OSU Softball: Cowgirls Split Doubleheader with Stanford

STILLWATER — The Cowgirls’ winning streak ended at six games.

The Oklahoma State softball team split a doubleheader against Stanford on Friday at Cowgirl Stadium. The Cowgirls won the first game 6-1 before falling 5-1 in the second. No. 8 OSU moves to 11-5 on the season. Stanford is now 16-3.

Oklahoma State 6, Stanford 1

In a battle of two elite pitchers, Julia Cottrill stole the show.

Cottrill went 2-for-2 at the plate in the Cowgirls’ first home game of 2022, hitting a pair of home runs. When she wasn’t blasting balls out of the park, Cottrill drew a pair of walks. Her first round-tripper was a two-run shot over the deck beyond the left-field fence in the fourth inning.

She went even farther over that left-field deck in her next at-bat in the sixth inning, a solo home run.

Cottrill transferred to OSU from Florida this offseason. She played her high school ball in Stillwater, so the homecoming went well in her first game in Stillwater as a Cowgirl.

“I was nervous,” Cottrill said. “I had butterflies, but to me that was a reassurance that I am falling in love with the game again — feeling butterflies and coming out here and doing something in front of my hometown crowd is super exciting, also nerve-racking. I’m very lucky I got to do that.”

Stanford pitcher Regen Krause was handed her first loss of the season, falling to 5-1. Entering Friday’s game, she had a 0.63 ERA in eight appearances. She let in only four runs in her 33 1/3 innings entering Friday, but she finished having thrown only two innings where she gave up three runs on two hits. She walked six and struck out four. Her ERA “ballooned” to 1.19.

This is just the second game this season Cowgirl ace Kelly Maxwell has allowed a run. She let a run cross in the second inning, just the third run scored on her in 44 innings this season. She threw the full seven innings in Friday’s first game where she allowed the one score off four hits while walking three and striking out eight. She is now 6-0 on the season.

“Kelly, I didn’t think she was very sharp at all,” OSU coach Kenny Gajewski said, “but pitched really well still and got out of there.”

Katelynn Carwile and Sydney Pennington helped Cottrill in the run support department. Carwile went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles. She had two RBIs and a run scored. Pennington was also 2-for-3 at the plate. She started the day’s scoring with an RBI double in the second that scored Carwile.

Stanford 5, Oklahoma State 1

This game was tied at 1 entering the sixth before it got away from the Cowgirls.

The Cardinal added a pair of runs in the top of that frame. There were two outs with Kaitlyn Lim on first base before a Kate Cressey single moved Lim to third. Cressey then stole second for an Ellee Eck single to score the pair.

The seventh started with Stanford junior Sydnee Huff doubling to the gap in left-center field. OSU went to its bullpen, bringing in Morgan Day for Miranda Elish, but Taylor Gindlesperger welcomed Day to the game with a two-run home run to center.

Day’s start was similar to Elish’s. The first batter Elish faced Friday also hit a home run over the center-field fence.

The Cowgirls had a few opportunities to add some run support. OSU left Scotland David on third in the bottom of the fifth. The Cowgirls left a pair of runners on in the sixth, and they left a runner on second in the seventh.

Stanford pitcher Alana Vawter threw the entire game, allowing the one run off six hits. She didn’t issue a walk and struck out eight Cowgirl batters.

“The second game, we just couldn’t overcome their ace,” Gajewski said. “She was really good. I thought she was maybe one of the best ones we’ve seen all year long.”

OSU at the OSU/Tulsa Invitational