Watch: No. 6 Oklahoma State Prepares for WCWS Opening Round Showdown With Florida State
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The No. 6 seeded Oklahoma State Cowgirls are set to play in their fourth-straight Women’s College World Series this week, starting with No. 3 seeded Florida State, a team they’re quite familiar with, Thursday evening at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN.
Head coach Kenny Gajewski, along with pitcher Kelly Maxwell, outfielder Chyenne Factor and infielder Rachel Becker, met with the media on Wednesday afternoon to discuss a number of topics, including the match-up against the Seminoles, the program’s fourth-straight trip to OKC, as well as Becker’s first trip to the WCWS in her first season in Stillwater after missing the postseason for four seasons at Purdue.
“It's just been an amazing experience so far overall,” Becker said. “Like with the events we've done and just knowing that, when we come to the field tomorrow, there's just going to be a huge crowd. Like I'm just so excited. I can't think of a better way for me to kind of finish off my college career. I'm so thankful that I have my teammates who have been here before to kind of guide the younger girls and someone like me who's never been here, and just make everyone feel more comfortable and confident going into it.”
“Obviously, excited to be back here for the fourth year in a row,” Gajewski said in his opening statement. “This team is in a really good place. We've been through all kinds of fun stuff the whole year, like where they're at. Looking forward to tomorrow night at 6:00. That's all this team is focused on. I expect we'll play well.”
This will mark the fourth time this season the Cowgirls will have faced the Seminoles, having taken two games out of a three-game series from FSU back in Stillwater earlier this season.
“I think for us playing Florida State is kind of an interesting deal. Obviously, we played them three times this year. We played them two- or three-times last year and the year before. Know them well. They know us well. Honestly, I haven't even really thought about it. I've watched some video and I just want to turn it off. I feel like I already know what they are and who they are. They're obviously a little bit different than what they were when we played them in, I don't know, April.
“But they're really good, well coached. Got a lot of respect for what they've done and the way that Lonni [Alameda's] done it. I got to watch her get started when I was at Florida. So, I think we've gone through those same growing pains. So, it's kind of cool. I've talked to her a lot over the years about our program and their program. So, it's been fun.”
Besides playing a three-game series early in the 2023 season, these two teams have faced each other a lot in the postseason the past five seasons. The Cowgirls eliminated the then-ranked No. 4 Seminoles in the Tallahassee Super Regional back in 2019 to advance to their first WCWS since 2011. Then following the cancelled 2020 COVID season, the Seminoles eliminated the Cowgirls in the 2021 WCWS.
The Seminoles are coming off an impressive season going 55-9 overall, including a sweep of Georgia in their Super Regional last week.