World Series Exit Hurts, but Cowgirl Softball is Better Than It’s Ever Been

STILLWATER – Monday night’s improbable exit from the Women’s College World Series for Oklahoma State will sting for a while. The Cowgirls entered the first game against Texas 2-0 in World Series play and riding a 10-game winning streak.

Win one game and advance to the Finals against Bedlam foe, Oklahoma.

However, a Bedlam rematch in the Finals just wasn’t to be as Texas won the first game 5-0 and battled back to upset the No. 7 Cowgirls 6-5 in game two.

Even with the disappointment of the early exit, Cowgirl softball had another magical season and accomplished things we’ve never seen from the program before.

“In all our time here, all the top-three finishes in the country, it’s pretty dang good,” said Kenny Gajewski. “We won a Big 12 tournament championship, that hasn’t been done here. We just kind of continued to raise the bar, so this team will go down as a team that got us to the next step and there’s some really good people here who will go down as all-time greats here.”

They started the year off a little rocky with a loss to Duke in the Kajikawa Classic, then three-straight losses a week later in the St. Pete Clearwater Elite Invitational. However, through all the adversity, the Cowgirls continued to battle.

“I just think it’s all the adversity we faced all year,” said Sydney Pennington. “We just kept pushing through and even if we had a few bad days, we bounced right back and just kept pushing. This team was amazing and I’m just really glad that we started peaking at the right time and now we could finish it here [at the Women’s College World Series] and the seniors finish our careers here. We’re happy how the year turned out. Obviously, we’re not super thrilled, but we OK. To end our careers here is amazing and this team was amazing with all the ups and downs that we’ve had, I’m really glad with how we pushed through.”

This year marked the fifth-straight season the Cowgirls made NCAA Regional play, the fourth-straight season hosting, as well as the third-straight year making an NCAA Super Regional and second-straight season hosting Supers. Not to mention this team has had three-straight Women’s College World Series appearances.

“I’m just really glad that I chose OSU,” said Pennington. “I wouldn’t have wanted to play for anyone else and coach [Gajewski] always says ‘that once you play and you’re done, you’re a Cowgirl for life,’ and I’m just really excited to watch now. Like Kiley [Naomi] said, I’m really happy that me and Chelsea [Alexander] and our class got to set that high standard and now we’re looking forward to them keeping it going and even win the World Series.”

Next year’s team will look a lot different as there’s a lot of seniors on the way out, seniors who continued to set the bar higher each of the seasons they were in Stillwater. Seniors such as Sydney Pennington, Chelsea Alexander, Kiley Naomi and Chyenne Factor. Seniors who transferred into the program like Hayley Busby, Morgan Day and Miranda Elish.

“Like I told [the team], I’m just so grateful for what these seniors have done for us, the way they’ve continued to raise the bar,” said Gajewski. “It’s gonna hurt for a long time, and it should hurt, that’s why you play. Only one team is gonna hoist the trophy at the very end and so it’s gonna hurt for everyone at some point, besides the winning team. It’s a good hurt because when you’re around a lot of people who really care about each other and just trying to achieve a goal, those types of things hurt when you just fall short.”

But there’s also a lot of talent returning next season, such as pitcher Kelly Maxwell, who etched herself into the record books this season as just the third player to record at least 300 strikeouts in a single season.

Players like breakout sophomore Katelynn Carwile, who finished the season hitting .335 on the year, as well as Karli Petty and Julia Cottrill.

Then looking back at the transfers who made a major impact, there’s also future transfers Kenny Gajewski and Co. will bring in over the next couple of months heading into the fall semester.

There’s no question an exit one game shy of the Finals of the WCWS hurts, but Cowgirl Softball is on the best footing in program history and that’s a pretty great place to be.