The Iowa State softball team dropped both games of a twin-bill to Oklahoma State Saturday, battling not only the Cowgirls, but strong winds and cold temperatures as well.

The Cyclones were edged in game one, 4-2, as Courtney Dully, who picked up the complete game, took the loss dropping her record to 5-4. Dully started strong, striking out three Oklahoma State hitters in the first inning.

Dully was then nailed in the abdomen by a line drive in the third inning, knocking the wind out of the Cyclone hurler.

“It hurt but you just have to suck it up,” Dully said. “I’ve been hit before but it was pretty cold yesterday. I don’t think it effected my pitching, though.”

Iowa State’s offense continued to be consistent, led by freshman Raven Coberg who went 2-for-3 and by Angie Balakshin who singled in both of the Cyclone runs in the fifth inning. Kally Hogan added a single for ISU.

Game two featured OFFENSE!

The Cyclones tallied seven runs on nine hits and were led offensively by Hogan who was 2-for-3, scoring two runs; Jaime Kahler who singled, doubled and drove in three runs and Coberg who was 2-for-3 and knocked in one run. Balakshin singled and drove in a run, while Brenna Miller singled and scored a pair of runs for Iowa State.

Erin Woods continued to produce at the plate in her first season. Woods recorded her first triple and scored two runs, this after exploding against Iowa last Thursday when she went 4-for-7, scoring two runs and driving in three in two losses to the Hawks.

“She just continues to get the job done with big hits when we need them,” Iowa State Head Coach Deb Kuhn said.

However, Iowa State’s seven runs would not be enough due to an offensive display by Oklahoma State.

The Cowgirls erupted for 11 runs in the first three innings. They would add five more runs in the sixth inning for a game total of 16 on 14 hits. Lynea Backlund took the loss for Iowa State dropping her record to 3-2.

“We didn’t challenge them defensively all weekend,” Kuhn said. “We need to relax and have fun out there. We put too much pressure on ourselves sometimes. Offensively we’ve been pretty consistent all season.”

Dully agreed, “We need to practice this week on defense. There are some infield situations that we need to master.”

The sweep by Oklahoma State drops Iowa State’s record to 5-6 in the conference and 14-15 overall. Cyclone pitcher Jeannie Lobel said the Cyclones are much better than that.

“We have all the components. We have solid pitching and consistent hitting; we just need everything to click at the same time,” Lobel said.

“That’s our biggest challenge, getting everything to work as well as we know it can at the same time,” she added.

Iowa State travels to Des Moines to take on Drake in a make-up game on Wednesday and then returns home this weekend to host Texas A&M in two games on Saturday and one on Sunday.

Kuhn plans to put this week’s practice time to good use.

“A&M is a very strong team. They have been high in the ratings all year. Drake is very strong as well,” Kuhn said. “We need to work hard this week.”