Iowa State will be playing in Des Moines this Tuesday against Drake University after being swept by Baylor this past weekend.

The Cyclones were flat out dominated this weekend. Their pitching was inconsistent, the fielding was below average, and their bats went silent after the 4th inning on Saturday. 

This team was dominated by an extremely good Baylor Bears team, but the overwhelming internal faith this team has is quite a surprise. However, coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler thinks that confidence is required to have success in this sport.

“I think it is absolutely necessary in order to have a chance.” Gemeinhardt-Cesler Said. 

For ISU to walk away from a series after being outscored 50-10 and still have confidence in their group is impressive. Losing that badly can leave a bad taste in the mouths of players. 

However, the bench never let themselves get down on each other, and always believed they could make something happen at any point during the game. 

“We did a good job of just staying up.” Said senior catcher Sammie Hildreth, “Things weren’t going our way, but we’re talking, we’re trying to get through it, and try figure out a way [to comeback].” 

On Saturday, Iowa State was able to ignite the offense for a few innings, proving to themselves and Baylor they could play at their level. For some of the tenured Cyclones, it was business as usual, but for some of the newer players it was a real confidence boost. 

Infielder Nychole Antillon made sure the team could hear her cheering from them as well, as her voice a little horse after the game. 

“We need energy and motivation to keep us going.” Antillon said,”It’s easy to get down on ourselves, but we showed that we could score runs and comeback and prove that we deserve to be there.”

One recurring issue for the Cyclones has been the errors the team is consistently committing, as the mistakes seem to deflate the team’s hopes of making comebacks. But Hildreth thinks the team needs to learn from the mistakes and move past them during games. 

“Defensively, we have to better than that.” Hildreth said, “You know, they get a home run, they get a good hit you have to flush it out of your head right away and get the next one.”