The Iowa State softball team dropped two games at Oklahoma on Saturday, but ended the weekend on a winning note by shutting the 12th ranked Sooners out 1-0 on Sunday.

Oklahoma edged the Cyclones 2-0 in game one Saturday, despite a strong performance by Cyclone pitcher Courtney Dully who allowed only five hits through seven innings of work.

Cyclone Head Coach Deb Kuhn praised Dully’s performance.

“She did a really nice job against a high-ranked team,” Kuhn said.

The Cyclone offense was stymied by Oklahoma pitcher Jill Most who allowed ISU only one hit, that by freshman Erin Woods.

Iowa State’s offense came alive in game two on Saturday, chalking up nine hits in a 5-2 loss.

Woods, Debbie Nease and Jane Wagner each went 2 for 3. Kally Hogan knocked in both Cyclone runs with a fourth inning double that chased Oklahoma starter Jennifer Jaime from the game. The Sooners answered with three runs in their half of the fourth inning.

The Cyclones committed a season high four errors in the game.

“We can’t make any excuses. Physical errors are going to happen. We need to focus on eliminating our mental mistakes,” Kuhn said.

The Cyclones bounced back on Sunday behind Dully’s four-hit shutout for a 1-0 victory. Angie Balakshin and Woods collected ISU’s two hits and Angie McRell scored the game’s only run.

Woods was the only Cyclone to have at least one hit in each of ISU’s three games over the weekend.

“She’s hitting for average, .280 going into the weekend. She also has great speed and does a great job for us on the bases,” Kuhn said.

Kuhn also praised the effort of Cyclone catcher Brenna Miller who was behind the plate for all three weekend contests.

“We really want to improve on our defense against base-runners,” she said. “Brenna did a great job keeping the Oklahoma runners in check.”

In preparing for Wednesday’s road trip to Lincoln to take on the Huskers, Kuhn said that offense will be her squad’s main focus.

“I feel really confident with our defense. Even though the stats don’t reflect it, we looked really good at the plate all weekend. We just need to get more mentally focused in the batter’s box,” Kuhn said.

The Cyclones next homestands are April 6 and 7, when they host Texas Tech at 1 p.m. Saturday and noon on Sunday.