OSU Softball: No. 3 Cowgirls Run Rule No. 6 Seminoles 9-1, Force Series Rubber Match

STILLWATER — After dropping a tightly contest series opener, the Cowgirls bounced back in a big way Saturday afternoon.

Oklahoma State run ruled Florida State 9-1 in five innings in Cowgirl Stadium to force a series rubber match on Sunday. The win moves the Cowgirls to 19-2 on the season and is OSU’s sixth win against a ranked opponent.

“I talked to our team last night, and I just told them, I said, ‘There’s just one thing I want to know about, and that’s response,'” OSU coach Kenny Gajewski said. “I think we saw that. I just talked to them about how I feel like us being involved with the program has really set us up to be able to answer like that. Our girls were in character all day. They were normal, workman-like.”

After veteran pitchers Kelly Maxwell and Lexi Kilfoyl struggled with the Seminoles’ lineup Friday night, freshman Kyra Aycock was dominant in the circle Saturday. From Newnan, Georgia, Aycock threw all five innings where she allowed the one run off two hits while walking none and striking out five.

She kept the base paths clear, so even when she made a mistake, like allowing a wind-assisted home run in the fourth inning, the damage was minimal.

“I think I did really well,” Aycock said. “I was just gonna come into this game throwing what I could throw and not going too big. Just one pitch at a time.”

Aside from the home run, the only hard-hit ball against Aycock came in Florida State’s first at-bat of the game. Kiley Naomi went Air Naomi to snag the bullet over her head.

Aycock got run support early and often, with a good chunk of it coming off Micaela Wark’s bat.

Through two innings, Wark was 2-for-2 at the plate with a double and three RBIs. With runners on second and third in the first inning, Wark drilled a ball off the wall in left-center to score a pair.

She got back up in the second with Naomi on first. Wark ripped a ball down the left-field line, and Naomi was able to hustle home.

After having her 18-game hit streak end Friday night, OSU leadoff hitter Rachel Becker started anew Saturday, going 2-for-2 at the plate with three runs scored. She also drew her 18th and 19th walks of the season. Even in the two games where she hasn’t gotten a hit this season, Becker has reached base in all of OSU’s games. This season, she is hitting .528 with a .648 on-base percentage.

“You see when she’s on base, she scores,” Gajewski said. “We kinda go as she goes.”

As dominant as this game was for the Cowgirls, it could’ve been worse for the Seminoles. OSU left seven runners on base to FSU’s one.

The series rubber match is set to pitch at 2 p.m. Sunday in Cowgirl Stadium.

“We were definitely in the habit of winning, and that’s not a bad habit to have,” Wark said. “But I definitely do think that it was a good mentality to have. We bounced back hard. We knew that it’s a surprise when people beat us and we’re a good team. We can be anyone in the nation, and we know that.”

Kenny Gajewski’s Postgame News Conference