‘Why You’re Here’: Jayelle Austin Bounces Back from Fall Struggles, Earns Big 12 Honors After Monster Debut

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State freshman Jayelle Austin didn’t wait a moment to make her mark on the Cowgirls.

She hit a home run in her first game (against a ranked opponent), then followed that up with a grand slam two days later and finally capped her debut off by earning Big 12 Co-Freshman of the Week honors.

“Actually, I was at the car wash and I got a notification,” Austin said of the award. “I was like, let me check this out. And then I was like, ‘wow, that’s me,’ I was like that is very cool. Just to see that I’m here now, and I’m being on TV, and getting posted about. It’s something that I dreamed about, and it’s crazy that is happening right now.”

Austin finished the weekend with five hits, four runs and seven RBIs while hitting one double and two home runs in only 13 at-bats.

She played so well through three games, the coaches moved her up into the leadoff spot for the final two games of opening weekend, a spot coach Kenny Gajewski said the team debated putting her at initially despite her youth.

“Stanford game (opener) is going to be interesting, opening up a new stadium, really good team, first day of the year,” Gajewski said. “Like, do we really want to put that on her? So we didn’t, we moved her down, and then she just went crazy. And we finally just said, ‘screw it, let’s move her up.’ That’s where we want her to be.”

Speaking of that new stadium, Austin’s homer in the sixth inning of her first collegiate game will now be memorialized as the first home run in Stanford’s new park. It also cut the Cardinal’s lead down to one, giving the Cowgirls the chance for a late comeback that didn’t quite come together in a 4-2 loss.

While that was certainly one of many highlight moments from Austin, her coach didn’t need to see that ball leave the park to be impressed with his freshman.

“She didn’t get a hit in her first at-bat, but she took the best at-bat,” Gajewski said. “I think, a seven or eight-pitch at bat, and we weren’t, none of our at-bats up into her were any good. Her and Jayden (Jones) both took the best at-bats, and it just parlayed for her into the weekend.

“I think she had a couple strikeouts throughout the weekend, maybe four, and probably three of those were balls that were off the play that a freshman has got to learn how to let those be and, you know, not getting too jumpy and so. But she’s a kid that we think can be at the top for a long time.”

Not that this weekend was the first time the Cowgirls coach envisioned Austin making this kind of impact for Oklahoma State (3-2). When fall practice began, he thought Austin had the potential to be a leadoff hitter for the team throughout her career.

“What I love at the top is somebody that has some power because you can be 1-0 just like that, or they can double and get things going right, and we can run some offense and do some things,” Gajewski said.

When the Cowgirls began actually playing games during the fall, the freshman struggled a bit.

“It kind of went south,” Gajewski said. “And I was like, oh, we may have to kind of baby her into this. And since we’ve been back from Christmas, she’s been really good. Like, it’s almost like she went home, caught her breath, remembered that she’s really good, and she came back here and was, like, locked in and, like, really good.”

Austin more or less said the exact same thing when she spoke to reporters, even bringing up the fall struggles herself when discussing her expectations ahead of last weekend.

“I also think that the fall prepared me, like a lot for this,” Austin said. “Like I went through a whole lot of downs in the fall. … And I was well, not used to it, but I was prepared for what could happen. And I was like, you’ve been through it, so you’ve got it.”

Gajewski didn’t hear any of this directly, but he wasn’t surprised Austin bounced back from adversity so quickly. Afterall, she played on an elite travel team and her time as a multi-sport athlete at Owasso prepared her.

“So when you’ve been in those spots (where people count on you) like that, I think you know how to weather the storm at times,” Gajewski said. “I think there were some tough moments here in the fall. I think there was some questioning, maybe the first time, if I’m good enough.

“And we just kept trying to assure her, reassure her that she’s plenty good enough. That’s why you’re here.”