The ISU softball team played its eighth game in as many days Wednesday, facing Big 12 Conference foe Nebraska.

Cornhusker center fielder Kim Ogee smacked a lead-off home run off Cyclone starter Lindsey Herrin and the Cyclones couldn’t sustain a consistent offensive effort as the Huskers ran away with an 8-3 victory.

With the loss, the Cyclones fall to 5-7 in the Big 12, 15-18 overall.

“We really only wanted to get three, maybe four innings out of Herrin,” said ISU head coach Ruth Crowe, who rested her regular starters. “And they were hitting her hard.”

The Cyclones answered Nebraska’s scoring in the bottom half of the first when shortstop Julia Lindsey led off with a double to the gap in right center field. Third baseman Adi Blackmon followed with a base hit and right fielder Erica Martinez walked to load the bases. Herrin followed with a base hit to right to score Lindsey and Blackmon.

Iowa State scored again in the bottom of the second when Diana Reuter walked and scored on an error by the Nebraska shortstop after a base hit by Blackmon.

That’s where the offense stopped for the Cyclones and where the Huskers started theirs up. Right fielder Anne Steffan bunted to get on base and stole second. Ogee struck again for Nebraska with a double to bring home Steffan. She then scored by taking bases on consecutive pop-outs to tie the score at 3-3.

Nebraska held the Cyclones scoreless for the rest of the afternoon.

In the fourth inning, Crowe brought Martinez in from right field to relieve Herrin, who moved to first base. That inning, the Huskers lit up a frustrated Martinez for three runs. Martinez gave up a base hit, walked two more batters to load the bases and walked a run home. Nebraska’s Nicole Trimboli brought home two runs with a base hit to right field. Martinez managed to strike out pitcher Peaches James to end the inning.

Martinez – whose record drops to 8-11 after the loss – knew she would probably be pitching Wednesday, but wasn’t comfortable right away when she moved to the mound.

“Coming in the middle of the game is kind of hard,” she said.

Crowe said she never second-guessed the pitching change in the middle of the game.

“She came in and wasn’t where she needed to be mentally,” she said. “She shut them down at Nebraska a couple of weeks ago. We decided to make a change because of how well Erica threw against them when we were at their place a couple weeks ago.”

Iowa State was able to hold the Nebraska offense scoreless the next two innings, and Martinez struck out Trimboli to start the seventh inning. She then gave up a base hit to James, who trotted home when catcher Amber Burgess crushed a home run over the left field fence.

Iowa State faced several situations where they had two runners on base and one out, only to be shut down by James and the Nebraska defense.

James finished the game with six assists, fielding ground balls to the mound and tossing them to first for the outs. The win raised her record to 17-5 on the season.

Crowe knows that leaving runners on base is definitely hurting her team’s play.

“We are leaving a lot of people on base,” she said.

“We have to do a better job of getting those key hits.”

Crowe also feels that playing so many games without more than a day or two’s rest may affect her team’s performance, but there’s not much they can do about it.

“The problem with our sport is this is the only time we can play,” she said. “Everyone else does it too.”

Martinez said she almost enjoys the constant playing.

“It affects you a little bit, but not really,” she said. “I like playing a lot of games.”

Iowa State returns to action Thursday when they host Western Illinois.