Oklahoma State May Be 5-4 But Walk Off Wins On Ranked Teams, Nobody is Panicked
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State and one of its’ premier programs is sitting at 5-4 two weeks into the season. Cowgirls softball, the preseason favorite in the Big 12 and a team picked to again be in Oklahoma City for the NCAA Women’s College World Series. Some Oklahoma State fans are concerned. The truth of the matter is Oklahoma State has played five ranked teams in six games in two weeks. They are 4-2 in those games and they lost to two unranked teams, Auburn is getting votes for the polls. The sky is not falling.
“We’re trending in the right direction, 5-4 against a really good schedule. I think we’re better than that,” head coach Kenny Gajewski said Tuesday. “I’m not going to shy away, but it is where it is at. I have people sending me stuff about the slow starts we’ve had in the past. I don’t think that is a real concern here. We want to play better.”
The walk-off wins were scintillating in Clearwater-St. Pete at the Shriners’ Children Invitational. Beating Texas A&M and Alabama of the SEC in games where you have to walk off the field knowing that you just blew a bottom of the seventh inning advantage is the competitive equivalent of sticking a sword in your opponent.
“I actually thought it was a very successful weekend,” Gajewski said. “We were two innings away from being 1-4, and honestly, we were three innings from being 4-1. We have some people pitching-wise that are really starting to get dialed in, Katie Kutz and Ruby Meylan. Katie is a very pleasant surprise for us, but we’ve been seeing over the last month and this is not a surprise. She has been turning a corner and taking advantage of opportunities.”
Kutz, just a sophomore, is taking more aggressive coaching and dealing with it. That is a strong sign of maturing. Then when you get named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week that will instill confidence. Kutz was named by the conference on Tuesday. Gajewski talked about how he is encouraged that Kutz is willing now to be coached harder. He is also encouraged that staff ace and Washington transfer Ruby Meylan is maybe not okay, but is understanding why Gajewski and pitching coach Carrie Eberle might want to make a change in certain situations to go with Kutz.
Meylan started two of the games where Kutz finished and picked up three victories in four appearances at the Shriners Children's Clearwater Invitational, all of which came against teams ranked inside the Top 25 of both the national polls as she tallied decisions against then-No. 23/24 Kentucky, then-No. 5/5 Texas A&M and then-No. 14/12 Alabama. In those three games against ranked opponents, Kutz allowed only two earned runs in 9.0 innings of work to go with seven strikeouts. Kutz improved to 4-1 on the season with the wins and leads the team with a 1.84 ERA.
One of the reasons the Cowgirls have to play it close to the vest with pitching is there hasn’t been a lot of room for comfort with the offense. The Cowgirls haven’t cranked up a ton of runs yet.
“Offensively, it is better,” Gajewski added. “Rosie Davis and Karli Godwin are a big part of that. They have really grown up and I am thrilled with what they are doing. rachel hathoot is turning the corner in a big way. Cheese (Megan Delgadillo) looks good and I’m not worried about her. Tia Warsop, that was her first time with three starts in a row and I like what she is doing.”
Speaking of Godwin and Davis, the two sophomores are classmates with Kutz, who is a body builder as a hobby and ESPN made a big deal of here nutritional habits including making and bringing her own food to team meals, including at restuarants.
“I don’t think I would eat her food,” Godwin and Davis said. “Kudos to here, she’s disciplined, but there is no way I could sit there and eat Greek yougurt when there is fried chicken on the menu.”
That left everybody laughing and then Kenny Gajewski chimed in and said, “#Truth.”