OSU Softball: Cowgirls Run-Rule UMBC in Regional Opener

STILLWATER — It took a three and a half hour rain delay, but the Cowgirls have their first win of the month of May.

Oklahoma State run-ruled UMBC 9-0 on Friday in the teams’ NCAA Regional opener. It marks the Cowgirls first win since April 30. OSU advances to play the winner of Nebraska and Wichita State at 2 p.m. Saturday.

“Winning cures a lot of things a lot of things,” OSU coach Kenny Gajewski said. “You can learn a lot when you get beat, but winning is a lot better than losing, for sure. And it kind of feels like it’s what we do. It’s what we’ve done a lot here.”

After the teams went through warmups and the national anthem the heavens opened up above Stillwater, America and rain started to pour down. The initial 3 p.m. first pitch was pushed back to 6:30 p.m.

The Cowgirls had games of wiffle ball going in their locker room, but ace pitcher Kelly Maxwell spent the time drawing a picture of her dog. When the game got going, Maxwell went from being an artist of dogs to an artist against the Retrievers. In just five innings of work Maxwell stuck out 10 batters while walking only one. She gave up just two hits and advanced to 15-5 on the year.

“We just talked about that earlier this week, trying to limit those walks and being able to pound the zone,” Maxwell said. “That was my game plan going in, making sure I was getting balls on the plate, not trying to be too cute or nibble the corner too much.”

With a 1-0 lead, the Cowgirls’ bats really got going in the fourth inning. OSU scored five that frame, four of which came with two outs. Megan Bloodworth started the inning’s scoring with a one-out double that brought in Tallen Edwards. Kiley Naomi then had a two-out triple that scored a pair before Micaela Wark sent the first pitch she saw over the fence in left.

After Edwards had an RBI double in the fifth, Noami ended the game with a two-run home run to left-center in the sixth to enact the run rule.

We're not going to not talk about this absolute missile from Kiley Naomi to walk it off 🚀#AllOne | #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/gYG3FENdJb

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 20, 2023

Naomi and Edwards each had three hits on the night with Naomi going 3-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored. In her first NCAA Regional game, Edwards went 3-for-3.

Oklahoma State’s Postgame News Conference

Regional Bracket