Gajewski’s Freshman Formula Continues with Jayelle Austin and Aubrey Jones

STILLWATER — Since Kenny Gajewski took over Cowgirl Softball in 2016, it’s been pretty evident that he isn’t afraid to give freshmen opportunities.

It looks like that will be the case again in 2026. Jayelle Austin and Aubrey Jones each took double-digit at-bats in their opening weekend of college softball as the Cowgirls went 3-2 at the Stanford Invitational.

And it wasn’t just that they were given the opportunities, the two Cowgirl freshmen took advantage of them. Austin was name the Co-Big 12 Freshman of the Week after hitting .385 in her 13 at-bats, hitting two home runs, scoring four runs and accumulating seven RBIs. Jones entered this week with the best batting average on the team among Cowgirls who took more than six at-bats, as she’s hitting .455 with four runs scored and four RBIs.

It’s undoubtedly a good start for the pair of freshmen, but it also continued a trend for freshmen under Gajewski.

“The reality is we have no choice,” Gajewski said. “We feel like Jayelle and Aubrey, they were probably the top recruits. We feel like they’re five-star kids. They weren’t on everybody’s five-star board, even though Aubrey was pretty high. But that’s the way we’ve done it. We seem to have a hard time recruiting young kids here, so when we get the ones that say yes, that’s one of the things we talk about — we’re not afraid to play young kids here. I mean, they don’t really know what’s at stake yet. They haven’t figured that out yet. They may figure it out this weekend, but they really don’t know.”

The weekend didn’t come without nerves. Gajewski said that if he had to guess, Jones’ heartrate was at or above 190 during OSU’s first inning against Stanford.

Jones had an error inning on what Gajewski referred to as what would normally be a rather routine play for the Cowgirl shortstop. But once she settled in, she was back to her normal self.

“I would say thee was definitely a lot of nerves, yeah,” Jones said. “I wasn’t really nervous leading up to the game. It never really hit me until I was on the field, like, first pitch being thrown, and then I was, like, hyperventilating and just extremely tense. I think that’s definitely a real thing, but once you get through the first game, first at-bat, it feels normal.”

Jones was the No. 9 recruit in the 2025 class, per Extra Innings Softball, whereas Softball America had her as the No. 63 player in the cycle. Out of Owasso, Austin was the No. 5 player in the class per Line Drive Media, with Extra Innings Softball labeling her as the No. 3 outfielder in the class.

Those two saw their names in OSU’s Opening Day lineup alongside three seniors, three juniors and a sophomore.

“We’ve always had it,” Gajewski said. “We’ve talked about it with those kids, ‘Hey, if you’re good enough, you’ll play.’ I don’t care if there’s a senior there. This isn’t high school where I owe you anything. Like, we owe each other. What I owe you is to play the best team, and if you’ve earned that, then I owe you to play. They know that, so they have the ability to come in here and play and to do that.

“It’s kind of where we hang our hat. We hang our hat on the development piece and getting kids better, and I think we’ve shown that.”

Gajewski has been playing freshmen since he got to Stillwater.

His inaugural Cowgirl squad featured Taylor Lynch and Madi Sue Montgomery. Lynch led that 2016 team in at-bats with 192 and had a .391 batting average with 43 runs scored and 40 RBIs. Montgomery was second in at-bats that year with 181 while hitting .315 with 40 runs scored and a team-best 57 RBIs.

Two years later Sydney Pennington and Chelsea Alexander made their marks as freshmen. Pennington had 200 at-bats that season, and Alexander had 130. Both hit .300.

The next year it was Chyenne Factor and Kiley Naomi — a tandem that combined for 296 at-bats, 65 runs scored and 57 RBIs.

Gajewski said freshmen having success can compound on itself. If Austin or Jones need an example of what’s possible, they need only to look around the current OSU infield.

First baseman Karli Godwin and Rosie Davis had ridiculous freshman seasons in 2024. Godwin led the Cowgirls in at-bats (188) and RBIs (51) that season while hitting .340. In 168 at-bats, Davis hit .333 with 35 runs scored and 33 RBIs.

“I think when you have people like that around, you can look to that and go, ‘OK, I can do the same thing,'” Gajewski said. “They can go to them for any type of knowledge if they want that. Karli and Rose have done a good job in our infield of being a voice of reason and shown them the daily work. And all these kids work hard, so I don’t have any issues with that. But yeah, it’s cool to have some people that have been in those shoes and can find their way around.

“And then you have somebody like Tia (Warsop), who didn’t get a ton of time that’s able to do it, and she can help that other group that maybe doesn’t play in the first year as much and say, ‘Hey, just keep working. You’ll get your opportunities, but you’ve gotta earn them.'”