After an inconsistent weekend at the I-75 Challenge in Georgia, ending with a 2-3 record, Iowa State softball is eager to tackle the obstacles it faced.

The Cyclones will travel to the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida, where they will compete in the USF tournament. They will take on the Wisconsin Badgers, South Florida Bulls and Massachusetts Minutemen. 

In Georgia, the Cyclones struggled capitalizing on scoring positions and being aggressive on base. They missed out on many scoring opportunities, leaving players on base or poorly executing a play.

“We definitely had opportunities to win both those games– Georgia State we out hit them six to three,” Head Coach Jamie Pinkerton said. “I would be a lot more concerned offensively if we didn’t have opportunity, it was just a position where we didn’t hit well”. 

Senior Logan Schaben, who has started her season off on a good note offensively, said the Cyclones have to take every moment of practice time as seriously as game time. The extra work between innings and in practice will end up paying off for the Cyclones.

“We really have to work on being consistent, that goes for every practice, every game, just being consistent showing up with same energy every day and every at bat,” Schaben said. “Knowing that every swing we take counts, working more on quality over quantity” Schaben said. 

With such a young team, the experience and strategic aspects of the game have seen better days. The Cyclones have a very young pitching squad, almost all the pitchers are freshmen. Among those pitchers are Janessa Jaso, Ellie Spelhaug and Karlie Charles, each of which have started off the season on the mound with great achievements. 

The first game of the series for the Cyclones will be at 1 p.m. Friday against Wisconsin.