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Help oK lahoma stat E pitch E r Kat Espinosa has h E r nam E E tch E d throughout th E c owgirl s oftball r E cord boo K . a foury E ar fixtur E in th E circl E for r ich w i E ligman’s squad, th E s E nior is among th E school’s all-tim E l E ad E rs in victori E s, innings pitch E d, stri KE outs, sav E s and a host of oth E r pitching m E trics. a ccording to Espinosa, how E v E r, th E most important m E asur E of succ E ss is not a quantifiabl E statistic.

“I’m trying to remind myself and my teammates that we’re all here to have fun,” she says. “I love this sport. This is the sport that we chose to play as little kids and wanted to grow up to play in college, maybe get a scholarship. Luckily, I was one of them.

“Despite the games that we’ve lost, I remind myself that I had fun playing. Even if we lost, I still had fun.”

Midway through her final season in an OSU uniform, Espinosa isn’t taking anything for granted.

“This is my last year of playing softball. I’m going all out, and my teammates know that. We’re all striving for the same thing. We want to go far this year.”

The 2013 season has had its ups and downs, but Espinosa remains confident in herself and teammates.

“I know that we’re all going to come together at the right moment, the right time,” she says. “I think we’re really going to be good this year. I have this weird feeling in my stomach every time I think about May, and it’s going to happen this year. We’re going to go far. We just have to believe in ourselves.”

“This team can play with anybody,” her head coach says, “but the thing that we have to do that we haven’t been doing is getting base hits at clutch times and making the clutch play or clutch pitch at the right time. We’ve got to get a little tougher and understand that we’re going to play close games this year. That’s who we are. We’ve got to make our opportunities count. That’s what separates the good teams from the great.

“That’s why we got to the World Series in 2011—that run from Regionals through Super Regionals,” Wieligman adds. “We were making the pitches, we were making the plays.” a s a sophomore, Espinosa was a key element of the Cowgirls’ journey to the Women’s College World s eries.

“We had lost seven games in a row before we made it to Regionals,” Espinosa recalls. “That was a big deal, because we all knew we were in a hole. We tried to do anything to stay positive no matter what happened. Somehow we punched through that wall and made it.”

“Kat carried us through that Tennessee regional,” Wieligman says. “She set the tone for that tournament, and brought it back to Stillwater for the Super Regional.”

Espinosa pitched a shutout in the first game against Houston, but lost game two of the best-of-three series 1-0. In the deciding contest, she came on in relief, giving up just one hit before closing out the Cougars with a K. t he strikeout punched the Cowgirls’ ticket to Oklahoma City for the first time in more than a decade, and players erupted in celebration on the infield.

“Honestly, I don’t remember it because I was in such shock,” she says. “I was in game mode the whole time. If anything exciting happened, I had to cut it off and focus on the next pitch, the next inning. I have to always hold my emotions in, because when I do show it, it affects me when I pitch. And at the end, when I finally struck that last batter out, I guess I was finally able to express how I felt at the end of the game. We were going to the World s eries. it was a dream come true. I don’t remember it, but I have so many pictures from that moment. Every time I look at it, it just makes me smile.”

After experiencing the high of a World Series appearance, last season’s 25-26 record was a disappointing setback for the squad, particularly Espinosa.

“Last year we didn’t have the year we wanted, and I think she took a lot of it on her shoulders,” Wieligman says. “It really wasn’t her fault. It’s not a black and white game. You can go 4-for-4 and not hit a ball well, and you can go 0-for-4 and scorch a ball. The same with pitching. You can win a lot of games and not pitch very well, or you could be pitching lights out and not win a game. So, from that perspective, it was a tough year last year. I thought Kat pitched really well for us, and we couldn’t ever get runs for her.”

“Last year I had a lot of confidence issues,” Espinosa admits. “I was struggling. Our whole team was struggling. It was like a tease not even making it to regionals after going to the World Series … I don’t want to talk about last year.”

This year is different, she says, turning the conversation to the present.

“Our team is strong. Our coaches and players are on the same page. We’re all working together as one. For those who are struggling, we try to lift each other up.”

Wieligman agrees.

“This year it started out the same way, but I feel like this year she’s handling it so much better. She understands what her role is for the wins, and that’s all she can control. She’s putting up the numbers she needs to put up. I think last year she tried to control too much.”

Espinosa credits a renewed faith with helping her confidence in the circle.

“I built a better relationship with God,” she says. “Because I trust in Him so much more, it’s helped me keep my anxiety down. One of my teammates, Shianne Hughes, has really helped me trust in God’s plan for me and realize that I can’t always do all the work. I can’t take all the weight all the time. It’s helped me to just have fun in my last season of softball.”

“I can’t believe it’s been four years. It’s gone fast, that’s for sure,” Wieligman says. “It’s been fun watching her grow and learn different experiences throughout her career.”

“Yesterday I was a freshman, and now I’m a senior,” she says. “I’m almost done with my softball career. I’m going to be a coach when I’m done, but it’ll be a different perspective in life. This is the sport that I love. I started playing when I was like four or five, in tee-ball. It’s all coming to an end.”

As a freshman, Espinosa experienced immediate success. Splitting time with veteran Anna Whiddon, the Houston native won 19 games, including a no-hitter against the Texas Longhorns in Austin.

“I had no idea I was throwing a no-hitter until that last at-bat in the 7th inning, that last pitch,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m throwing a no-hitter!’ I pitched the ball, and the girl popped up to left field. That was a really big experience for me because my entire family was there and happened to watch it all. I’m a very family-oriented person, and I don’t get to see them that often, so it was a big deal because they actually got to see me throw a no-hitter.”

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Espinosa’s pitching coach her first three years at OSU was Clarisa Crowell, now the head coach at Miami University (Ohio). This season, first-year assistant coach Kelsi Dunne (an All-American hurler for Alabama from 2008-11) has taken on that role since joining the staff last summer.

“I am very grateful that I had the chance to work with Coach ‘C’ for three years.

She was always there for me and helped me become stronger every year to this point. For me, mentally, she left at the right time, because of what she instilled in me.

“Kelsi has taken care of me ever since, and she’s helped me in so many ways,” she adds. “Coach ‘C’ was more of my mental coach, and Kelsi is more of my physical coach to go along with the mental aspect.”

“As a new coach, you get to know your players and you see what their strengths and weaknesses are,” Dunne says. “Coming in to this job I knew Kat had pitched in the World Series when I was there my senior year at Alabama, so I already knew that she was a tremendous pitcher, and I was really excited to get to work with her. In the short time I’ve been here, I feel like I’ve been working with her for years. She’s not just a great pitcher, she’s also a great person.”

Dunne says opposing coaches have noticed, as well.

“Earlier this season when we played in a tournament in California, I had pitching coaches from two different schools come up to me and tell me that they watched her throw and that she looks world class. She has great movement. So she’s got it, she just has to get out there and do it.”

In the offseason, Coach Dunne worked with Espinosa to develop a changeup and drop ball.

“Right from the beginning, we talked about her goals for this year and what she wanted to achieve,” Dunne says. “Knowing that she had strengths in other pitches, we really wanted to work on making her changeup a lot more reliable. In the fall we definitely worked on it a lot, and she now believes in it a whole lot more than she did in the past. She also worked on her drop ball quite a bit, so Kat’s definitely added to her arsenal of pitches this year.”

“Kelsi has helped me to have confidence in every one of my pitches,” Espinosa says. “I don’t know what it was, but I had a mental block whenever I’d throw that changeup. This year I just believe in every pitch. My freshman year I only had two pitches, my curveball and screwball. Now I have a curveball, screwball, a changeup, a rise and sometimes a drop ball.”

“Calling pitches for Kat is so much fun,” Dunne says, “sitting in the dugout, just knowing that you’re setting up a hitter for a certain pitch that they’re not expecting. She’s got movement on every side of the plate and different speeds, so it’s really fun to set up hitters and make them look silly. That’s what she’s been doing all year. I don’t think her record shows that, but her statistics definitely do.”

Boasting an earned run average around 1.50, a 4-1 strikeout to walk ratio and holding opposing hitters to below a .200 average, Espinosa has been a model of consistency during her career.

“Kat has done such a good job of learning how to prepare to play every game she pitches,” Wieligman says. “She competes. She’s been consistent all four years. That’s the biggest thing you’ve got to have in the circle—consistency—and that’s what you’re going to get.”

Along with junior Simone Freeman, Espinosa provides OSU with a formidable pitching rotation.

“Kat and Sim alternate starts, and we’ll use them both out of the bullpen,” Wieligman says. “We try to keep it as even as we can, just because we know it’s a long season.”

By season’s end, espinosa’s name will be near the top of the OSu record book for appearances and innings pitched. But despite the heavy workload, she has managed to remain relatively injury-free.

“Under my shoulder blade, there’s a giant knot that will never go away,” Espinosa says, “probably even after I’m done pitching.”

There’s also a faint scar on her forehead, barely visible now, but it comes with an embarrassing backstory that the coach will never let her forget.

“In January before my junior year, I was visiting a former teammate and her dad offered to teach me how to shoot a gun.

That’s the first time I’d ever held a gun. I put my eye up to the scope, but I didn’t know you were supposed to rest the gun against your shoulder. I put it under my arm instead.”

Espinosa squeezed the trigger. The rifle’s recoil sent the scope backward in an instant, landing a serious blow just above her right eye socket. OSU’s star pitcher was headed to the hospital for seven stitches.

“I had to tell Coach when we got back to Stillwater. I don’t know how I worded it, but he wasn’t very happy.

“At the time, I didn’t realize it was that big of a deal,” she adds. “I had a headache, but I didn’t know it was a concussion. It was the week before the season started, and I had to lie in bed in a dark room. Couldn’t watch TV, couldn’t look at my phone, couldn’t look at anything bright. It was horrible. It lasted several days. It was not fun.”

Although Wieligman’s political leanings aren’t publicly known, it’s fair to say he’s in favor of gun control … at least for his players.

“When I got back to campus, he actually made me sign a contract that said I can’t shoot any guns until after I graduate,” she says.

Both Espinosa and “Coach Wigs” can laugh about it now. That’s indicative of the tone in the clubhouse.

“When it comes to playing the game, let’s just play every pitch as hard as we can and make sure we stay in the moment of that pitch,” Wieligman says.

Work hard, but enjoy the moment. Espinosa is a living testament to that philosophy.

“I appreciate everything my coaches and teammates have done for me and how they have helped me along in so many different ways,” she says. “They’ve been there for me the times I’ve needed them the most, and I’ve tried to do the same for them. I am very glad and grateful for the people that I’m around. I love our team and how our atmosphere is. No pressure ...

“Fun and games.”