Coming off an impressive showing this weekend at the Cyclone Invitational, the ISU softball team travels to warm weather in Houston, Texas for the Hilton Houston Plaza Invitational.

Houston is the first stop on the team’s five-week road trip that includes trips to California, Georgia, and Florida until finally returning home in late March.

“It’s going to be long, and we’re going to be tired,” said outfielder Cathlin Bingham. “But we’re going to push through it and see how strong we really are. The goal is take it slow, and win games.”

Having to do that much travelling can drain a team. Luckily for Iowa State, the team has a lot of talented depth. This allows Cyclone head coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler to be flexible with her lineup card, while also not having to worry about overworking players.

The game plan is still the same as last week, but head coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler drove home the point that the team needed to “learn from its mistakes”. That it was ok to make new mistakes, but to eliminate the mistakes they made the week before.

Offensively, two of the Cyclone’s best hitters in Aly Cappaert and Rachel Hartman sit below the .300 mark, but the team is still tops in the Big 12 in batting averages at .335. 

Having to play so many road games to start off the season is hard to mentally and physical prepare for, but Gemeinhardt-Cesler sees it as a chance for her team to connect.

“I think anytime you spend that much time with the same people, then it is really going to create great team chemistry,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “Usually by that fifth week when everyone is ready for spring break, I think we’re all pretty happy to be home.”

Gemeinhardt-Cesler also brought up the point that this is somewhat of a homecoming for a few of the players who are natives of Texas. Brittany Gomez, Kaylee Bosworth, and Niki Turner all being from the lone star state.

The Cyclones pitching staff was the highlight last weekend and the Big 12 took noticed, naming freshman Savannah Sanders Big 12 pitcher of the week. The freshman currently boasts a 1.50 ERA with 23 strikeouts.

The Hilton Houston Plaza Invitational currently includes Ball State, Houston, and Toledo with Iowa State playing Ball State twice now with Jackson State dropping out of the tournament earlier this week. Ball State should be a good first test on the road trip, winning 34 games last year and taking the MAC crown.