said the injury is not that serious and they are unsure what will happen with it. She didn’t think it had much to do with the outcome of the team’s road trip.

“It did seem to hurt us, but just a little bit,” Crowe said.