Cowgirls In Championship Game, Play Mississippi State at 1 p.m. Sunday

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State head coach Kenny Gajewski likes to point to Kiley Naomi and her commitment to Oklahoma State as the first major piece to building the Cowgirls into a Big 12 and nationally competitive program. This 2021 NCAA Softball Tournament is reinforcing Gajewski’s belief in Naomi as her bat proved to be the igniter for the Oklahoma State offense to ride to a 9-3 win over Mississippi State and earn their way into championship day of the Stillwater Regional. Naomi was key and so was Alysen Febrey who had three hits and a pair of doubles with two RBI. 

The Cowgirls will play Mississippi State again on Sunday at 1 p.m. needing just one win. The Bulldogs outlasted Campbell 12-0 in earning their way back. Oklahoma State needs just one win to advance, while Mississippi State would have to win twice.

Just like she did in the regional opener it was lead-off hitter Kiley Naomi that energized the Cowgirls. Instead of the start of the game, Naomi’s charge came in the bottom of the third after the Cowgirls lost the lead to the Bulldogs. Naomi took the pitch and blasted it over the left field wall and the fans in the corral to tie the game at 2-2.

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Pennington was also a part of that productive top half of the Cowgirls batting order.

Naomi’s teammates followed it up with Chyenne Factor lacing a single up the middle, Alysen Febrey drove a double to the base of the wall in right-center and Factor scored from first for a 3-2 Oklahoma State lead. After Hayley Busby hit a sac fly to move Febrey to third, Sydney Pennington took the ball the other way down the right field line and an RBI with Febrey scoring easy.

“Kiley is a good leadoff hitter for us," Febrey answered when asked about the top part of the order. “I think just sticking with how we are as players and just having selfless at bats. We really focused on that and we talked about it as hitters and what we were seeing as players.”

Second baseman Karli Petty walked. Wright followed that with a fly ball deep to center field and it went right off the top of Mississippi State’s Chloe Malau’ulu and then bounced off the wall as both Pennington and Petty circled the bases and scored to make it 6-2 Oklahoma State.  

In the fourth the Cowgirls cemented the advantage as Naomi started with a single to left field. After Factor bunted to move Naomi down to second, Febrey drove the ball down the right field line for a double as the ball rattled around in the corner. That scored Naomi from second. Hayley Busby drove home Febrey with a single to left and Busby advanced to second on a defensive bobble. Pennington drove the ball just passed third baseman Montana Davidson and Busby scored while Pennington was called out at second although replay showed the tag was applied late. Oklahoma State led 9-2.

The top of the third was a combination of poor defense, Cowgirls pitcher Carrie Eberle not getting the corners from home plate umpire Terry Holt, and then a great save at the end of the inning. It still added up to Mississippi State taking the lead over the Cowgirls as Fa Leilua opened the inning with a fly ball to shallow left-center field and Chelsea Alexander who couldn’t decide how to play it and the basket catch attempt was bobbled for an error. That was followed by a solid single through the left side of the infield by Carter Spexarth and a single to right by clean-up hitter Mia Davidson. The Bulldogs scored on a ground out to Karli Petty at second as she went to first for the out and didn’t have a play on Leilua at home.  Mississippi State had a 2-1 lead.

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Wright wore her muddy uniform like a medal of honor.

Cowgirls catcher Reagan Wright, playing with a massive mud stain the length of the front of her uniform from a diving attempt on a foul ball in the first inning, made a heads up play with a throw down to third on Spexarth and they caught her in a rundown for the second out with the tag at home.

“She is all in and all in for her teammates and I think that is why she fits in so well here," Febrey said of Wright.

“She's an amazing players and we are so glad that she's here," added Gajewski of Wright.

Eberle showed her frustration with ball-strike calls and walked the next two hitters before she got out of another bases loaded by striking out Madyson Kennedy on a bases loaded pitch to end the top of the third.

The first two runs of the game were scored in the first inning as Fa Leilua of Mississippi State hit a home run to left over the corral and the fans out there for a 1-0 lead. Oklahoma State evened it up on back-to-back-to-back singles in the bottom of the frame from Factor, Febrey, and Busby to make it 1-1.

It was that third inning that pushed the Cowgirls as they fell behind only to get lifted toward their 44th win of the season as they are 44-9.  Eberle stayed on for a complete game and got the win to go 22-3 on the season. She never did get the corners from the umpire as she gave up just six hits and had strike outs. The Cowgirls had 14 hits in the win.

“She is very difficult to umpire and she can throw the corners and these umpires are just like hitters,” Gajewski explained. “You miss one (pitch) and then you come back and can’t get into a rhythm it's tough. She thinks every ball is a strike like every pitcher does. She wasn’t as sharp and credit Mississippi State and they play in the number one conference in the country. They didn’t chase or take a lot of bad cuts.”

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Fans are watching softball from all over.

The best part of the win for the Cowgirls is they will sit back and watch Boston, Campbell, and Mississippi State decide who will be around to play them tomorrow.

“We can go home and watch these other teams beat each other up while we rest and hopefully we can take advantage of that advantage tomorrow,” added Gajewski.

Oklahoma State will only need to win once on Sunday against that survivor to advance to the Super Regional next week. The opponent for the Super Regional will come out of the Austin, Texas regional.