Cowgirls’ offense in ‘gross’ hitting stretch

gross,” Gajewski said. “We have to figure it out. It happens during the season... in the moment it just feels even worse. We need to get going and somebody to step up and get those big hits.”

College World Series. The four combined runs is the lowestscoring two-game stretch of the season for OSU.

Cowgirl softball coach Kenny Gajewski used an odd, but perhaps apt, word to describe the funk No. 3 OSU’s offense is mired in.

“Offensively right now we are pretty

The 39-5 Cowgirls have dropped two consecutive games, 3-2 to Iowa State in extra innings the past Sunday and 3-1 to No. 23 Wichita State on Tuesday. It is OSU’s first losing streak since the Cowgirls were eliminated in the 2022 Women’s

Offense must pick up slack to save season

lead in the second and hit an important threshold. In games the Cowboys have scored eight or more runs, they are 17-2, including 17 in a row.

Tyler Wulfert, a Midland College transfer, hit his eighth home run of the season in the second inning to get OSU to the threshold.

“I think we need to refocus and regroup,” senior second baseman Rachel Becker said. “We’ve kind of been going through it the last week or so. Losing to teams we shouldn’t be. We need to refocus and take the lessons we learn from this and move forward.”

Seven pitches into Bedlam, it was clear what the Cowboys had to do to win.

OSU pitcher Drew Blake started Tuesday’s game with a five-pitch walk, a hit batter on the next throw, then a home run on the seventh pitch. Five minutes in, the Cowboys already trailed by three runs.

A Nolan Schubart two-RBI double breathed life back into O’Brate Stadium, where the Cowboys lost four of their past five games. Two more hits and a pair of free bases flipped the score, putting OSU two runs up on OU. New ballgame.

The Cowboys found their formula in the first inning: outscore the Sooners instead of holding them to fewer runs.

That’s OSU’s recipe for the season, not just a midweek Bedlam game. Pitching has been solid, even good at times, but the inconsistency and lack of experienced depth has loomed large in the 8-7 start to conference play. For the Cowboys to have success, they must rely on offense to pick up the slack and rejuvenate the season.

OSU extended its

Three more Cowboys added a home run in the 19-8 win, pushing OSU to 71 homers on the season – the most of any team in the Big 12 by more than a dozen. That’s OSU’s bread and butter to success. Relying on pitching has got the Cowboys beat.

OSU is sixth in the conference with a 5.32 ERA, and it’s allowed 42 home runs, third in the conference. Isaac Stebens (4.60) and Juaron WattsBrown (4.88) are the only Cowboys with an ERA lower than 6.0 in conference play. The bullpen is full of young pitchers and pitchers coming off injuries, with no big leadership figure.

“We don’t have any older veteran guys maybe like a Justin Campbell, who’s been an AllAmerican and thrown no-hitters and is a Friday night guy, it’s over before it starts,” OSU pitching coach Rob Walton said.

That puts more pressure on the offense.

Evan O’Toole only allowed two runs in four innings in Bedlam for OSU, but then the bullpen fell back into old habits and allowed three runs in the seventh to make it an 11-8 game.