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OSU Softball: Ruby Meylan Dominates as Cowgirls Open Big 12 Tournament with 7-0 Win Against Utah

Meylan gave up one hit, and the Cowgirls pick up their first conference tournament win since 2022.

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[Devin Wilber/PFB]

OKLAHOMA CITY — The regular season might’ve ended, but Ruby Meylan’s dominance has not.

Meylan was three outs from a no-hitter and led the Cowgirls to a 7-0 win against Utah in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament.

Meylan finally gave up a hit to start the seventh inning, but that was all the Utes got. The Cowgirl ace didn’t have a ton of strikeouts, but she was efficient, with her pitches.

She threw 92 total pitches Thursday. In a six-appearance stretch from the Bedlam game threw the Baylor series, Meylan averaged 118.7 pitches an outing. She hasn’t thrown north of 100 pitches in her past four outings now, averaging 92.5 pitches per outing.

“I don’t know how many pitches I threw, but it didn’t feel like very many,” Meylan said.

“Nintey-two,” said Kenny Gajewski next to her.

“Which is low for me,” Meylan said. “I love to have a high pitch count, so whenever I can keep that pitch count low and pitch to contact and they just do their jobs and I do mine, it makes it pretty easy.”

The Cowgirls finally started the game’s scoring in the fifth.

Rosie Davis got to the dish with runners on first and second when she sent a ball back up the middle, scoring Jayelle Austin from second.

After Lexi McDonald walked to load the bases, Amanda Hasler pulled a ball down the third-base line that cleared the bags and ended up with a triple. The Utah left fielder tried calling time, signaling the ball was stuck under the fence, but she ended up being able to grab it and throw it back in.

Then white hot redshirt freshman Madison Hoffman sent a ball back up the middle, scoring Hasler. After 4.5 scoreless innings, the Cowgirls all of a sudden had a 5-0 lead.

It’s not that the Cowgirls didn’t have scoring opportunities before that. They left five on base in the first two innings. Then in the fourth, Hoffman was momentarily 60 feet from home, but she was called out for leaving second base early on what ended up being a wild pitch.

In her return from an ACL injury, Hoffman has primarily been used as a pinch hitter this season but drew a start in right field Thursday because Tia Warsop got banged up in a recent practice. Hoffman didn’t play there the whole game but went 2-for-3 at the plate with and RBI. It’s just the third game this season she has had multiple at-bats in. She’s now hitting an even .500 on the season — not shabby.

“She just has these big at-bats,” Gajewski said. “She hits the ball hard. She’s playing with nothing to lose. She’s a freshman. She looks like she’s playing like she’s 8. … Madison is a pretty awesome kid, and obviously she’s really hot right now.

“Tia hasn’t done anything wrong, she’s just banged up. That’s what (Hoffman) got the chances, and every time she gets the chances, she’s doing good stuff.”

Karli Godwin added to the Cowgirl lead in the sixth when she launched a home run to straightaway center. The two-run shot was Godwin’s seventh home run of the season and made it 7-0.

Godwin, Davis and Hoffman all finished with multiple (two, to be exact) hits.

This marks the Cowgirls first win in OKC since winning the tournament in 2022. They’ve gone 0-1 at this event the past three seasons.

OSU will play an Arizona team in Friday night’s semifinal, as the Cowgirls await the winner of Arizona and Arizona State. Those teams play at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

“My seniors just reminded me that this was their first Big 12 (tournament) win,” Gajewski said. “My juniors told me the same thing, which means we’ve sucked the last three years. So, hats off to this team for making that happen. Lot of good stuff. This is a real team that we get production up and down the lineup. It’s just cool to coach them. It’s a lot of fun.”

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