Gajewski: The Cowgirls Collapse Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

STILLWATER – You have to understand that Kenny Gajewski and his Oklahoma State softball team have created a monster. Outside of football, there are some folks, even Oklahoma State fans that look at OSU as a “softball school.”  Earlier this season the Cowgirls set the school mark for the best record ever in 40 games. The Cowgirls registered their 18^th shutout in the first 40 games with a 6-0 win over University of Texas at Arlington to go 37-3. Now seven games later, and a sweep by Texas over the Cowgirls last weekend to drop Oklahoma State to 39-8 and fans are asking what happened to this team?

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Texas scored a walk off in the 1-0 win in eight innings in the opener. That really hurt.

“When you are on this journey and you get a flat tire, then it’s ‘okay, what have we learned, what did we do wrong, and what can we do better to put these guys in the best position to be them,” Cowgirls softball head coach Kenny Gajewski said to the media on a rainy Tuesday afternoon. 

“That is what we’re focused on,” comtinued Gajewski. “The best thing about it as we dissect everything is we’re not playing that poorly. We’re not making enough breaks for us. Obviously, it is easy to look at that we’re not hitting with runners on base over the last couple of weeks. It hasn’t been a season long problem. When you play the No. 7 team (Texas) on the road, you’d better make some things happen which we didn’t.”

In the national rankings, the Cowgirls have gone from second in the RPI and second in both major polls (USA Today and ESPN.com) to fourth in the RPI and seventh in the two polls.

When you raise to the level that we want to go to there is more praise and there is more scrutiny. We’re really good, but I think we are caught up in trying to protect our ranking.  

Gajewski said he is pleased with the schedule this week and no midweek game. The Cowgirls are getting some well needed practice. Even with the rain, they can hit and work defense inside.

All of that is correct, and Gajewski is right. Softball, like baseball, is a long run sport that is going to have peaks and valleys. It is tough to hit the ball and it is tough to pitch it by good hitters. Whet you have to hope for is that your team is at it’s best and the most crucial points.

“I think it is mental to a certain extent,” Gajewski added. “It has happened to several of them at once. We’re getting on base at an elite level, I think third in the country and we’re not striking out. We’ve had some bad luck and it has been collective all at once.”

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Chyenne Factor made it sound very simple.

It is always interesting how players can simplify it even more than coaches. There is no more veteran a player on this team than centerfielder Chyenne Factor.

“We just have to score runs,” Factor said. “We have to get more timely hits. Hitting is up and down all season.”

Factor, shortstop Kiley Naomi, and designated player Morgyn Wynne have been through this along with some others. You can see with the comparison of the player’s statistics that the pitching has stayed relatively the same, but some hitters that we pulled out have dropped off. Some haven’t been hitting as well this season. 

“I’m not going to sacrifice any defense at this point because we’re not scoring enough runs,” Gajewski told the media. 

He also told them that is has seemed fast, this little drop in performance. 

“First time, I’ve felt it,” he said. “I’m not losing any sleep I can tell you that, but then I think, ‘that was fast.’”

Some of these players are new to the program and new to the pressure of Cowgirls softball. Could that be a factor? No pun inteded.

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Some days you ride high, others you get kicked off. The Ciwgirls ride high much more often.

“I think it has too. I think about a Becker, still going at a high level and this is new to her,” Gajewski said of he secodn base transfer. “I don’t think she has had this attention that we have here. Wark and Bloodworth (too), Wynne went through that last season.  It is new but the bottomline is they are getting calloused and that is what you have to do.

Again, Factor feels her teammates less experienced with Cowgirl expectations and Cowgirl pressure will adapt and adjust with experience.

“We played Kansas and then going to Texas, especially with the past we’ve had with them those are big environments and we will learn from that,” she said.” We still have Bedlam here.

“That is how seasons are, they are up and down and they are not broken up,” added the centerfielder from Yukon, Okla. A senior speaking wisdom. “It is five in a row (losses) and it feels like it is way worse than it is. We finally got some practice in and we needed that and it will help us get ready for the weekend.”

Time to get back on the horse in Lubbock against Texas Tech. Sweep the Red Raiders on the road and everybody will settle down some. Of course, then that Bedlam series comes up next.