Busby's Hitting and Defense Sends Oklahoma State to Regional Championship Sunday

STILLWATER – Sometimes it’s just your day. This was another good day for the host Oklahoma State Cowgirls at the NCAA Stillwater Regional as they knocked off Big Ten Champion Nebraska 7-4 to win the winner’s bracket game and move into the first championship game on Sunday at 3 p.m. OSU would need just one win over the survivor North Texas to advance and host a super-regional next weekend. North Texas defeated Fordham and then shut out Nebraska 3-0 later Saturday to survive and advance to face the Cowgirls on Sunday.

Saturday’s hero for the Cowgirls, and there are always several, but at the plate it had to be Hayley Busby. The super senior in her second season as a Cowgirl after transferring from Virginia had answers at the plate all day.

Maybe the best example came in the bottom of the fifth. The Cowgirls already led 5-2. Sydney Pennington had singled and stole a base. Karli Petty had a pair of hits and she got another and stole second. Busby, already two-for-two in the game hit a ball to the left side that found the perfect spot and went by Nebraska’s shortstop and third baseman for an RBI single and a 6-2 lead. Busby was three-for-three with two RBI for the game.

Sometimes confidence at the plate leads to good plays on defense and in the top of the sixth Busby at first base made a running and diving grab from first base on a bloop by Abbie Squier for the second out and then flagged down a hot liner from Peyton Glatter for out number three. Busby was everywhere!

“I think it plays a little bit of a role into my defense,” Busby said of the offense fueling the defense. “Somebody came up to me and I think it was Sydney Pennington and said, “Are you three-for-three today?’ I said, yeah I guess so, but with the season that I’ve had three-for-three is a good day, but I’m going out there to back my pitcher no matter what. Does it give me some momentum, yeah.”

The Cowgirls added another insurance run in the bottom of the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Miranda Elish and Sydney Pennington to reach the final score.

“The bottom line is winning and we’re 2-0 and in the catbird seat,” Oklahoma State head coach Kenny Gajewski said of the win. “I’m proud of these kids. It’s good to see (Hayley) Busby with three hits and get better when we need her here the most. I talked to this whole team, but it was kind of at somebody like her, and the message was it’s a new season and I know the first part hasn’t gone exactly the way you may have imagined it, but there is a reason and what you’ll remember is how you finish.”

On Friday night against Fordham it was centerfielder Chyenne Factor that started the scoring with a two RBI double, but on this frigid Saturday afternoon Factor used her athleticism to keep Nebraska from taking an early lead as Huskers pitcher Courtney Wallace with teammates at first and second and one outs drove a ball to center that looked like it would fall in. Factor ran in and got the shoe tops catch reaching down and then fired to second to double up Squier, who had already left second, rounded third, and was halfway home.

How often good defense triggers offense, yes it works in reverse too. In the bottom of the second Karli Petty opened the frame with a solid single to right field off Wallace. Busby followed with a shot down the right field line tailing off it bounced less than a foot inside the line and rolled into the corner allowing Petty to score all the way from first for a 1-0 Cowgirls lead.

Nebraska took the lead in the top of the fourth with a two out rally as Cowgirls pitcher Morgan Day got the first two hitters in the frame to ground out before walking Squier on a 3-2 count. Then Peyton Glatter blooped the ball just over the reach of shortstop Kiley Namoi for a single. Day hit Kaylin Kinney in the shoulder to load the bases. That’s when Wallace singled up the middle bouncing it through the infield and Squier and Glatter scored to make it 2-1 Nebraska.

The Cowgirls tied the game on a strange play in the bottom of the fourth as Busby was at first after a single to left and Julia Cottrill was at first after a walk. Kiley Naomi hit a ground ball to Huskers shortstop Billie Andrews and in a rush she threw to third for the force, but Sydney Gray dropped the throw and despite being told to hold at third, Busby pressed on and beat the play at home as the ball had rolled away from Gray.

“I told her to stop, but she saw it well again and went, so I was good with it,” Gajewski said. “I’m there to coach and guide, but I told these kids from the time I got here, ‘Do not be a robot and play with your eyes. You all are good players, that is why you are here.’ She’s done very well.”

“I love to run the bases. Last year I was able to jog around the bases more than I have this year,” Busby added. “I’m not that fast. I’m not slow, but I like to run the bases. One of our rules is if you see the ball through then you go. Coach G came up to me and said you got to be sure you’re going to be safe 100 percent. I told him I was, I was safe.”

“You make that out at third and it might be a completely different ballgame,” Nebraska head coach Rhonda Revelle said. “This is what I know about this time of year is it is usually one moment that changes the constitution of a game.”

The next batter for the Cowgirls was leadoff hitter Chelsea Alexander who drilled a single to centerfield scoring Cottrill and Naomi for a 4-2 lead. One hitter later Cartwile singled into the gap in left-center scoring Alexander from third where she had advanced on Factor’s ground out. Oklahoma State led 5-2.  

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Day with the win in the circle vs. the Huskers.

Morgan Day pitched the complete game and got scuffed up some in the top of the seventh giving up a two-run homer to Andrews. The Huskers finished with five hits for their four runs. Nebraska fell to 41-15 and dropped into the elimination portion of the bracket. The Cowgirls, now 43-12, get some more down time, save their pitching, and prepare for Regional Championship Sunday.