STILLWATER – Nice way to open up an NCAA Regional with a run-rule win and the Oklahoma State Cowgirls did just that with a 12-0 shutout that featured a pair of fourth inning bombs including a pinch hit grand slam. The Cowgirls get some extra rest, save some innings from their pitchers, and prepare for what was an expected meeting with former Big Eight and Big 12 rival and now Big Ten softball champion Nebraska. Nebraska (41-14) beat North Texas in the first game of the day 3-0. The Cowgirls and Huskers meet at 1 p.m. on Saturday in the winner’s bracket game. That winner moves on to Sunday in the catbird seat for the regional.
The Cowgirls short work in game one of the regional was polished off in the bottom of the fourth inning. Leading 6-0, Katelynn Carwile led off the inning and sent Fordham starter Makenzie McGrath toward the end of her evening with a mammoth home run off the top of the Cowgirl Stadium scoreboard in right field. A really nice evening for Carwile with an RBI double in the third.
Later in the inning with one out and two on, Taylor Tuck grounded out to second but that scored Avery Hobson from third, who had come on to pinch run for Miranda Elish after she walked. The fun was far from over as Julia Cottrill came on to pinch hit for Chelsea Alexander and with bases loaded and two outs, Cottrill hit the second home run of the inning bashing this one off the base of the scoreboard. The scoreboard was taking a beating just like Fordham pitching.
“Going in and coming off the bench and not really having my timing down, the players before me helped me have a really good plan,” Cottrill said of her pinch hit grand slam. “Sticking to that plan was really healthy. After my first couple of swings I felt better.”
“The story of the game was our offense,” Cowgirls head coach Kenny Gajewski said. “I really feel like the intent and the things theses girls have been working on has really shined through. Katelynn had the big home run and the double and a lot of kids were getting on base and I thought we had some really good at bats.
“This is over and we have to play tomorrow,” Gajewski continued when asked about the run-rule. “I don’t kniow that it does much. Nebraska doesn’t care. They think they are pretty good. I think it is good for our kids in a way, but we have to bounce back and make it happen again.”
The second inning started the scoring merry-go-round with Hayley Busby driving a solid single to right field, but then Tuck bounced back to the pitcher, who alertly turned around and got Busby forced at second. Karli Petty lined out to the third baseman for the second out. Oklahoma State has been pretty salty with two outs and the nine-hole hitter Kiley Naomi singled to the left side of the infield with Tuck beating the play at second. The order flipped and leadoff hitter Chelsea Alexander walked to load the bases.
Fordham starter Makenzie McGrath got out of a little jam in the first inning, but would not be so lucky here. The Rams ace saw Chyenne Factor take a 1-1 pitch and put it by the centerfielder and that scored Tuck and Naomi for a 2-0 lead.
“I was trying to have a better at bat. My first at bat had not been that good,” Factor said. “There were two outs and I was trying to make good contact and I think I ended up hitting a change up.”
Katelynn Carwile put it in the alley in left center for a double scoring Alexander from third, but Factor had to hold at third base. Miranda Elish was next and she drove the ball farther than anybody in the inning, but centerfielder Brianna Pinto ran it down for the third out. Cowgirls up and in command 3-0.
In the bottom of the third the Cowgirls kept the onslaught on, but it was more in tricky fashion. After veteran Sydney Pennington singled to right-center, Hayley Busby got on when Fordham second baseman Bella Ayala couldn’t handle a hot shot and Pennington maneuvered into second. Tuck moved Pennington and Busby to third and second respectively on a sacrifice bunt. Petty fought off McGrath with a 12-pitch at bat and she fouled seven pitches off before she grounded out to second scoring Pennington.
“Karli was just grinding away,” Gajewski said of that at bat. “Getting that run scored was huge.”
“I think that at bat, honestly, helped us finish the game,” Cottrill said. “When you see a teammate battling like that you just want to be in it with her.”
“She was not working with me,” said Fordham pitcher Makenzie McGrath of Petty. “I was just pounding it inside and she kept fouling it of, fouling it off. I was trying to set her up on the outside corner but I wasn’t getting that pitch. I really wanted that out and we got the result.”
Fordham got the out, but Petty got Pennington home with the run.
Then after Kiley Naomi drew a walk, Naomi took off and stole second and when Fordham catcher Amanda Carey threw the ball down to second, Busby broke for home and stole another run for the Cowgirls to make it 5-0. The sixth run scored with Naomi coming in after Chelsea Alexander got a bunt single and McGrath threw wide of first for an error.
Fordham managed just two hits on the night and Kelly Maxwell was sharp in her five innings of work. She struck out 10 and walked just one.
“I don’t know that she was as sharp as she thought she’d be, but that is a good thing,” Gajewski said of Maxwell. “She pitched well.”
“I appreciate that Oklahoma State respected us enough to start their ace and not pitch their two or three (pitcher),” Fordham head coach Melissa Inouye said afterwards. Her team is now 30-21 and they will face North Texas in an elimination game scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The Cowgirls were loose coming in and they still appear to be that way. A check back to the dog birthday party they held on Thursday yielded some information.
“It was a blast if you could imagine, singing Happy Birthday to a dog (Morgan Day’s dog’s first birthday),” It was hot and we didn’t stay long,” Factor said of herself and her dog, a collie and labrador mix.
“It was a good first birthday for Bear. He got lots of presents,” added Cottrill.
It was a good opener for Oklahoma State. They got lots of runs!
