The ISU softball team came back to Ames after competing in Houston, Texas, over the week with a pleasant surprise.

Virtually all the snow that was on the ground when the season started had melted away. So Tuesday, the Cyclones got to practice on the softball dirt for the first time this year.

This warm-weathered surprise will be short lived, however, as the Cyclones are already on the road traveling to their next tournament. The climate, though, will only improve.

The Cyclones will be playing in the UC-Davis Invitational in Davis, Calif., on Thursday. They’ll be playing against UC-Davis (3-6, 0-0 Big West), South Dakota (1-9, 0-0 Summit League), Idaho State(3-7, 0-0 Big Sky Conference) and New Mexico (5-5, 0-0 Mountain West) over the weekend.

Iowa State will be looking to improve its 7-3 record after splitting the Hilton Houston Plaza Invitational last weekend, going 2-2 in the tournament.

The Cyclones only practiced once this week, but coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler said she isn’t concerned.

Coming back at 1 a.m. on Monday, Gemeinhardt-Cesler said a handful of players texted her later that day to get into the training facilities and practice.

“There’s not a better feeling for a coach [when] people come back on the off-day and still want to get better,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “That’s what makes good teams great.”

Some players, with only two days in Ames this week, found themselves much too busy to get into the practice facility on their off-day Monday. Gemeinhardt-Cesler said that she understands that, too. 

For shortstop Brittany Gomez and third baseman Sally Woolpert, their aim for improvement is on batting.

Woolpert, who was quiet for most of the weekend had two hits and three RBIs in Iowa State’s last game against Ball State (4-6, 0-0 MAC), and managed to crack one to left field for a home run. 

 “Even though I ended the weekend well, I want to keep that going,” Woolpert said.

Woolpert’s focus for practice was working on pitches on the outside of the plate and trying to get the ball to pop-up more after making contact.

Woolpert said that team is also focusing on staying positive.

“I think even if we’re losing we still stay up and we still battle to improve our game,” Woolpert said.

One way for ISU to pick itself up is through its high-powered offense. Gomez, recognizes some of the improvements that the team needs to make to get to the next level.

“If we get runners on, [we need] to score them, especially in that first inning,” Gomez said.

Gomez was trying to fine tune her swing to hit the ball on the ground, which was something that she had struggled with in her last few games.

“I’m kind of getting comfortable with things,” Gomez said. “[I’m] hopefully getting better each weekend. And hopefully for my first at bat [each game] I can get on and get things going for us.”