STILLWATER — Back at home for seven of the next eight games, the friendly confines of Cowgirl Stadium will be a welcome sight for the Oklahoma State softball team.
The Cowgirls are coming off a tough trip to Iowa State that included back-to-back losses prior to righting the ship for a Sunday victory.
But once again, the Cowgirls’ inconsistent offense led to their downfall, and that seems to be the kryptonite to an otherwise super season.
OSU had just climbed back into the top five in the national rankings, putting themselves in position for a run at the Big 12 Conference regular season title, only to get knocked back down a few pegs with unexpected losses.
Here’s a look at what we learned about the Cowgirls last week:
No. 5 Oklahoma State
- Overall record: 35-8 (13-5 Big 12)
- Last week: 2-2 (Beat Tulsa 3-2, lost to Iowa State 2-0 and 5-2, beat Iowa State 10-2)
- This week: At Wichita State, 6 p.m. Tuesday; vs. Texas Tech (6 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. Saturday; 1 p.m. Sunday)
Flat with the bats
When OSU has struggled this year, it has usually been at the plate. With a lineup that usually includes seven freshmen or sophomores, production has been a series of ebbs and flows.
And occasionally, like last Wednesday, the Cowgirls can play well enough to scratch out a win even if the offense is down. They had five hits, but pushed across three runs for a 3-2 victory at Tulsa, avenging a recent loss.
But adding the Tulsa performance to the first two games at Iowa State, OSU had five runs on 12 hits over 21 innings.
And when the offense has hit its down moments, the minor miscues by the pitching staff have been magnified.
In the 2-0 loss at Iowa State on Friday, pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl gave up a solo home run, then had a bout with wildness in the sixth inning that led to her hitting a batter with the bases loaded to bring in the final run.
While Kilfoyl got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam after that, the Cowgirl offense couldn’t muster enough to cover up the mistakes.
A rousing finale
The best part about the week was how it ended.
The Cowgirls had everything clicking in a 10-2 run-rule victory in six innings to get the bad taste out of their mouths before returning home.
Kilfoyl allowed two runs on two hits, going the distance with four strikeouts.
And the Cowgirls had the ball flying out of the park. OSU scored seven of its 10 runs on the long ball, getting four in all. And the other three runs came on a bases-loaded triple by Megan Bloodworth, her team-leading third of the year.
Claire Timm, Karli Godwin, Caroline Wang and Rosie Davis were responsible for the home runs, all of which came in the fifth and sixth innings as the Cowgirls reached the run-rule mark.
The Cowgirls also got through the entire week without an error on defense, bringing their fielding percentage to .981 for the year — fourth-best nationally.
Another Wang bomb
One area where consistency hasn’t been a problem continues to be the bat of Wang.
The transfer from Liberty hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning of Sunday’s win, giving her 16 for the year with 12 regular-season games remaining.
That means she’ll have a shot at the Cowgirls’ single-season record of 20, set by Samantha Show in 2019.
In 2021, Hayley Busby had 19 and Alysen Febrey had 18 to claim the next two spots on the list. Wang now stands fourth, having moved ahead of current staffer Madi Sue Sanders (formerly Montgomery), who had 15 in 2018.
Often batting in the cleanup spot, Wang leads the Cowgirls in batting average (.379), doubles (10), home runs (16), RBIs (42) and slugging percentage (.818).
Most Popular
Comments / 0