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‘She’s Just A Dog’: Returning from Injury, Redshirt Freshman Madison Hoffman Has Provided the Cowgirl Offense with a Pinch-Hitting Spark

Since April 22, Hoffman is 5-for-8 (.625) at the plate with nine RBIs and four home runs.

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[Devin Wilber/PFB]

STILLWATER — Kenny Gajewski said he used to not take injured players on road trips, but he changed that protocol last season … for a true freshman.

Madison Hoffman tore her ACL last school year, meaning she missed her freshman year on the field, but late in her return season, Hoffman has been on a tear. Since OSU’s big win against Texas on April 22, Hoffman is 5-for-8 (.625) at the plate with nine RBIs and four home runs. Her only non-home run in that stretch was a triple.

“She’s an amazing kid — I don’t even know what else to say,” Gajewski said. “She’s a worker. We talk about Lexi McDonald being The Cowgirl Way, Madison Hoffman will take those reigns over. She’s right on Lexi right now. They’re great friends. I see (Hoffman) following (McDonald). When I start talking about (The Cowgirl Way) next, it’ll be about her.

“We used to not travel kids who were hurt. Last year, I was like, how could I not travel her? When we’re home, she’s doing everything right. When we’re home, she’s the best worker. She’s been the best worker this whole year. Starting to really open our eyes in practice, being more consistent. You saw flashes of brilliance, but it was a flash. Now it’s not a flash — she’s doing it.”

Gajewski said he tells his true freshmen to follow what Hoffman does.

And it’s not just the coaching staff that notices the extra work Hoffman puts in. Junior third baseman Rosie Davis said Hoffman hits early “every single day” and is always asking for advice. Davis called Hoffman “probably the best teammate I’ve also ever met.”

“She’s just a dog,” Davis said. “She’s always been a dog. She’s the hardest worker I’ve ever met. She outworks everyone by 100 miles. It’s so cool to just go out there and just see her execute and all the hard work pay off for her. There’s a lot more to come Hoffy. She’s amazing.”

Hoffman said her work ethic comes from her parents. She said at one point when she was young, it felt like her mom was dragging her to pitching lessons but around the fifth grade it flipped to where she was dragging her mom to the field.

She didn’t initially realize her ACL was torn when it happened in a practice last school year. The injury forced Hoffman, a noted hard worker, off the softball field for an extended period of time for the first time in her life.

But because of how she handles herself, Gajewski made it a point to bring her on the road trips regardless of the fact that she couldn’t contribute on the field. Heck, there were a few games last season that Gajewski had Hoffman as the Cowgirls’ first-base coach.

Her willingness to be a good teammate has continued now that she is able to contribute on the field.

“I always just tell myself as long as our team is winning, I really don’t care what I’m doing,” Hoffman said. “I just want to win really bad. Obviously being able to contribute on the field just makes it 10 times better. But just waiting my turn, our coaches always tell us the season is really long, so just trusting that my work is gonna pay off eventually, is just what goes through my mind.”

Hoffman has primarily been used as a pinch hitter of late, a spot that Gajewski said takes a special kind of person with a special mentality. Hoffman said pinch hitting can be stressful, but it’s been working.

When recalling her favorite moments of the season thus far, Hoffman noted that her home run against Texas was “pretty awesome.” Not only was it a big game, but it marked her first college home run and came in a win against the defending national champs.

Hoffman had a relatively quiet Baylor series that next weekend, stepping to the plate in every game, but going 0-for-1 with two walks drawn.

That next midweek game saw the Cowgirls host Tulsa, and Hoffman’s fingerprints were all over the Cowgirls’ 5-0 win. She hit a three-run home run in the fourth, an RBI triple in the sixth and scored in that sixth inning off an Aubrey Jones single. So, Hoffman drove in four runs and scored the other.

Then she took three at-bats against Kansas this past weekend. Two of those plate appearances ended with the ball over the fence.

“I believe that people get what they oughta get, and I’ll just leave it at that,” Gajewski said.

 

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