Oklahoma State softball earns fifth straight WCWS trip as Cowgirls sweep Arizona
STILLWATER — Neither rain nor lightning nor the Arizona Wildcats could keep Oklahoma State from a fifth straight Women’s College World Series trip.
No. 5-seeded OSU took control early and rolled to a 10-4 win over unseeded Arizona to sweep the best-of-three Stillwater Super Regional on Saturday night at Cowgirl Stadium.
The game’s start time was moved 30 minutes earlier, to 5:30 p.m., in hopes of avoiding the widely predicted severe weather that was anticipated to arrive around 7-8 p.m.
At 7:33, a horn sounded to signal lightning was in the area, with OSU holding a 10-3 lead and still batting in the top of the fifth inning.
But when action finally resumed at 9:50 p.m. after a 2-hour, 17-minute delay, the Cowgirls (49-10) finished the job, eliminating Arizona (37-18-1) and securing a spot in the WCWS yet again.
“I know there’s a lot of people who counted us out this year,” OSU coach Kenny Gajewski said. “We just kept telling these guys they were good enough and they could do this. They’ve now put themselves in position to achieve their goal, and that’s to win a national championship.
“It feels really cool. We’re gonna enjoy that here tonight.”
OSU will face the winner of the Gainesville Super Regional between fourth-seeded Florida and unseeded Baylor in the first round of the WCWS on Thursday at Devon Park. That series is tied at 1 with the decisive Game 3 set for Sunday.
OSU has hosted each of its regional and super-regional games since the 2021 postseason and improved its record to 20-1 record in those games.
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‘Big-game’ Tallen Edwards at it again
OSU sophomore Tallen Edwards’ impressive postseason continued, and she got off to a fast start Saturday.
After a leadoff walk by Jilyen Poullard to open the game, Edwards sent a fly ball deep to left field. Arizona outfielder Dakota Kennedy reached for the ball but it deflected off her glove and over the wall.
Edwards is now 8 for 19 with four extra-base hits in the postseason. That follows a 4-for-36 slump she fought through to end the regular season.
Referred to by OSU coach Kenny Gajewski as ‘Big-game Tallen’ after a strong performance Friday, Edwards had another key defensive play Saturday. The third baseman started a 5-3-2 double play to erase an Arizona scoring chance in the bottom of the first inning.
With runners on the corners, Edwards snagged a line drive and glanced at the runner on third, who was retreating to the bag. So Edwards threw to first, just missing the out there as the runner dove back in. But the runner from third took off for home and Karli Godwin threw to Caroline Wang, who applied the tag for the inning-ending out.
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Back-to-back bombs on back-to-back days
For the second straight game, OSU benefited from back-to-back home runs from the middle of the order. On Friday, it was Claire Timm who started it, but on Saturday, she finished it — and with a record-setting homer.
Freshman Rosie Davis had the first half of the back-to-back with a line drive to left field. Then Timm — affectionately nicknamed the Timm Reaper — launched her home run to right-center field.
It was her 10th of the season, joining teammates Wang (17), Godwin (15), Poullard (11) and Micaela Wark (11) Cowgirls with at least 10 home runs, the first time in program history five players have done so in the same season.
With OSU’s three home runs Saturday, the team now has 92 for the season, one shy of the program record of 93 set in 2021.
Of the five with double-digit home runs, only Wark was a regular starter last year, while Poullard and Davis are in their first year as Cowgirls, prepping for their first experience at the WCWS.
“It just means so much,” Davis said. “It’s like a little kid’s dreams come true. I just love this team so much and this coaching staff. It’s awesome.”
Timm finished 2 for 3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Davis was 3 for 3 with two runs and an RBI.
“This has been the matra of this team, it’s somebody new,” Gajewski said. “Claire Timm gets her 10th home run here today. It’s wild. Rosie, maybe last weekend, she started getting hotter, and it keeps going this weekend.
“It’s just a unique team, and it’s really cool to watch them celebrate and be happy for each other.”
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Rosenberry, Kilfoyl pair up for strong outing
Ivy Rosenberry made her first start of the NCAA Tournament and pitched into the fourth inning. After allowing an early run, she retired nine of the next 12 batters and pitched around the three singles she gave up.
“It didn’t start off great,” Gajewski said of Rosenberry, who has been battling a rib injury. “I think we’re learning that we probably need to pitch her more in practice. We’ve been trying to rest her, and she’s not very sharp, and I think that showed.
“But she gutted it out, literally.”
After Rosenberry gave up a two-run homer in the fourth, OSU went back to ace Lexi Kilfoyl, who has been dominant in the postseason.
Kilfoyl threw just 13 pitches before the weather delay, and struggled with control when the game resumed. But she allowed just one run on four hits with three strikeouts over four innings and retired the Wildcats in order in the seventh to earn her 26th win of the season.
“I didn’t think she was very sharp after the break,” Gajewski said. “But when you have what she has, you can not be sharp and still win, so I’m very, very proud of her and proud of this team.”
Kilfoyl will be making her third WCWS appearance. The Florida native went with Alabama as a sophomore in 2021 prior to joining the Cowgirls for two trips.
“I’m just so proud of this team and how far we’ve come,” Kilfoyl said. “We never looked back or looked at the bad things and what everyone else was saying. We stayed the course and we handled anything anyone threw at us.”
The Cowgirls’ best WCWS finish under Gajewski is third place in 2022, but with the way they’ve been playing in the postseason, they’ll arrive in OKC feeling confident.
“Might as well win, right?” Gajewski said. “That’s the way we’re looking at it. We’re gonna go down to OKC and everybody’s gonna talk about OU and all these other teams. That’s how it’s been for us the whole year. We’re just gonna go over there and play our best and see where the chips fall.”
Gajewski has big plans for his team away from the field in OKC. Eating like royalty, shopping trips as a team and anything they can do to enjoy the little moments that make such an achievement special.
“We might even go get pedicures,” Gajewski said. “But most importantly, we’re gonna get focused when it’s time. We’re gonna go have a blast and we’re gonna play the Cowgirl way.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State softball sweeps Arizona for fifth straight WCWS trip
