The Iowa State Softball team will travel out west for the first time this season. The Cyclones will play in the DeMarini Invitational in Palo Alto, California, beginning Friday afternoon and going through Sunday.

The Cyclones, for the most part, played well defensively in the JoAnne Graf Classic, but struggled offensively.

“Saturday and Sunday we had a hard time scoring runs,” said senior Sydney Stites. “Our goal for this upcoming weekend is to focus on the offensive aspect of our game and try to be better at that.”

On Friday, the Cyclones face the Colorado State Rams at 4:30 p.m. to start the DeMarini Invitational.

The Rams are 3-1 so far this season and return all nine starters from a team that went 27-23 last season.

Sophomore outfielder Ashley Michelena and junior shortstop Haley Donaldson have led the offense for the Rams as they both have a batting average over .400 and six or more hits this season.

“I have a former player that’s an assistant there that’s teaching there, so I kinda know what she’s teaching hitting-wise,” said Iowa State coach Jamie Pinkerton.

Following their matchup with the Rams, the Cyclones will face the host team of the DeMarini Invitational, the Stanford Cardinals at 6:30 p.m.

The Cardinal are 4-1 this season, with their loss coming to the Weber State Wildcats by one run in extra innings. In all five games, the Cardinals have held their opponents to five runs or fewer and have outscored their opponents 36-14.

Saturday the Cyclones have two games, the first being a matchup with the Pacific University Tigers at noon.

The Tigers are 2-3 this season. In their two wins, the Tigers have scored five runs or more. However, in their three losses, they have been held to one run total.

“I’ve known the coach there for 30 years, and I know they’re going to be a sound team,” Pinkerton said.

The Cyclones second game on Saturday on will be a rematch against the Rams at 4:30 p.m.

On Sunday the Cyclones will conclude the DeMarini Invitational with a game against the Portland State Vikings at noon.

“They’ve gotten better in the past couple years under Meadow McWhorter,” Pinkerton said.

The Vikings are 2-4 this season, with all four of their losses being by three runs or fewer.

Despite going 1-4 last weekend, the Cyclones believe that they can do well in DeMarini Invitational.

“I feel like we did this last Friday we can go 5-0 this weekend,” said junior Logan Schaben.