Oklahoma State Ready for Fresh Start in NCAA Stillwater Regional
STILLWATER – The work was getting done and despite some early morning showers the team’s practice schedules were adjusted slightly and moved back. All of the teams, starting with Northern Colorado, the Cowgirls first round opponent at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, got on the Cowgirls Stadium playing surface to take infield and outfield and get used to the sight lines.
The teams did their hitting in the indoor cages and the pitchers worked outdoors in the space down the leftfield line.
The ESPN crews were busy setting up their cameras all over the stadium and the announcing team of Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza, and former Cowgirls great and softball Hall of Famer Michele Smith are all in town and will call the entire regional.
Everything according to plan following the initial change because of that Oklahoma May weather. Don’t expect Cowgirls head coach Kenny Gajewski to apologize for it. He wouldn’t have it any other way that to have his fifth-seeded team at home for the regionals and with a win the super regionals.
“Excited to be here at home and excited for people like these two (pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl and catcher Caroline Wang) here that continue to do things in great ways and represent this program in amazing ways,” Gajewski opened the NCAA pre tournament press conference. “In the past nine years we’ve come so far. I’m excited for the postseason and I think it’s our fourth or fifth in a row at home.”
The Cowgirls have a different set up. Last May in the regional they hosted UMBC, Wichita State, and Nebraska. The Cowgirls had played both the Shockers and the Huskers multiple times in the season. Then they got Oregon in the super
| Thursday Schedule for the NCAA Stillwater Regional | Game time |
| (5) Oklahoma State (44-9) vs. Northern Colorado (27-24) | 4:30 p.m. ESPN+ |
| Michigan (41-16) vs. Kentucky (30-22) | 2 p.m. ESPN2 |
regional and they had played the Ducks to open the regular season. Now Oklahoma State (44-9/21-6) open with Northern Colorado (27-24/9-5) and then also host Michigan (41-16/17-5) and Kentucky (30-22/8-16). They have not played any of those teams. They also have not played Arkansas or any of the teams the Lady Razorbacks are hosting in the regional that they could pair up with for the Super in Stillwater.
“It’s different because you just don’t know because sometimes they try to match you up with regional teams,” Gajewski said of the oddity from one year to the next. “I think with Wichita State and Tulsa not getting in that eliminated that. It’s just every year is different and you just never know. I don’t think it works for you or against you. It’s just who is next. The good news is we found plenty of film on all these teams. It feels like we know who they are.”
There is something in common with last season. Last season the Cowgirls were bounced out of the Big 12 Tournament by Kansas. That happened again, as BYU sent the Cowgirls looking for the bus early with a 7-2 dismissal, an ugly game for the Cowgirls coming off a series win in Norman over Bedlam rival and three-time defending NCAA Champion OU.
“I think I was really bummed. I was more bummed for our fans,” Gajewski said. “These guys (players) came off a great weekend and I think people were just like ‘we’ll be in the final.’ I don’t know if that is how these guys (team) thought, but I got on the bus and I said that ‘I’m not going to get up here and yell and scream.’ I don’t possibly think we can play any worse, so maybe that’s good that we got that out of our system.”
Gajewski used the old Kansas approach when they lose in the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament. You get to go home and get some rest. The Cowgirls did that and they went to Broken Bow and as Gajweski said went there and did nothing but relax for two days.
He said when they got back. He didn’t mention the BYU loss except to joke about it. He is a self proclaimed jokester around the facility.
“I made a lot of jokes about ourselves,” he said. “I laughed and we moved on.”
What you can’t move on from is five errors in that loss. The middle infield struggled. Shortstop Megan Bloodworth has eight errors. Freshman second baseman Rosie Davis has seven errors. Not exactly an issue when you consider how many chances come up the middle as the pair have 124 putouts and 237 assists.
Gajewski is not concerned. Now, he obviously monitors that, but he’s more than okay heading into the NCAA run that could take the Cowgirls to a fifth straight Women’s College World Series.
“I think it was a little of an abberation,” Gajewski said of the five errors and struggles in the middle infield in the Big 12 loss to BYU. “I think it was a little big of make sure your eyes are open and focus with attention to detail. If you make too much of it then I think you get players to start pressing. We just got back to work and we had a poor practice on Monday night, to be honest. I told them the next day and I told them that tomorrow needs to improve. I can make excuses but we weren’t focused. We’ve been good on Tuesday, Wednesday, and today we had a really good practice, 40 minutes outside and the intent and the speed and the focus was really good. I fell really good about these guys.”
With a .307 batting average, 81 home runs, a team ERA of 2.05 and 274 strike outs to a combine 382 hits or walks given up everybody should feel good about the Cowgirls.