Cowgirls Set To Begin Gainesville Regional

Postseason Guide

THE BASICS
Oklahoma State Softball and second-year head coach Kenny Gajewski return to action this weekend when it travels to Florida for the Gainesville Regional. The Cowgirls are set to face Florida International Friday at 11:00 a.m. (CT) on ESPNU in the opening game.

FOLLOWING THE ACTION
Cowgirl fans can catch Friday's game on ESPNU at 11:00 a.m. CT time. Live stats will be on okstate.com while in-game updates will be on Twitter (@CowgirlSB).

OKLAHOMA STATE SNAPSHOT
Oklahoma State comes into the weekend coming off a 2-1 week with wins over Baylor and Iowa State as OSU made its way to the Big 12 Tournament Championship before falling to the Sooners, 2-0. Maddi Holcomb led the way at the plate for the Cowgirls going 5-for-8 with two RBIs on her way to a .625 batting average and .625 on-base percentage. As a staff, the Oklahoma State pitchers couldn't have asked for a much better week. Shea Coats and Brandi Needham combined for a 1.17 ERA while allowing just 14 hits and held teams to a .215 opposing batting average.

For the second-consecutive year, Oklahoma State softball set a program record on its way to leading the Big 12 in All-Academic team selections, the league office announced two weeks ago. The 11 first-team selections set an OSU record for first-team, while the 12 overall broke the previous record of 10 set last year. Vanessa Shippy was one of just five student athletes from across the Big 12 to achieve the coveted 4.0 GPA. In his first two years at Oklahoma State, putting an emphasis on the classroom, Kenny Gajewski has helped lead the Cowgirls to 22 Academic All-Big 12 selections. Of the 22, 18 were named to the first-team. Kristin Reasnor and Shippy were also named CoSIDA Academic All-Region players, as well.

Head coach Kenny Gajewski and assistant Stacie Pestrak are familiar with the Florida Regional as the pair coached under Tim Walton before coming to Stillwater. Pestrak played for the Gators. With Walton, the pair helped lead Florida to an SEC Championship in 2013 and WCWS Championship in 2015. The duo was part of the Florida staff in 2015 which was named the NFCA National Coaching Staff of the Year.

Vanessa Shippy has once again shown why she is one of the best players in not only the Big 12, but the nation this year. Shippy is one of just 11 players from across the country to be a member of the 40-40-40 club this year (Runs, RBI and Walks). On the year she's batting .396 on 67 hits with 44 RBI. Shippy has been a key component to the Cowgirl defense as she has played six different positions this season (outfield, first, SS and catcher) while maintaining a .956 fielding percentage.

Over the past 10 games, OSU has four players (Madi Sue Montgomery, Maddi Holcomb, Vanessa Shippy and Jessi Haffner) batting .300 or better. Montgomery has led the way with a .367 batting average on an 11-for-30 performance with two doubles. Over the stretch Randee O'Donnell, Shippy and Rylee Bayless have a team high four RBIs. As a team OSU has drawn 29 walks to help lead to a .342 on-base percentage. In comparison, OSU pitchers have only walked 10 batters during the 10 games.

It doesn't matter who or how but Oklahoma State batters are getting on base this year. The Cowgirls check in with the 18th-best on-base percentage in the country through 58 games. Getting on base is extremely important to head coach Kenny
Gajewski as he knows the pressure it puts on the opposing defense and pitcher, so he's less concerned with how they do so. Whether it be hits (.297 batting average), walks (230, which leads the conference) or hit by pitches (42), the Cowgirls are
finding their way on base which has led to 303 runs on the year, the second most in the Big 12.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: FLORIDA, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL & FLORIDA A&M

Florida
2017: Comes into the weekend with an impressive 50-6 record, including a 24-2 mark at home. For their success this season, the Gators were rewarded as the No. 1 overall seed in the postseason tournament. The Gators did not face a Big 12 team this year. The Gators are led at the plate by Kayli Kvistad with a .388 batting average on 54 hits and 47 RBI. Kelly Barnhill has led the charge in the circle with a 22-1 record and 0.33 ERA in 148.2 innings of work.

Florida International
2017: Comes into the weekend with a 45-13 record, including a 14-5 record in neutral site games. The Panthers are 1-0 against the Big 12 this year with a 4-3 win over Kansas on Mar. 4 in Orlando, Fla. Jackie Schoff is batting .442 on the year with
68 hits and 9 RBI. Shannon Saile has led the way in the circle going 19-9 with a 1.38 ERA.

Florida A&M
2017: Comes into the weekend with a 18-29-1 record on the year, including 1-16-1 in neutral games. FAMU won the MEAC tournament over Bethune-Cookman to secure its automatic bid into the postseason. Alexis Davis has led the way at the plategoing .341 on 47 hits.

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Players Mentioned

Rylee Bayless

Shea Coats

Jessi Haffner

Maddi Holcomb

Madi Sue Montgomery

Brandi Needham

Randee O'Donnell

Kristin Reasnor

Vanessa Shippy

Oklahoma State University Athletics