Cowgirls, Gajewski not worried about late offensive slump

Parker Gerl Staff Reporter

Amidst a five-game losing streak and offensive slump, OSU coach Kenny Gajewski and his team aren’t sweating it.

Gajewski said on Tuesday that he informed his team of their stats and numbers on the season, and his players were satisfied.

“Yesterday, I read off all our stats to our team that we’re in the top 10 in the NCAA, over 300 teams,” Gajewski said. “I read off all those stats to them and said, ‘If I would have told you this in February, would you take it?’ and I think every one of them was like, ‘Of course,’ so what’s the problem?”

OSU has gotten great production from its pitching staff nearly all season, but its offense is struggling to get hits with runners on.

“We just gotta score runs,” said Cowgirls’ outfielder Chyenne Factor. “We’ve gotta get a timely hit. We’re getting runners on, a lot of runners on. But we’re leaving them on as well.”

Aside from breaking through at the plate and wanting to get back in the win column, the goal for Gajewski remains the same.

Hosting super regionals.

“We’re trying to be in the top eight when the Big 12 tournament is done, that hasn’t changed,” Gajewski said. “Do we want to win the regular season conference championship and the tournament? Hell yeah. Like, we want to win that. But I will trade all of that to be in the top eight to host here, because I know how special this place is.”

OSU experienced a similar disappointing losing streak last season, losing its final five games of the regular season before rounding out an all-around successful season, including a late push at the College World Series. “This happened last year, we lost five in a row and still did what we did,” Factor said. “So, it’s fine, it’s not that big of a deal.

Currently sitting at No.

7 in the polls, OSU has seven regular season games remaining, including a three-game series with Texas Tech and No. 1 Oklahoma, respectively. Gajewski iterated that he wants his team to focus on the task ahead and not pay attention to outside stuff, like rankings.

“You’re never as good as you think you are, and you’re never as bad as you think you are, I told our team that,” Gajewski said. “I said ‘look, we’re really good,’

(but) I think we’re caught up in trying to protect our ranking. It means nothing, It’s purely opinion. There is no algorithm to the ranking at all.”

Kidney...

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“I was like, ‘Well, when your doctor clears you for transplant, let me know when to sign up,’” Sanye said.

The Ford family got bad news when results came back. Donald was ineligible to donate.

“When my husband was ruled out you know, I was like, ‘Oh, wow. OK, Sanye,’” Rhonda said.

Sanye qualified for a paired donation with a chain of people. She would donate her kidney to a stranger, and her mom would receive a kidney from a stranger. It was the culmination of months of testing and a few up-and-back trips from Stillwater to Dallas.

Sanye has become accustomed to the procedure mash-up of X-Rays, EKG’s (electrocardiograms) and blood draws required before surgery. The surgery was initially scheduled for April 24 but had to be postponed due to one of the people in the chain getting ill.

“It’s been super tedious,” Sanye said. “Especially last week. Right before surgery was (scheduled) I was at the hospital, like, every day doing different tests.”

The new date could collide with OSU’s graduation; not that it would change Sanye’s plans. She is more than happy to have a ceremony in her living room.

“I asked (Sanye) if she had reservations,” Rhonda said. “She said, ‘Mom, I have no reservations. I’m doing it. You’re my mom. I would do it all over again.’” sports.ed@ocolly.com