Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowgirl Softball Opens 2009 Season in Arizona
February 04, 2009 | Cowgirl Softball
After losing only two seniors off the 2008 squad, OSU returns 12 players, including eight starters. All the starters from the infield are returning including Alysia Hamilton, Mariah Gearhart, Jessica Meza and Heather Kim. The middle infield duo of Hamilton and Gearhart both earned second-team All-Big 12 honors as freshmen as well as a selection for Hamilton to the All-Region team. Hamilton led the team with her .344 batting average and Gearhart was second with a .331 clip.
Also returning are outfielders Breana Casaus, Megan Castle and Katelyn Bright as well as catcher Ashley Boyd. Senior Casaus and junior Bright both started all 51 games last season for the Cowgirls compiling 97 hits between them, including a team-high 11 doubles for Bright. Castle, who was named first-team Academic All-Big 12 and ESPN the Magazine Academic all-district second-team, totaled 39 hits including two home runs, six doubles and one triple.
Boyd returns behind the plate with returning pitchers Anna Whiddon and Sarah Odom. Whiddon finished 2008 with a 10-9 record, a 2.02 earned run average, nine complete games and 117 strikeouts.
The Cowgirls will fill out the roster with two transfers and five freshmen. Alex Villalobos, a right-handed pitcher, transferred to Oklahoma State after playing one season at Central Arizona College where she finished with a 26-7 record, a 1.53 ERA and 181 strikeouts. Taylor Marcum transferred at the beginning of the semester from Baylor where she played in 21 games last season for the Bears. She compiled six hits in 21 at-bats and four RBIs.
Among the freshmen are outfielder Kelsey Anchors from Washington state and first-baseman Julie Ward from California. Anchors played in six games in the fall for the Cowgirls and had at eight hits including two doubles and a triple. Ward started five games in the fall and had six hits including two doubles and two triples.
Three native Oklahomans will be joining the Cowgirls, including Sentinel teammates Tamara Brown and Sammy Jo Diffendaffer, and Chelsea Garcia from Moore. Garcia was a part of the Class 6A State Championship team in 2005 and 2007 and played all eight games as an infielder in the fall season for the Cowgirls. She led the team with a .619 batting average including 13 hits, 11 RBI's and five triples.
Oklahoma State will kick off the weekend on Friday against No. 11 Stanford at 1 p.m. (CST) and will play Western Michigan at 6:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Cowgirls will face McNeese State at noon and Central Florida at 2:30 p.m. The Cowgirls will wrap up the weekend on Sunday against ninth-ranked Northwestern at 11 a.m.
