Oklahoma State Rallies Late to Advance to Super Regional With 5-2 Win Over Nebraska
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State is advancing to its fourth-straight NCAA Super Regional as they rallied in the top of the seventh to score four runs to beat Nebraska in the regional championship game, 5-2.
With the win, the Cowgirls move to 44-14 overall on the season and will play host to the Oregon Ducks in Stillwater this upcoming weekend.
“First off want to congratulate [Nebraska], really good year,” said head coach Kenny Gajewski. “Thought it was a great game; we hit a lot of balls hard kind of right at them, we had the at-ems, and I felt that we just kept taking great at-bats. I just felt good, I never thought we weren’t going to win this game. Little unfortunate on the two passed balls, the wild pitches, I’ve never seen that in my time. But it is what it is, they got the kids on base and put some balls in play, too. We pitched well enough, nine [strikeouts], one walk. Another error free game, kind of things we focused on this week. Things we focused on the whole year, but obviously really kind of worked through all that.”
Kelly Maxwell got the start and went 4.1 innings giving up seven hits, seven strikeouts and one walk before being replaced by Lexi Kilfoyl, who recorded the win following a four-run top of the seventh inning for the Pokes.
Kilfoyl finished the game going 2.2 innings and giving up two hits and two strikeouts.
Rachel Becker was the hero of the game as she recorded her 25th and 26th RBI of the season with a one-out single in the top of the seventh to give the Cowgirls another one-run lead, 3-2. The Cowgirls really poured it on as they went from trailing 2-1 to leading 5-2 going into the bottom of the seventh.
Becker’s lone hit of the day was her hit in the top of the seventh with two RBIs, a strikeout and a walk. Tallen Edwards went 2-for-3 from the plate with an RBI and a double and Megan Bloodworth went 1-for-2 with a walk and a run scored.
“Proud of this team; Tallen [Edwards] with the big hit to start off, then Katie Lott pinch hit, big hit. Then Bloodworth gets the walk, she had another great day and hits some balls hard. Really proud of her. Then Rachel Becker walks up and I just remember I walked over to one of our coaches and said ‘I don’t think I could’ve drawn this thing up any better than this.’ For this kid to be in that moment, to just be her, when they called time, I just looked at her and kind of gave her a little encouragement and she just looked like the Rachel that I always see every day and I was like ‘we’re in good shape here.’”
The game was tied at zero and was very close for the first three innings, with Nebraska leading in the hit category. However, it was the Cowgirls who struck first as Morgyn Wynne hit a two-out single and was scored when Tallen Edwards hit a double to right center field, giving Edwards her 25th RBI and 10th double on the year.
With two out in the bottom of the fourth, the Cornhuskers had a chance to at least tie the game at one-apiece when Sydney Gray drove the ball to the wall for a double. However, Maxwell got out of the jam as she struck out two-straight hitters to get out of the inning unscathed allowing just one hit.
Maxwell started the bottom of the fifth inning with a strikeout before recording her first walk of the game sending Andrews to first on six pitches. Maxwell gave up hit a single to Wallace, prompting Kenny Gajewski to pull and replace her with Saturday’s winning pitcher, Lexi Kilfoyl.
With her first pitch, Kilfoyl threw a wild pitch in the dirt to advance and score the runner from third, tying the game at one-all, with just one out and a runner on second. Kilfoyl recorded a ground out to end that at-bat, but Wallace advanced to third with two outs. Wallace would score on yet another wild pitch from Kilfoyl, putting the Cornhuskers up by one, 2-1. Kilfoyl threw another groundout to get out of the inning.
It all came down to the top of the seventh inning for the Cowgirls. Wynne grounded out to start the inning, followed by yet another hit by freshman Tallen Edwards. Freshman Katie Lott came into pinch hit for Taylor Tuck and she hit a single to advance Edwards to second, bringing Megan Bloodworth up to hit. Bloodworth was walked for the ninth time this season, loading the bases and bringing Rachel Becker up to the plate. Cue the madness as Becker drove the ball back up the middle, bringing in two runs to give the Pokes the lead once again, 3-2, with just one out.
“Honestly, the moment, that’s just something that I’ve been waiting for my whole career,” said Rachel Becker. “Just have such a big game on the line and the pressure situation. Stepping up to the plate, I was definitely, my heart was beating a little bit, I feeling it, but I knew that if I saw my pitch, I was going to swing hard at it. I was just super happy that I was aggressive in that situation because that was my mindset going into it. Just kind of trusting my plan and credit to my teammates for getting on base in front of me because that was awesome.”
This season marked the first postseason appearance for Becker during her five-year college career.
Chyenne Factor hit a single to left field to load the bases, which was followed by Kiley Naomi reaching on a fielding error by the shortstop, scoring yet another run to put them up two 4-2. Micaela Wark grounded out to the shortstop, but it scored Becker from third to put the Pokes up 5-2 before Carwile grounded out to end the inning.
Carwile recorded the first out of the game by hauling in a line drive in the right field corner, before Wallace recorded her fourth hit of the game for a one-out single. The Cowgirls pulled off the come-from-behind win following a double play, their 30th on the season.