Team Effort: Four Cowgirls Lead the Way as Almost Entire Squad Gets a Piece of Eastern Illinois in Run-Rule Win

STILLWATER — Junior Karli Godwin entered the weekend hitting exactly .500 in each of her last three games. She made those numbers look ice cold on Friday starting with the very first pitch which she sent well over the fence for a total distance of 276 feet.

“It was freaking awesome. … Just it being the first pitch, you’re like yeah we got this in the bag,” Oklahoma State senior Amanda Hasler said. “It was insane to watch.”

Regardless of which quote you pick, Hasler pretty much summed up Oklahoma State’s 16-0 five inning run-rule win over Eastern Illinois in the opening round of the Stillwater Regional.

Godwin went 3-for-3 at the plate with a walk and finished with four runs scored and one RBI and kicked off a particularly dominant foursome as the junior and the three players following her in the lineup (Rosie Davis, Lexi McDonald and Amanda Hasler) combined to finish with 11 of the team’s 17 hits, 7-of-13 RBIs and 4-of-6 walks.

Within moments of congratulating Godwin for her early home run, Davis doubled right to center field and finished 3-of-4 at the plate with three runs scored and one RBI.

McDonald walked after fighting through eight pitches. She doubled twice and walked twice en route to four runs scored and two RBIs.

Of the four, Hasler had to wait the longest to record a hit, but she made the most of it, securing her 13th home run of the season in the second inning. She matched Godwin, going 3-for-3 with one walk to go along with two runs scored and a game-high three RBIs.

“I remember it being so loud,” Hasler said, recalling her visit during OSU’s 2024 home Super Regional against Arizona. “And I was like, I want to play under that, like I want to play on the field and hear that surrounding me. And I feel like that’s what I felt today, especially, you know, in the dugout, in the first inning, I was like, wow, like, this is this is a different environment, and it’s just so exciting to be in.”

While those four stole the headlines, pretty much every Cowgirl who picked up a bat performed well as 10-of-14 Cowgirls who stepped up to the plate recorded a hit while eight of them finished with an RBI.

A lot of extra players got to see game action on Friday, but perhaps none as significant as pitcher RyLee Crandall, who replaced ace pitcher Ruby Meylan after only two innings and 44 thrown pitches.

“We love seeing RyLee out there,” McDonald said. “Like we told her one time, ‘we don’t want to see anyone else succeed more than we want to see you succeed.’ And I feel that way about her. So, seeing her succeed just like makes my heart smile, and I love it. And we love it for her, and just seeing everyone succeed has been awesome, and we just love each other.

“Like, generally, I don’t think I’ve ever been on a team that loves each other more than we do. So, it’s really cool getting to see everybody succeed.”

Considering the Cowgirls will need Meylan at her best not just once, but almost certainly twice against Stanford, getting her out of Friday’s game early was a huge win for the team’s chances this weekend.

Gajewski actually thought his ace looked a little rusty after she walked one player and struck out three of the seven batters she faced.

“She needed to throw in this first game,” he said. “And like I said, she’s just, too many pitches, too many full counts. … I think she wants and she feels like she wants to have the weight of the world on her. She doesn’t have to. These guys are good. We’re gonna score runs.”

Crandall held things down, limiting Eastern Illinois to three hits while striking out two of the 12 batters she faced. Her season-long ERA currently sits at 5.47 and increased in four of her last six games ahead of Friday’s game.

“She looked like a different kid here today, that’s all I’m gonna go off of,” Gajewski said. “Like I’ve been telling her the whole time, like I tell all these kids, that you can have the greatest year up to this point, and you know, if you don’t finish good, you’re going to remember that part right now. As you get older, you can appreciate the season and all that kind of stuff, but we tend to remember the end, so it’s cool to see that, and it should give her some confidence.”

Up Next

Oklahoma State advances to play Stanford at noon on Saturday in Cowgirl Stadium. The winner of that game advances to Sunday’s Regional final. The loser would play again at 5 p.m. Saturday against the winner of Eastern Illinois and Princeton.

OSU and Stanford met twice at the start of this season at the Stanford Invitational. The Cardinal won both of those games.

Kenny Gajewski News Conference