Cowgirls Split Opening Day In Houston

Saturday, March 19

Houston, TX

4:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

12-12

Houston

12-11

Oklahoma State

Houston

March 19, 2016 | Cowgirl Softball

Box Score

Houston, Texas ---- Oklahoma State softball scored 12 runs in the second game to split the opening day against Houston at Cougar Softball Stadium on Saturday.

The Cowgirls blasted three home runs on the day on their way to outscoring Houston 21-13 between the two games. The 12 runs in the second game tied a team-season high for runs scored in a game.

The first game saw Tiffany Mikkelson break the Oklahoma State career-walks record with her second walk of the day. She finished with four between the two games to bring her total to 101.

Late in the game, Taylor Lynch's two-run home run gave the Cowgirls a 9-6 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth. Houston found a way to tie the game in the bottom half of the inning and both teams went scoreless in the seventh to force extra innings. Houston eventually scored in the bottom of the eigth inning to take the first game 10-9.

After dropping the first game of the series, Oklahoma State responded as well as it could have hoped for in the second game of the day.

"I think it says a lot about our team," Coach Kenny Gajewski said. "I was really down after our first game and I told our team we've got to find a way to come back here and win this game. We've got to let this one go. We didn't play as well as we could have, we kind of let one go. But I think the sign of a good team and program is one that can put the last game behind you win or lose and come out and play that next game."

The Cowgirls found themselves trailing after the first inning the second game, but quickly responded when Maddie Sue Montgomery scored on a double steal.

Mikkelson's sacrifice fly in the top of the third tied the game once more at two. The Cowgirls wouldn't look back from there.

Oklahoma State scored two in the fourth and three in the sixth inning to take a 7-2 lead into the final inning. Darcy Taylor's home run in the top of the seventh paved the way for the five
runs in the final inning to seal the win for the Cowgirls.

Shea Coats went six innings, giving up just three runs and struck out six Cougars on the way to hour third victory of the season.

"We were just trying to put the first game behind us," Coats said. "And just go out and shut them down and work from there everything just came behind us."

Lynch led the way for the Cowgirls at the plate in the second game, finishing two-for-four with two RBIs. In the circle, Coates moved to 3-1 on the season.

"We battled," Gajewski said. "We pitched well, caught well and had great at bats (in the second game)."
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Up Next: Oklahoma State looks to win the series against Houston with the final game of the series on Mar. 20 at noon.