‘We Can Win Right Here’: Gajewski Says He’s More Concerned with NIL, Winning than New Stadium

STILLWATER — The Cowgirls are Women’s College World Series bound for the fourth straight season, and among the eight teams participating in the event this weekend, the Cowgirls have the smallest listed stadium capacity.

Oklahoma State will head to the mecca of softball — Hall of Fame Stadium — this week. It has a capacity of 13,000. Of the eight teams playing this weekend, only Oklahoma State has a listed capacity at its home stadium below 1,000.

“I don’t let it bother me,” Gajewksi said. “I don’t even think about it. I’m more concerned about NIL to be able to continue to be able to get the best players here. Period. That’s what I’m concerned with because that’s what I’m up against right down the road. The winning, NIL, that’s my concern. What I know is that if I can help this program keep winning, it’ll force Chad (Weiberg) to have to do something. That’s all I know. That’s my only thing. I’m not mad. I don’t go to bed at night upset. I want to keep paying my staff to keep them here. I want to keep getting the best players here. We need to improve our stuff, but we can win right here. We’ve proven that.”

Oklahoma State has done things to combat the demand for softball tickets in recent seasons, whether it be adding decks beyond the fences or even a set of bleachers in right field. That led to Cowgirl Stadium hosting a record 1,753 in attendance during OSU’s May 6 matchup against Oklahoma.

And there have been plans set out for a new stadium. As part of OSU’s Vision Plan, a new softball stadium that looks to be on par with O’Brate Stadium has been laid out. Myriad athletic programs are set to get upgrades through the Vision Plan, and OSU athletic director Chad Weiberg said in February that the order of those upgrades is going to be determined by the donors.

“It’s is not really even on my mind, to be honest,” Gajewski said. “So many things have to happen to get a new stadium. Everybody gets excited because they put a drawing out, and for a quick moment, I got like, ‘Oh crap, this is gonna happen.’ Then I went to sleep and I woke up, and I said, ‘Well, I’m still fat and losing hair and we have no money raised.’ That’s what it is.”