Naomi Starts NCAA Regional Out With a Bang

STILLWATER – Just in case head coach Kenny Gajewski was wondering, and he was, and maybe so were more than just a few of the Oklahoma State Cowgirls fans, did the Cowgirls retreat to Broken Bow State Park after the Big 12 Championship Tournament help or hurt the Cowgirls start to the NCAA Softball Championships? The answer came on the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning as lead-off hitter and shortstop Kiley Naomi took Campbell ace and starting pitcher Georgeanna Barefoot’s very first delivery and blasted it beyond the flag pole left of center field for a 1-0 lead. That lead grew by nine by the fifth inning and the Cowgirls run ruled the Campbell Camels 10-0.

The Cowgirls continued to put it on Barefoot, who came in with a 2.43 ERA and a 13-7 record on the season. For Naomi it was her twelfth home run of the season and the 80th home run on the season for the Cowgirls. A heckuva good sign to start off the regional.

Oklahoma State Athletics

Naomi’s home run reaction.

“Our offense led the way especially with the way Kiley (Naomi) started the game with a bang on the first pitch,” Gajewski said after the game. “I really felt like, ‘whoa, this team is taking off’. It was great to watch.”

“Ask me after the regional is over on Sunday (if the retreat to southeastern Oklahoma was the right move early this week), but our team was tired,” Gajewski admitted. “Winning those two games on Friday (Texas in 10 innings and Iowa State) took a lot out of us. We needed to get refreshed.”

“I will say it (retreat) was really good," Naomi said. "It brought us closer together right here in the most important part of our season.”

“When you get that first pitch of postseason and it is the pitch that you are looking for and you are ready to go that is what happens,” Naomi said of her first at bat, first pitch.

Several hitters later and bases loaded with Cowgirls, third baseman Sydney Pennington drove a single into right field that scored two runs in Chyenne Factor and Alysen Febrey. Karli Petty grounded out to first and that scored Hayley Busby for another run.

In the second Febrey came back doubled down the line with a blooper in right field and that scored Naomi, who was on base again in back-to-back frames.

The other facets of the Cowgirls game were doing fine as Gajewski and pitching coach John Bargfeldt decided to go with Kelly Maxwell in the circle. Defense? That was smooth as well as when Campbell hitters put bat to ball the Cowgirls were handling even the tough ones as shortstop Katelyn Chisholm lined a low hard drive at Pennington at third who handled it like it was infield on a Tuesday afternoon practice.

The scoring continued in the first game of the regional with Avery Hobson, getting just her fifth start of the season, driving in a run with a single up the middle after a Pennington double. Chelsea Alexander came back with a bloop double in right-center field and that scored Hobson to make it Oklahoma State 7-0 over the Camels.

Campbell broke up Maxwell’s no-hit attempt in the top of the fourth when Destini England hit the ball over the head of Cowgirls left fielder Chelsea Alexander. That was all Campbell could get was the one hit.

In the bottom of the fourth inning the Camels brought in Kayla Howard to pitch and the Cowgirls got the bats re-charged as Hayley Busby singled to lead off the bottom of the frame and then Pennington and Karli Petty launched back-to-back home runs as Pennington planted the ball over the corral in left field and out to the sidewalk behind the festive fans in left. OSU led 9-0. 

It was the senior from Sand Springs program record tying 35^th home run of the season. It’s a virtual certainty that Pennington will get that record taken care of before the Cowgirls put the bats, balls, and gloves up for the season. 

Petty’s bomb went out to center field and the solo shot put the Cowgirls in run rule range for the fifth.

Kelly Maxwell allowed another hit in the top of the fifth and was finished for the day, but she got the win to go 15-3 on the season. Logan Simunek came on and got the final two outs of the contest.

It was just what a coach would like to see in the first game of an NCAA Regional.

“It’s as good a game as I can remember to open a regional," Gajewski said. “We were able to rest our battery with Kelly Maxwell just pitching 44 pitches and we were able to get Reagan Wright out of the game and she is a grinder, so it is a good thing to rest here some.”

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Naomi got to do the postgame interview, but her teammates got her.

The Cowgirls record goes to 43-9 as they finished with the 10 runs on 11 hits and one error. The Cowgirls move on to face Mississippi State and former OU star Samantha Ricketts in her first season as head coach of the Bulldogs on Saturday in the 1 p.m. winner’s game. 

Mississippi State (34-23) had a battle on their hands before finishing to beat Boston University 3-1 in the rain at the end of the second game on the day. 

Campbell is now 27-18 and will be back at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday against Boston University (36-3). That will be the first elimination game of the regional. The loser at 1 p.m. will face the winner of the 3:30 p.m. contest at 6 p.m. in the second elimination game of the day.