OSU Softball Player Accepts Postgame Proposal After Beautiful Plan

Jamie Lowrie walked step-by-step toward her future.

Each step, moving farther away from the huddle of her Oklahoma State softball family. And each step, creeping closer to a reality with history behind it. Jacob Overton waited in the pitcher’s circle with a handful of pink and red-tipped flowers.

Screams of “I’m gonna cry,” were as clear as the night sky. Players were jumping. Family members and friends tried to take in every moment from the stands. Even a blaring fire truck drove by with impeccable timing.

Lowrie took a dozen steps to move only a few yards, but each one was the right one. She staggered toward the circle, pushed her hair aside and kept walking on legs that looked like they didn’t work anymore. As she neared the white chalk, Overton dropped to one knee and opened the little crimson box with everything inside.

They smiled so big you could see from across the street.

They had talked about marriage for months now. Overton’s mom was constantly asking when he was going to propose. They even went ring shopping together.

“Yes” was just a formality in a microcosm of what Cowgirl softball has become. And that’s why Lowrie didn’t say it. “I hate you,” she said as she took the ring and hugged her fiancé for the first time.

Beginner’s (Un)Luck

The first date didn’t go well.

Overton had just gotten out of a failed relationship, and after months of regeneration, he remembered he could talk to other girls again. Lowrie was No. 1 on the list, and in fact, she was the only one on the list. At one point, they were best friends who begged their parents to make the 45-minute drive so they could see each other.

“I always knew there was something there,” Overton said, and he wanted to see if she would still have any interest in seeing him.

Of course she wanted to. She had a secret crush on him since they met as 14-year-olds at summer camp. A couple of years of separation wouldn’t change that.

Overton asked if she wanted to go shopping in Bricktown, downtown Oklahoma City. Now that they could drive, there was no excuse to not see each other. He had no excuse to not get out of tiny Minco, and she had no excuse not to leave puny Piedmont.

“Meet up at Langston’s,” he told her.

By no coincidence at all, there are three locations of the Western wear shop in OKC, so they ended up at the wrong one. No problem. Overton told her to stay put, and he went to the wrong one again.

So it’s already not a great start as far as first dates go.

New plan. They met up at the bowling alley. In a asinine move, Overton won the first game. To maybe make it even worse, they tied the second. Finally, allowed or earned, Lowrie took the third. As they went to pay, Overton had “full intentions” of taking care of all of it, but she went Dutch before he could get the cash out.

So now it’s not even really a date.

At dinner, they sat down, ordered and ate in about 30 minutes.

“That’s the fastest I have ever been at a restaurant like that, ever,” Overton said. “And I’m not exaggerating. It was really that fast.”

He was left in a predicament. Nothing else was planned, but he wanted to spend more time with this girl he hadn’t seen in two years. He didn’t want to go see a movie, but he saw no other options.

“Let’s go sit next to each other for two hours and not talk,” Overton thought.

But they did. They got popcorn and split a drink and everything. The movie started, and compared to most of the night, this first date is going well. They aren’t holding hands or cuddled up next to each other, but at least they’re at the same movie theater.

“I went to reach for the Dr. Pepper, and the lid popped off,” Overton said. “It spilled all over her.”

Great, he thought. He ran to get some napkins and tried to clean her up, but the chair was still soaked. Lowrie pushed over toward him. About 10 minutes later, he went for it.

“Can I hold your hand?” he asked.

“I’ve been waiting for you to,” she told him, this boy who just spilled soda on her not even a quarter hour before on their first date.

Sports are Beautiful

The Cowgirls won 11-5 against Butler Community College in an exhibition game Thursday night.

They played three extra full innings to get reps for the reserves. Madi Sue Montgomery went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, and Emmie Robertson — one of Lowrie’s roommates — pitched four shutout innings.

None of it mattered.

OSU’s players and fans had plenty of reasons to cheer, but yelled loudest when a ball wasn’t in play, when no one was up to bat and when neither team was in the dugout.

I talked with Overton throughout the game. He told stories with his friends and played with the babies in the family. He didn’t even notice right away when Lowrie took her first at-bat. She went 0-of-1 with a pair of walks, but Overton smiled and clapped, and his family cheered after every base she took.

They drove from an hour and a half away to celebrate someone who wasn’t even officially part of their family yet.

Overton went down below the bleachers at the start of the eighth inning. The plan was to hop inside of a Pistol Pete outfit and surprise Lowrie with the ring, but the garb was too expensive, so he audibled. After the Cowgirls sang the alma mater postgame, Overton slipped onto the field dressed as a groundskeeper with the flowers tucked behind him.

As Lowrie and her teammates took team photos, he piloted to the circle, and the P.A. announcer came on for “one more thing,” and told her to turn around.

Coach Kenny Gajewski, teammates and roommates, and both families knew for about eight days. Lowrie was the only one. And that mattered.

“Our job is very little softball,” Gajewski said. “When you commit these kids, when we commit to them and they commit to us, I tell all of them, ‘It’s not a two-year or a four-year deal. It’s a lifetime deal.'”

Former pitcher Shea Coates got married over the summer, and Gajewski and some of the players were there. He said more are to come.

Even when talking about the game, Robertson talked about the “family” that OSU softball has given her. Now Lowrie and Overton have given OSU softball a family.

“Any spectrum of our life, our family was here tonight,” Lowrie said.