Alexander isn't Carrying Bags at the World Series, They're Now Expected OKC Participants
OKLAHOMA CITY – It was her freshman season in Stillwater and Oklahoma State Cowgirls leftfielder Chelsea Alexander was quite accomplished as she made the Big 2 All-Freshman team and started 41 of the Cowgirls 61 games and hit .300 for the season. She hit .300 in the NCAA Regional in Fayetteville and stole two bases, but the Cowgirls lost. Alexander still made it to OKC and the Women’s College World Series.
“I worked there on the event staff and I was helping unload the buses,” Alexander said. “I was getting gear off the buses and getting their luggage and equipment everywhere. I was thinking, ‘this sucks, this is not fun.’ I loved working and being around the environment but I was carrying bags for the teams I just played against. I text Coach G and I wrote that we’re going to the World Series next year.”
Alexander told me after the press conference at the Women’s College World Series on Wednesday leading up to the Cowgirls opener against Arizona on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. that she remembers one team’s bags in particular.
“UCLA, they had a bunch of heavy stuff,” Alexander detailed. “I remember them because we had played them earlier in the season.”
Alexander and the Cowgirls are getting their bags carried and they have been for the past three Women’s College World Series. Graduate player Sydney Pennington, the longest tenured third baseman in Oklahoma State softball history says the goal has changed. It is not about getting to Oklahoma City. It is about winning the national championship.
“We’re all excited to be here,” Pennington said. “The first couple of years our goal was to just get here, but this year our goal is to win it. We can win it. We’ve been here and that is nice, but we are all looking forward to ending our careers on a high note and winning this thing.”
Head coach Kenny Gajewski says the journey has been long. The most recent part of it was a morning workout in an indoor facility in Oklahoma City to sharpen the swings and work some defense.
Gajewski knew the program would get there and now that he has the Big 12 Champions in Oklahoma City and his team is focused on winning the championship, but mature enough to focus on the 37-20 first round opponent Arizona, he wished he’d taken more notes along the journey.
“It’s been cool to watch,” He said. “I wish I’d taken more notes to read about it and remember from my own perspective. It is special but winning is something that all of our (Oklahoma State) teams do.”
Winning is something that ace pitcher Kelly Maxwell does. The red-shirt junior is the Big 12 Co-pitcher of the Year. She is 19-4 with a 1.16 ERA and she has used her mastery of spin and changing speeds and location to strike out 279 batters to just 58 walks.
“You don’t just have to have velocity to get strike outs,” Maxwell said.
While her teammates in the circle Miranda Elish, who is injured and can’t pitch, and Morgan Day are much more demonstrative, Maxwell is the ice maiden. She has little expression as she is ruining the day of opposing hitters.
“I just think that inside I’m competitive just like Morgan,” Maxwell said. “I’ve never really been like that (demonstrative) since a young age. It doesn’t change what I’m doing in the circle. I’m competitive.”
Yes, she is and Arizona’s hitters, who are hitting .325 as a team with a hefty 94 home runs have struck out 261 times. A really good chance that total is going up on Thursday.