Tournament Notes: Cowgirls Set for Michele Smith Invitational

Friday, February 16

Clearwater, FL

10 A.M. CT

Oklahoma State University

Tennessee

Photo by: OSU Athletics

Tournament Notes: Cowgirls Set for Michele Smith Invitational

February 14, 2018 | Cowgirl Softball

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Tournament Site

STILLWATER – The Oklahoma State softball team continues its season looking to build on a 4-1 start as the Cowgirls head to Clearwater, Florida, to take part in the 2018 Michele Smith Pediatric Cancer Foundation Invitational. OSU will face five more of the nation's best teams this weekend, starting with Friday matchups against No. 10/10 Tennessee and Florida Atlantic. The squad will then take on Missouri, South Florida and Oakland over the weekend.

In the Rankings
Oklahoma State is ranked No. 15 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 and No. 19 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll, climbing six spots and five spots, respectively. It is an impressive jump for the Cowgirls, who are now ranked inside the top 15 since checking in at No. 14 at the end of the 2010 season.
OSU's six-spot improvement in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 was the second-best gain for any program slotted in the preseason rankings, as Georgia's move from No. 25 to No. 17 is the only bigger jump. This is the third straight week that the Cowgirls have been ranked, dating back to holding down the No. 25 slot in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 in last year's end-of-season rankings.

OSU at the Michele Smith Pediatric Cancer Foundation Invitational
Oklahoma State has competed in the Michele Smith Pediatric Cancer Foundation Invitational during both of head coach Kenny Gajewski's years in charge. The tournament is hosted by none other than Michele Smith, who was a two-time All-American pitcher at Oklahoma State from 1986-89.
During their two trips to Clearwater under Gajewski, OSU has gone 4-6, with one of those wins being a 12-3 victory over hosts South Florida in 2016. Oklahoma State's record at the Michele Smith Invitational is not necessarily indicative of what's to come this weekend, as OSU wasn't coming off a 4-1 weekend in either trip to Clearwater like this season's group of Cowgirls are.

Oklahoma State From a Distance
Oklahoma State enters the 2018 season with a genuine buzz surrounding the program. Much of that has to do with a highly-successful first two years under head coach Kenny Gajewski, as well as a large crop of returning and new talent among the squad this season.
OSU was one of the best team's in the nation at getting on base last season, doing so at a .396 clip. That trend figures to remain a fixture of the team's success in 2018, as much of last year's core returns in this season's lineup. Senior Vanessa Shippy, who owns OSU's career on-base percentage record (.502), will lead the line once again as she looks to cement her place among the all-time great Cowgirls.
Along with Shippy, Oklahoma State's lineup will feature stars like Taylor Lynch, Madi Sue Montgomery, Randee O'Donnell and a host of other top-notch competitors. Among the 13 returners this year, OSU brings more than 75 percent of its total number of at-bats from a season ago (1,219-1,592 AB). That percentage grows when you look strictly at the number of hits that still reside in Stillwater from a season ago (77 pct./355-458 H).
The Cowgirl defense and pitching staff also looks to be improved in 2018. With seven of the eight every-day position starters returning to the field this year, along with a revamped pitching staff, OSU looks like a squad that will be able to keep the opposition's bats in check. This year's group of pitchers is made up of three transfers - Samantha Clakley, Emmie Robertson and Kendal Judge - as well as two returners - Logan Simunek and Whitney Whitehorn.

Notable Streaks and Trends Entering the Tournament
- Oklahoma State has won 29 of its 49 neutral-site invitational games during Kenny Gajewski's two-year tenure as head coach.
-  OSU is 28-16 in games decided by two runs or less since the start of the 2016 season.
-  OSU has committed just 17 errors over its last 31 games dating back to April 7, 2017. The Cowgirls did not commit an error during the final six games of last season and only twice during the 31-game stretch have they committed more than one error in a game.
-  The Pokes' 4-1 performance in Arizona last week means that the Cowgirls have finished with a .500-or-above record in its first invitational tournament in 10 of the past 12 seasons, dating back to 2007. That includes a 3-1 mark during the 2009 Kajikawa Classic and a 4-1 mark at the Arizona-based tournament in 2011.
-  Five Cowgirls - Rylee Bayless, Jessi Haffner, Maddi Holcomb, Sydney Pennington and Vanessa Shippy - have reached base in all five games so far this season.
-  Three of those - Haffner, Holcomb and Shippy - have logged at least one hit in each of the Cowgirls' five games thus far.
-  Vanessa Shippy has reached base in 12 straight games dating back to the Cowgirls' win over Iowa State on May 12, 2017 in the Big 12 Championship tournament.
-  Vanessa Shippy has started 178 consecutive games. She has started every possible game during her Oklahoma State career thus far, and has played every position but pitcher in a live game.
-  Madi Sue Montgomery has started 126 consecutive games entering this season. Like Shippy, she has started every possible contest during her OSU career. Last season, she was one of three Cowgirls to start a record-setting 63 games, doing so despite offseason knee surgery that forced her to miss the entire fall season.
-  Rylee Bayless has started 68 consecutive games at Oklahoma State - the third-longest active streak among the Cowgirls to start the season.
-  Vanessa Shippy has tallied 159 hits to only 40 strikeouts since Gajewski became head coach at OSU.
-  Rylee Bayless has drawn at least one walk in 16 of her last 22 games.
-  Vanessa Shippy has recorded 25 hits over her last 19 games played.