The ISU softball team had a rough outing over the weekend going 1-4 in the Troy Cox Classic in Las Cruces, New Mex.The Cyclones’ single win came against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on the first day of the tournament while losses against New Mexico State, Oregon, Houston and Southern Illinois dropped Iowa State’s season record to 3-7.”I really felt that we took a few steps back,” Crowe said. “There were really no improvements over last weekend. It was a total team letdown.”Iowa State started off the tournament with a win, recording a 2-0 shutout over Texas A&M-CC, but Crowe said that it was not a credit to the way the Cyclones played.”We were lucky to get a win over Texas A&M-CC,” she said. “I didn’t feel like we played well enough to win versus anybody.” Sophomore hurler Jen Bice got the win for the Cyclones, giving up four hits in seven innings while striking out four.Iowa State got all of its offensive production in the top of the fifth inning scoring two runs on the way to the win.Freshman Rainey Eanes started the charge for the ‘Clones singling to centerfield to lead off the inning. Catcher Mindy Ogan reached on an error in the next at bat to advance Eanes to second base. Molly McNertny who had been brought in to pinch run for Eanes scored on a single by Ashley Core to give Iowa State the 1-0 lead. Ogan later stole home to make it a 2-0 lead.Core’s one hit and one RBI led Iowa State which also got a hit each from Eanes and Amberly Lessenger.The second game Friday did not end in the same result as the first with Iowa State falling 11-5 to New Mexico State.New Mexico State came out of the blocks strong, scoring four runs in the first inning on its way to belting out 13 hits in the game. Iowa State was able to get within two runs with a score of 5-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning, but the Aggies put the game away in the fifth inning, adding three more runs.”New Mexico State has a good team, but again we didn’t play well,” Crowe said. “Our hitting wasn’t very good, our pitching was inconsistent and on defense, we made a lot of mistakes.”Sophomore Erica Martinez took the loss for the Cyclones, allowing four runs on four hits in 2/3 innings of work. Kristin Ferguson came in relief, giving up seven runs on nine hits in 6 1/3 innings.Iowa State met No. 20 Oregon in their first matchup Saturday. Oregon got on the board first in the top of the first inning and, although challenged, never looked back on the way to a 6-2 win over the Cyclones.”We probably played our best game of the tournament against the best team, Oregon,” Crowe said. “But we played our worse against teams we should of beat.”Bice took the loss on the mound for Iowa State, allowing six runs on nine hits while striking out seven. Cathey went 2 of 2 at the plate, including a double with one RBI on the game.The second game of the day pitted Iowa State against Houston.The Cyclones scored two runs on six hits, but it wasn’t enough as Houston claimed the 5-2 win.Adi Blackmon led Iowa State with two hits while Cathey and Martinez each recorded a hit and a RBI in the loss. Kimi Yoshizawa and Browning also contributed a hit in the game. Martinez took the loss for the Cyclones giving up four runs on four hits in three innings of work. Ferguson also saw action on the mound, allowing one run on four hits in four innings.”We’re young, but even the upperclassmen didn’t play as well as they should of,” Crowe said. “It was just a total team letdown.”Iowa State took an early two run lead off a Cathey homerun in the top of the fourth inning but was unable to hold on for the win versus Southern Illinois.Southern Illinois answered back with one run in the fifth inning to make the score 2-1 before getting two more runs off three Cyclone errors in the seventh for the 3-2 win.Bice took the loss for the Cyclones, allowing three runs on four hits striking out seven. The loss dropped her season record to 1-4.”We proved in the first tournament that we can play with the better teams,” Crowe said. “The competition was probably twice as good last weekend than it was this weekend, but we just didn’t perform.”The Cyclones will get two weeks off before traveling to Columbia, Mo. to participate in the Missouri Round Robin Tournament.”We need a couple of weeks off to work on things,” Crowe said. “Hopefully, some of this snow will melt and we’ll be able to get outside soon. It’s hard going from dirt to being back indoors. This will be a really good time to work on what we need to improve on.”