Oklahoma State University Athletics
Photo by: OSU Athletics
Cowgirls Rout Riverhawks in Fall Home Opener
October 03, 2018 | Cowgirl Softball
STILLWATER – The Oklahoma State softball team earned its second win of the fall season Wednesday, cruising to a 16-1 victory over Northeastern State in its first competitive action at Cowgirl Stadium this year.
Twelve different Cowgirls recorded base hits, with four tallying multi-hit games, in OSU's offensive outpouring against the Riverhawks Wednesday.
"The kid that we faced was pretty tough, but it was a good job by our team taking advantage of their errors," head coach Kenny Gajewski said. "Overall, I thought we pitched well and had some really good at-bats as the game went on. It was exciting to see these young kids continue to come up with big at-bats and make some really nice plays.
The Cowgirls, holding a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning, busted the game open with a trio of two-out home runs from Samantha Show, Elise LeBeouf and Sydney Pennington.
Show's blast was a two-run shot that she skied over the left-field wall to make it a 5-0 ballgame. LeBeouf and Pennington followed the senior's efforts by hitting back-to-back home runs, with the former hitting a two-run blast to straightaway center and the latter a moonshot that cleared the left-field fence.
All three Cowgirls also hit home runs against Wichita State in OSU's fall opener last Thursday.
The Pokes continued to roll with two outs in the fifth inning, as freshman Taylor Tuck blasted a double off the top of the wall in center field after Pennington's solo blast. Tuck's fellow freshman, Mady Lohman, drove her home immediately with a double that rolled to the wall in left center, marking the fourth-straight OSU batter to record an extra-base hit in the fifth inning.
OSU logged six total runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, all of them coming with two outs, and took a 9-0 lead into the second half of Thursday's game. The Cowgirls also put up a six-spot in the home half of the seventh inning.
"The first thing I told our team was that in our first couple of years that was us on the other side," Gajewski said of the rally. "We would make an error or a play that we could've made or should've made - then the flood gates open. Our talent has gone up since then and we're making more plays. Now we are on the other side and that's what I'm mostly excited about."
Three Oklahoma State pitchers combined to limit Northeastern State to just one run across 10 innings of work Wednesday, with Samantha Clakley's four innings of shutout work anchoring the standout performances in the circle.
Clakley struck out three Riverhawks and faced just three over the minimum during her four-inning fall debut and earned the victory in process. Freshman Kelly Maxwell followed Clakley with four strikeouts in three innings of work, and then junior Logan Simunek shut the door, striking out the first five batters she faced and allowing no runs over the final three frames.
"I thought Sam was really good, and I thought Kelly was good in her first two innings and then kind of hit a wall," Gajewski said. "For her, it was just good to get out there and experience the adrenaline of her first time pitching at home. I thought Logan did really well like she always does. She's just really tough."
Oklahoma State will continue its fall season this Sunday when the Cowgirls host a doubleheader against Arkansas. Both halves of the doubleheader will be seven-inning contests, with first pitch at Cowgirl Stadium set for 1 p.m.
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Oklahoma State is proud to celebrate more than 40 years of rich softball tradition and its 20th season of play at Cowgirl Stadium this year. To renew or purchase your season tickets for the 2019 campaign, visit okstate.com/tickets or call the OSU ticket office at 877-ALL-4-OSU.
Twelve different Cowgirls recorded base hits, with four tallying multi-hit games, in OSU's offensive outpouring against the Riverhawks Wednesday.
"The kid that we faced was pretty tough, but it was a good job by our team taking advantage of their errors," head coach Kenny Gajewski said. "Overall, I thought we pitched well and had some really good at-bats as the game went on. It was exciting to see these young kids continue to come up with big at-bats and make some really nice plays.
The Cowgirls, holding a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning, busted the game open with a trio of two-out home runs from Samantha Show, Elise LeBeouf and Sydney Pennington.
Show's blast was a two-run shot that she skied over the left-field wall to make it a 5-0 ballgame. LeBeouf and Pennington followed the senior's efforts by hitting back-to-back home runs, with the former hitting a two-run blast to straightaway center and the latter a moonshot that cleared the left-field fence.
All three Cowgirls also hit home runs against Wichita State in OSU's fall opener last Thursday.
The Pokes continued to roll with two outs in the fifth inning, as freshman Taylor Tuck blasted a double off the top of the wall in center field after Pennington's solo blast. Tuck's fellow freshman, Mady Lohman, drove her home immediately with a double that rolled to the wall in left center, marking the fourth-straight OSU batter to record an extra-base hit in the fifth inning.
OSU logged six total runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, all of them coming with two outs, and took a 9-0 lead into the second half of Thursday's game. The Cowgirls also put up a six-spot in the home half of the seventh inning.
"The first thing I told our team was that in our first couple of years that was us on the other side," Gajewski said of the rally. "We would make an error or a play that we could've made or should've made - then the flood gates open. Our talent has gone up since then and we're making more plays. Now we are on the other side and that's what I'm mostly excited about."
Three Oklahoma State pitchers combined to limit Northeastern State to just one run across 10 innings of work Wednesday, with Samantha Clakley's four innings of shutout work anchoring the standout performances in the circle.
Clakley struck out three Riverhawks and faced just three over the minimum during her four-inning fall debut and earned the victory in process. Freshman Kelly Maxwell followed Clakley with four strikeouts in three innings of work, and then junior Logan Simunek shut the door, striking out the first five batters she faced and allowing no runs over the final three frames.
"I thought Sam was really good, and I thought Kelly was good in her first two innings and then kind of hit a wall," Gajewski said. "For her, it was just good to get out there and experience the adrenaline of her first time pitching at home. I thought Logan did really well like she always does. She's just really tough."
Oklahoma State will continue its fall season this Sunday when the Cowgirls host a doubleheader against Arkansas. Both halves of the doubleheader will be seven-inning contests, with first pitch at Cowgirl Stadium set for 1 p.m.
----
Oklahoma State is proud to celebrate more than 40 years of rich softball tradition and its 20th season of play at Cowgirl Stadium this year. To renew or purchase your season tickets for the 2019 campaign, visit okstate.com/tickets or call the OSU ticket office at 877-ALL-4-OSU.
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