OSU Softball: Cowgirls Beat Stanford 11-5 to Win Stillwater Regional, Advance to Play Nebraska in Supers

STILLWATER — The Timm Reaper stepped to the plate and killed Stanford’s season.

Oklahoma State beat Stanford 11-5 on Sunday to win the Stillwater Regional and advance to a Super Regional against Nebraska in Lincoln next week.

The Cowgirls were already up 5-2 when senior Claire Timm stepped to the plate in the fifth with the bases loaded, but then she sent a ball through the windy Stillwater sky to right-center. The grand slam essentially made the rest of the game a formality.

Everything everywhere all at once 🗣️

Claire’s second career grand slam, the team’s 67th dinger of the year AND the Cowgirls are up by 7⃣

📺 ESPN #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/RicaOUpXTV

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 17, 2026

The Timm Reaper nickname is something that has stuck with Timm, now a senior, for a while. She doesn’t sound the most in love with the nickname, but it was more than appropriate on Sunday.

“I’ve kinda gotten used to it,” Timm said before the regional. “Not my favorite, but I think other people like it so I just kinda take it.”

The inning before ended on a down note for Timm. Kyra Chan got a ball through the right side, and then it got past Timm. In her defense, the wind was ridiculous inside Cowgirl Stadium on Sunday. As the ball started to get through the right side, a gust brought a lot of dust from the now-delapidated Allie P. Reynolds Stadium next door. The umpire had been calling time when he could to avoid the dust storms, but this one started to kick up when the ball was already in play.

That run would score, cutting OSU’s lead to 3-2 after four.

The Cowgirls made no excuse of the wind Sunday and even said it probably helped them because they’re used to these gusty Oklahoma days.

Before Timm’s fifth-innning grand slam, Amanda Hasler hit a two-run shot — her  second home run of the Regional. It also scored Lexi McDonald, who doubled to start the inning.

Everything everywhere all at once 🗣️

Claire’s second career grand slam, the team’s 67th dinger of the year AND the Cowgirls are up by 7⃣

📺 ESPN #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/RicaOUpXTV

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 17, 2026

Hasler said she had a celebration in mind, but the ball was close to being foul so she holstered it.

“I was actually thinking about bat-flipping,” Hasler said. “But I was like, ‘That might be foul. That’ll be really embarrassing if I do that.’ But I was watching it the whole time. I almost missed first base, so I didn’t know if it was going to stay fair. …

“It wasn’t going to be a (bat) flip, it was gonna be more of a slam. I’ll save it for another time.”

Hasler nearly hit for the cycle Sunday. She finished with half of the Cowgirls’ six hits, singling in the second inning, doubling in the third and then ripping that homer in the fifth.

Although OSU didn’t have a crazy number of hits, the Cowgirls were disciplined at the plate, walking 11 times and killing the Cardinal on the basepaths. It resulted in more runs than Ruby Meylan needed.

The Cowgirl ace threw all seven innings. She almost needed only six but gave up a two-run home run with two outs in the sixth. Had they gotten that out (which Jayelle Austin nearly robbed), the game would’ve ended then via run-rule. Meylan put her hands on her head as it went out but then came back in the seventh and put the side down in order.

It was a bit of an interesting spot for Gajewski and pitching coach Carrie Eberle Parker. There’s no denying this team is much better when Meylan is pitching, but had the Cowgirls lost Sunday, they would’ve had to play again right after. So, do you go with your ace and try to end it early? Or do you play it a little more cautiously in case you have to play anther seven innings?

It was a decision that lingered in the hours leading up to the game.

“Cairrie wants to have answers at nighttime,” Gajewski said. “I don’t always like to have answers at nighttime. She was wearing my phone out, and I kept dodging her calls. So, we finally talked about 9:30 and she just kind of walked me through some scenarios, and I just told her, I said, ‘We’re going with Ruby. That’s what we’re gonna do. There’s no need to even think about anything else. We’re going to win the first game. That’s the way that we gotta go.’

“No disrespect to anybody else on our pitching staff, but I think if we didn’t throw Ruby in the first game, these guys (the players) may have come after me.”

This Regional was a show of just how far the Cowgirls have come over the span of a season. They played Stanford twice at the very beginning of the year. The Cardinal won the first game 4-2 and the second 10-0 in five innings.

Those teams met twice in Stillwater this weekend, with OSU winning both games by a combined score of 18-7. The Cowgirls outscored their three opponents a combined 34-7 this weekend. That 27-run differential is a program-best for OSU in an NCAA Regional.

“This team is a much different team (from the start of the season),” Gajewski said. “I think we are a much different team than we started out at. I think if I go back and look at what I had, like when I look back and saw the box scores and saw a little bit of our games, I was like, ‘Oh, man.’ Like, we look different. I mean, we look different as players, and swing-wise, and pitching, and defense. It’s nuts.

“So, that’s what’s cool. And that’s why you love coaching because it’s the journey. We left (Stanford) kind of upset we didn’t play better, and now you look back, I would trade that every time to have this, right?”

Cowgirls Match Up with Nebraska in Supers

The Cowgirls’ Super Regional in Lincoln won’t be short on storylines.

For starters, these teams met twice in Feburary, splitting those games. OSU won the first, 2-1 in 11 innings while Nebraska took the second, 4-3.

It’ll also be a homecoming of sorts for Meylan as the Cowgirl ace is from Omaha.

The Super will feature an elite pitching matchup between Meylan and OSU’s former Bedlam rival Jordy Frahm (previously Bahl). Frahm enters the Super with a 1.15 ERA.