STILLWATER – Oklahoma State softball started the 2022 season ranked as high as No. 2 in the country, just the second time since 1994 the Cowgirls started a season ranked in the top 10.
There certainly was, and still is, a lot of hype and expectations for this season. So, I asked Kenny Gajewski if the loss to No. 18 Duke last weekend might have possibly alleviated any of that pressure.
“No, losing sucks no matter how it happens, when it happens,” said Gajewski. “I don’t like it. I get your point, but I don’t want to lose, I want us to have that feel of ‘hey, everything matters.’ I don’t feel any better having lost a game, I feel worse because I feel like when we lose, we didn’t perform well. That’s the only thing I want these kids to do is to perform to their very best, be the best versions of themselves and I don’t think we were that, so that’s the disappointing thing. This weekend’s gonna be a grind just like the last one was, probably a little tougher and we’re gonna have to play well to win.”
Even though the media met with Gajewski and select members of the team on Tuesday to talk about the upcoming weekend at the St. Pete Clearwater Elite Invitational, the most important thing talked about was how Cowgirl softball feels like there’s still a lot to prove; that they’re not being chased, but still chasing.
“Self-inflicted,” Gajewski said of the variables which affected the Cowgirls’ offense this past weekend. “Whether you want to call it pressure, whether you want to call it defensive, passive, I think everybody in this program, I’ll speak for me and the players, I think everybody was easy to buy into ‘you’re the chase now,’ and I think I made a big mistake by not being able to heed that off and go ‘wait a minute, we’re not the chase.’ We don’t have anything that anybody else wants, I mean unless they want a ranking that’s meaningless this time of year. So, I think we all got caught up in that part of it. I knew there would be a different sort of expectation with the ranking, but I’m kind of disappointed in myself that I missed the opportunity to say ‘hey, we’re not the chased, we’re the chaser.’ Until we get something that you really want or something that everybody in the country wants, we’re still chasing.”
While the narrative is certainly important, what I feel is more important is that it’s not just being preached by the coaching staff but from the veterans on the team as well. Senior outfielder Chelsea Alexander, who was one of the players who met with the media on Tuesday, also talked about having a chaser mindset.
“Coach G talks about it all the time: we aren’t the chased, we’re the chasers and we take our game to other teams. We’re just playing softball, it doesn’t matter who’s in the other dugout and I think with that hype, it kind of got to where we were ‘oh, people are playing us,’ and we kind of shied away from that a little bit instead of just going out and playing our game and playing with that chip on our shoulder like we got nothing to lose. Rankings don’t mean a whole lot right now, especially preseason rankings, nobody’s played yet. We just got to remember who we are and who this program is: we’re chasers, we go and take our game to people.”
The now ranked No. 7 Cowgirls get the opportunity to play chaser this weekend as they’ll be in Florida at the St. Pete Clearwater Elite Invitational where they’ll face Michigan, LSU, South Florida, Washington and Northwestern.
They kick things off against Michigan on Friday, Feb. 18 with a 9 a.m. CT first pitch on ESPNU.
