‘Guys, Please Walk It Off’: How Ruby Meylan Avoided Jinxes En Route to OSU’s First Solo Perfect Game Since 2020

STILLWATER — There’s no group more superstitious than a softball team midway through a perf— is it too early to say it now?

Regardless, Oklahoma State ace Ruby Meylan tiptoed up to the line of what superstition allows after she got off the field at the top of the fifth inning.

“I was like, ‘Guys, please walk it off,’” Meylan said. “Like everyone knew (when I said) ‘I’m not going (back) out there, so you guys better walk it off.’ And then obviously Lexi (McDonald) did her thing. So, yeah, I mean, you just, you can’t say it.”

It’s probably safe to say now. Meylan pitched a perfect game last week in a 10-0 five-inning run-rule against BYU.

It was her second no-hitter of the season and, more importantly, the program’s first perfect game by an individual since 2020, and the first overall since 2021.

“I mean, like the third or fourth inning, I knew it was coming to life a little bit,” Meylan said. “And that I had to kind of just keep my mind where it was. And it’s kind of hard to do because when you think don’t make a mistake, you tend to make mistakes, and so just had to kind of talk myself through it.

“And obviously, the goal wasn’t a perfect game. It was just to win the game. But it’s pretty cool when you can get something like that to happen as a result of your mindset.”

Meylan wasn’t supposed to finish that game. Oklahoma State coach Kenny Gajewski planned to pull her after three innings.

“(Pitching coach) Carrie (Eberle Parker) walked over and to me, she said, ‘You know, we can’t take her out,’” Gajewski said. “I said, ‘Boy, I wish you wouldn’t have said that.’ And I already knew, I knew that was coming as I said, ‘I know.’ So I was hoping our conversation wasn’t gonna jinx that. (A perfect game), it’s one of those magical moments and really cool things.”

Junior Tia Warsop said the players tried to keep it business as usual, but it sounds like the other Cowgirls might have limited how much they spoke to Meylan during the game to avoid saying anything jinx-worthy.

“She’s always under control,” Warsop said of Meylan’s performance. “And I think, like, when I’m in the outfield, I obviously know. … I’m just thinking about, like, don’t jinx it, don’t jinx it. It was just awesome after the game to see her reaction to it.”

The perfect game came exactly one month after her no-hitter at Colorado State on Feb. 20, and it wrapped up a mostly strong week for her inside the circle, starting with a six-strikeout, two-hit performance in a win at Arizona State on March 15.

Meylan then struck out 8-of-33 batters faced in the Cowgirls 10-5 victory over then-No. 17/22 Grand Canyon on March 17. Meylan gave up six hits and five runs in that one, but considering the Antelopes were the last undefeated team in the country at the time, that’s a more than acceptable performance.

“Finishing the previous week at Arizona State with a win on Sunday, that was a pretty dominant win, I thought,” Meylan said. “And just doing everything we can to build off that, GCU is a really good mid-major, and so we needed to go in there and take care of business, and we did that. And then again, against BYU, just trying to play our game, not worrying about the opponent, and just trying to win as many games as possible.”

Oklahoma State (22-10, 4-5 Big 12) has won five of its last six, which is a much-needed rebound if the Cowgirls want to make a run at hosting games in the postseason.

When asked about her recent run of success, Meylan pointed back at the team’s participation in the Clearwater Invitational back in mid-February. The team went 3-2 in those games, but Meylan left with an ERA of 5.79 after she gave up five or six runs in four of the five outings.

For context, when she steps inside the circle against Utah this weekend, Meylan will do so with an ERA of 2.48.

“I think the ultimate switch was right after Clearwater, I came back here, and obviously that wasn’t a very good weekend for me,” Meylan said. “It was a good weekend for the team. But personally, like, I didn’t pitch the way I wanted to, not even close.

“And I think I just came back here and just kind of had to get back into my routine and figure out in the bullpen what the problem was. And the problem was I was ultimately throwing too many pitches over the plate, but that was a result of my brain not being where it needed to be. And so, like I said, just literally all I can think about and control is executing the next pitch. And that’s where I’ve stayed at that entire time.”