The Iowa State softball team will take a conference game break when it faces Nebraska on Wednesday.

The Cyclones (15-22, 0-6 Big 12) are set to play in Lincoln, Nebraska, against the Cornhuskers (11-20, 3-3 Big 10) at 4 p.m., and again at 6 p.m.

This will be the Cyclones’ first non-conference game in over three weeks. This is also the first time the Cyclones will play Nebraska since 2014.

The Cyclones recently began their conference play of the season, facing their first Big 12 team, Texas Tech, on March 24 and 26 and No. 11 Oklahoma on March 31 and April 1.

Iowa State hasn’t faired well in conference play so far this season, however. The Cyclones dropped all six conference games they’ve played in 2017.

Although the Cyclones played three games against Texas Tech and Oklahoma, each event had one game that they lost by a significant margin. They lost 18-4 to Texas Tech and 20-0 to Oklahoma, both scores that were much worse than the other two games played.

A trend in each of these games, as well as others throughout the season, has been one inning that set the tone. Each game had one inning in which the opposing team did especially well and scored multiple runs, making it difficult for the Cyclones to fight back.

“We’ve had more bad innings than we’ve had bad games,” coach Jamie Trachsel said. “We need to make sure that we can finish that inning once we have two outs. That’s something that’s hurt us all year.”

Freshman infielder Talyn Lewis said it was disappointing losing to Texas Tech and Oklahoma, but that the team is learning from its mistakes and trying to adjust in practice between games.

“I think a big thing for us to work on is a lot of routine plays and making sure we’re doing everything that we need to do,” Lewis said. “I would definitely say the consistency thing has been kind of an all-year issue, but we’ve grown a lot.”

Although the team has faced tougher opponents, players are still looking forward to their games against Nebraska.

“I’m excited to see how we respond after our last two weekends and what we take from those games,” freshman infielder Sami Williams said.

Williams also said that facing the higher level of competition will be one of the biggest takeaways from the weekend into the Nebraska games.

Trachsel said she believes Nebraska will be one of the team’s tougher competitions, but she has faith in her team’s ability.

“I think [players] are totally staying engaged,” Trachsel said. “I do actually think we’re getting better, we just don’t have as much to show for it on the scoreboard.”