The Iowa State softball team showed fans a glimpse of the new and improved squad over the weekend with a perfect 6-0 outing in the ISU Fall Tournament.

“I was very happy with the overall performance of the team. We had the opportunity to play people at different positions which was good for us,” coach Ruth Crowe said of the weekend. “The freshmen had the opportunity to play and get a taste of college softball.”

Two of those freshmen, Erica Martinez and Jen Bice went 2-0 on the weekend to earn some well-deserved praise from Coach Crowe.

“Our freshmen pitchers threw very well for their first outing,” Crowe said.

Martinez picked up her first win in a 7-5 victory over Minnesota State in which Jen Bice also picked up the save.

Martinez received some help from sophomore Lauren Cathey who singled in the second and led off the third inning with a solo homerun.

Cathey went on to finish the weekend at 7-for-18, with three homeruns and four RBI.

Bice struck out six to earn the save and wasted no time coming back in the next game, striking out 16 in a 3-0 shutout win over Kirkwood.

Kristin Ferguson took the mound in the first game on Saturday, striking out three on her way to a 2-1 win over Drake.

The first game on Sunday saw ISU again taking on Minnesota State.

Martinez picked up the win and also helped out her own cause by adding an RBI on a sacrifice fly for the first run of the game.

Iowa State went on to add five more runs on its way to a 6-1 victory.

ISU faced Drake in the next game, earning a 4-0 victory.

Bice went the distance on the mound, striking out nine on the way to her second win of the weekend.

The last game of the weekend pitted Iowa State against Grandview.

Ferguson picked up her second win of the fall season in a 4-1 win.

Overall, Coach Crowe saw a lot of positive play from many individuals.

“I was really impressed with the play of both of our catchers [Cinnamon Gooding and Lauren Cathey],” she said. “Neither of them have much experience at that position, but they did a good job for us.”

Gooding didn’t limit herself to defense.

She also aided in the undefeated weekend by going 4-for-13 with two doubles.

Martinez and senior Jessica Polo also had strong performances. Martinez went 4-for-11 with five RBIs and one home run, while Polo added two RBIs and two doubles on her way to hitting 6-for-9.

The competition gets tougher for ISU this weekend as they travel to Moline, Ill., to take part in the National Invite with such teams as Texas Tech, Notre Dame, Indiana and Iowa.