sports Cowboys capitalized in crucial moments down the stretch for a share of Big 12 title

Holliday said. “Winning it isn’t something small.”

So, how did the breakthrough happen?

While Holliday’s thoughts on the Big 12 may hold some merit, statistics show the conference is in a down year.

NORMAN -- Josh Holliday stood along the first base line of L. Dale Mitchell Park, attempting to keep his emotions at a minimum, but to no avail.

A herd of orange jerseys swarmed over the OSU coach as he and his players hoisted the Bedlam series trophy following a 11-1 series-clinching win over OU on Saturday afternoon.

Holliday displayed the joy of not only winning the series, but a three-way share of his program’s first Big 12 regular season title since 2014.

“I’m not afraid to smile and tell you all it feels really good,” Holliday said. “And I don’t usually feel much.”

Excluding the 2020 shortened COVID season, OSU has had four second-place finishes the past seven seasons. Holliday said the Big 12 is often underappreciated.

“The Big 12 conference is a highly competitive conference,”

Since the conference’s current 24-game format began in 2013, a regular season champion hasn’t held a Big 12 record below 16-8. This season, the Cowboys, Texas and West Virginia all donned a 15-9 record.

The Longhorns dropped a series to Cal State Fullerton (2821 record), escaped Big 12 bottom dwellers Baylor and Kansas by small margins and was swept by seventh-place OU at home.

The Mountaineers dropped a road series to Georgia Southern (27-28 record). Granted, earlyseason jitters are a thing, but WVU also lost two of three to Kansas at home in April.

In the midst a down year in the conference, the Cowboys performed well in pivotal moments.

They earned a ranked series win against Texas and a title-clinching victory over OU.

OSU’s 8.7 runs per game average ranks 10th nationally and first in the Big 12. The Cowboys also lead the conference in home runs (99) and rank second in team batting average at .307, good for 24th nationally. Seven of OSU’s typical starters hold a batting average better than .300. OSU’s prolific offense has produced 21 double-digit run totals.

Statistically, it’s Holliday’s best offense in 11 years at the helm.

“I don’t know how to pinpoint it,” Holliday said. “It’s hard to put your finger on that. We have a good lineup and have good depth to our lineup. The kids are working hard. They’ve listened, learned and made adjustments over the course of the season.”

OSU’s pattern of offensive shootouts drew concern regarding its chances in the Big 12 race. But down the stretch, well-rounded performances with timely pitching put that to rest with a conference title.

“It’s something that’s hard to put into words,” freshman left fielder Nolan Schubart said. “Coming in we were just hoping for a series win. Now we’re able to be (Big 12) champions and that’s pretty surreal.” sports.ed@ocolly.com

OSU beings the Big 12 Tournament on Wednesday as the 2-seed, facing 7-seed OU. The Cowboys outscored the Sooners 43-16 in four meetings this season. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.

Blood-worth...

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Cowgirl catcher Taylor Tuck was fired up for her pitcher, along with the rest of her teammates. Kilfoyl, though, had no clue.

“I think the team kinda realized it more than I did, cause they came right out, and they were all over me,” Kilfoyl said. “That’s really good for the team and the energy because I think we’re a team that feeds off energy, and once we get going, it’s hard to stop us.”

After picking up a run in the bottom of the first inning off a sac groundout from Kiley Naomi to send Rachel Becker home, the Cowgirl offense fell flat for a couple of innings before picking it back up in a big way in the fourth inning.

On Friday against UMBC, the Cowgirls had five runs in the fourth; against the Shockers, the Cowgirls added three runs to their total in what seems now to be their lucky inning. Katelynn Carwile, Morgyn Wynne and Taylor Tuck all picked up RBIs in the half inning, propelling the Cowgirls to a four-run lead.

Following a Micaela Wark RBI single in the fifth, the Cowgirls led 5-0 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, still holding the Shockers (4111) scoreless, and Bloodworth stepped into the box with two outs and hit what would end up being the dagger—a hard-hit double to center field, sending Tallen Edwards to the plate.

Bloodworth admittedly hasn’t been sharp all season at the plate, as before Friday night’s game against the Retrievers, she hadn’t recorded a hit since April 11 against Tulsa. Now, though, she’s starting to get a groove going in the batter’s box, and although she’s just 2-6 on the weekend, she could easily be batting 1.000 in Gajewski’s eyes.

“(Bloodworth) could easily be 6-6 in this Regional; (she’s) just hammering balls,” Gajewski said.

Now, the Cowgirls move onto Sunday, where they’re looking to capture yet another Stillwater Regional title and a thirdstraight Super Regional appearance in Stillwater. They’ll play whoever survives Saturday — UMBC, Nebraska or Wichita State — at 3 p.m. Sunday.

“Now we get to sit back and watch these teams fight it out and go home and recover and put ourselves in a great spot,” Gajewski said.