"We chose a poor time to play poorly": Cowgirls go one-and-done in Big 12 Softball Tournament with loss to BYU
May 9—After an impressive Bedlam series win in Norman last weekend, No. 2 Oklahoma State lulled its way to a 7-2 loss at the hands of BYU in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament on Thursday afternoon. A season-high five errors dug an inescapable hole for the Cowgirls.
BYU starting pitcher Chloe Temples completely shut down the high-powered OSU offense, keeping the hitters off-balance on the way to a seven-hit, two-run complete game victory.
The left-handed junior struggled against Oklahoma State during the in-season series, giving up seven earned runs in six innings across the three games. This time was different.
"I thought she made it really tough on us," OSU coach Kenny Gajewski said. "We didn't make very good adjustments soon enough.
"She made our hitters look like they were swinging a telephone pole."
By the time the bats started to wake up, it was too late. Facing a 7-0 deficit in the sixth, Oklahoma State scratched across two runs on a Caroline Wang double and a Rosie Davis single.
The Cowgirls struggled with popups, strikeouts and base running errors. In the field, the errors led to three BYU runs.
"You can't beat teams in this league or anywhere in the country playing like that," Gajewski said. "The positive I can take out of this is I don't think we can play worse, and hopefully we got a lot of this out of us."
Thursday's result could be considered surprising given OSU's positive momentum coming into the conference tournament. During postgame press conferences, Gajewski, as well as Wang and Lexi Kilfoyl, were asked about any potential emotional letdown after the OU series win — to which they disagreed.
"Our practice has been locked in, our same kids, our pregame, everything has been very normal," Gajewski said. "I tried to pay very close attention to that. I was really high alert on that...we just picked a really poor day to play poorly."
With the loss, OSU is making an early trip back home from the Big 12 Tournament for the second year in a row.
"We had moments to beat them, we just didn't play as good as we know we can," Kilfoyl said.
Last season's loss to Kansas in the same round eventually led to another Women's College World Series run, leading the team to feel equally upset about Thursday's loss but also confident in what is to come.
"We're pretty good at bouncing back," Gajewski said. "...I'm not gonna go on that bus and light them up. I don't think that's gonna do anything, that's not who I am."
For Gajewski, the first place he's going once he gets home is to his John Deere riding mower.
"That's the best therapy ever," Gajewski said. "I've got about 18 acres to get going on."
He then joked about handing down a punishment to himself — the weedeater.
"Usually I make my son, but I'll tell him that he gets the day off today," he said.
Next up for Oklahoma State is the annual team retreat to Broken Bow. There, they will spend time as a team and await their postseason seeding assignment on Sunday night during the NCAA Softball Selection Show.
With a 44-10 record and seven wins against top-11 teams, Oklahoma State still has an excellent shot at a top-eight national seed.
"At the end of the day we're a top eight seed, we're a top five seed," Gajewski said. "I would be shocked if we're not. We played poorly today. If that knocks us out, we've earned that and we'll take it, but I don't think it does."
The selection show will air at 7 p.m. Sunday on ESPN2.
