Gajewski Said Caroline Wang is a "Gamer" and the Cowgirls are Rising in the Polls
STILLWATER – What an opening weekend for Oklahoma State Cowgirls softball as they moved up to No. 4 in the latest D1 Softball rankings after going 5-0 and outscoring the competition 39-5 in those games, including a 9-1 five-inning run-rule over then No. 8 UCLA. The Bruins have now fallen back to No. 22 in D1 Softball’s Top 25. The Cowgirls are rocketing up all the polls, but D1 Softball is the highest they are ranked. The USA Today NFCA Division I Top 25 has Oklahoma State No. 6. The ESPN/USA Collegiate Softball Poll has the Cowgirls No. 8 and the Softball America College Top 25 has them ranked No. 10.
Over the weekend the Cowgirls had six players combine to hit seven home runs. The one player with two round trippers was veteran transfer catcher Caroline Wang.
“She showed me she is really a gamer,” Kenny Gajewski said on the national ESPN telecast of the win over UCLA on Sunday. “You know in practice I really didn’t know what we had, but as soon as the games have started it’s clear she is one of the best players.”
“We’ve really watched some young kids grow up,” Gajewski said on his team’s Twitter/X site as he wrapped up the weekend. “We’ve seen some older kids like Lexi (KIlfoyl) and Carolina (Wang) just do what whey’ve always done.”
I ran into Gajewski on Monday (Feb, 12) and I had to ask exactly what he meant by being a “game.”
“She went from being one of my least favorite players to being one of my favorite over this trip,” Gajewski said and stated he was kidding. “You know in practice whe was out there and did what she was supposed to but no smiles. She was kind of just there. Then here comes the game and she is a completely different player.”
Wang is married as she and her husband both moved to Stillwater. She knew she was going to transfer a year in advance for academic reasons as she wants to be a speech pathologist and Liberty did not have that.
“That was the only reason I left and then only thing I needed to know was did the school have speech path so I could get into graduate school,” Wang said. “Oklahoma State did and they also had a pretty good softball program.”
The former three-time All-Athlantic Sun Conference player and the Player of the Year in the Conference in 2023 has a good resume’ of her own on the diamond and behind the plate as a catcher.
“When Oklahoma State calls you for softball, then you give them a shot.” Wang said. “By the time I left I was really sold.”
Gajewski said it’s part of being a veteran, especially the new type veteran student-athletes that gained an extra year from COVID. The thrill to practice isn’t there as much.
“They just want to get to the games,” Gajewski said. “She showed me that she is more than ready for the games.”
Besides her solo home run in the second game at Loyoal-Marymount for the lone run in a 1-0 win. Wang had a three-run homer in the win over UC-Riverside. She also had the long single to the rightfield wall to push home the first run against UCLA.
On the weekend, Wang hit .615 with eight hits, two home runs, and six RBI and a slugging percentage of 1.077.
I think she can be excused for being a little less exhuberant. She knows when to kick it in gear.