Late-game Heroics Lift Oklahoma State Softball to Victory At LMU

LOS ANGELES – A pinch-hit, two-out home run from Caroline Wang broke a scoreless tie in the seventh inning and lifted the No. 9/11 Oklahoma State softball team to a 1-0 win over LMU at Smith Field Friday.

With the win, the Cowgirls improved to 2-0 on the year. LMU moved to 0-1.

The OSU offense grinded its way to the victory despite being limited to only three hits and striking out 11 times against Lion pitcher Jenna Perez, who last year ranked 12th nationally in strikeouts and was also a national top-50 finisher in fewest hits allowed per seven innings and saves.

The Cowgirls countered with remarkable pitching of their own, with Kyra Aycock, Ivy Rosenberry and Lexi Kilfoyl combining to shut LMU out on five hits. The Cowgirl trio combined to strike out nine and walk only one, with the OSU defense playing an error-free game in support. Aycock and Rosenberry struck out four batters apiece and Kilfoyl (2-0) was credited with the win after keeping the Lions off the board in the sixth and seventh.

The most important defensive play of the game for OSU came when left fielder Macy Graf threw out Elisa Rosado at the plate to end the fourth inning and preserve the shutout. The Cowgirl defense came up big again in the sixth when LMU had runners on the corners and only one out. Kilfoyl got Izzy Jamgotchian to line out to short and forced Arianna Jaurequi to ground out to first to get out of the jam.

The Cowgirls had a pair of good opportunities to score prior to Wang's home run, but stranded runners on second and third base in both the first and fifth inning.

OSU returns to action with two games tomorrow, first an 11 a.m. CT date with Utah State then a 1:30 p.m. CT clash with UC Riverside. Both games are part of the Lynn Russell Miller Classic in Riverside, California.