Gajewski, Cowgirls Head West For Mary Nutter

Thursday, February 22

Palm Springs, CA

5 P.M. CT

Oklahoma State University

Wisconsin

Photo by: Charles Taylor

February 20, 2018 | Cowgirl Softball

PDF Notes

STILLWATER - The Oklahoma State softball team looks to build on an impressive 8-2 start to the year. The Cowgirls will attempt to do so this weekend when they head to Palm Springs, California, to compete in the 2018 Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. OSU will face off with five more of the nation's top teams, beginning with Wisconsin on Thursday. After taking on the Badgers, the squad will face Oregon State, No. 3 Oregon, Mississippi State and UC Davis on Friday and Saturday.

In the Rankings
   Oklahoma State is ranked No. 16 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 and No. 18 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll, climbing one spot in the coaches poll and falling one in the USA Softball Top 25. It is an impressive achievement for the Cowgirls, who are now ranked inside the top 15 for the second consecutive week.
   This is the fourth straight week that the Cowgirls have been ranked in one of the national polls, 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 Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic
   Oklahoma State has competed in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic - or the previously-titled Cathedral City Classic - in each of the past eight seasons, and finding a mixed bag of results along the way. In 2010, OSU went 4-1 at the tournament, suffering its only loss to top-ranked Washington. The Cowgirls would again post winning records at the Palm Springs, California-based tournament in two of the next four seasons.
   During head coach Kenny Gajewski's tenure, the Cowgirls have gone 4-6 at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, although this year's group is coming off a 3-2 showing at last year's event.

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 teams 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 33 of its 54 neutral-site invitational games during Kenny Gajewski's two-year tenure as head coach.
- OSU is 30-16 in games decided by two runs or less since the start of the 2016 season.
- OSU has committed just 20 errors over its last 36 games dating back to April 7, 2017. The Cowgirls did not commit an error during the final six games of last season and only three times during the 36-game stretch have they committed more than one error in a game.
- The Pokes' 4-1 performance in Arizona and California to open the season means that OSU is off to its best start since 2011, when the Cowgirls also opened the year at 8-2.
- Vanessa Shippy has started 183 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 131 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.
- Vanessa Shippy has tallied 164 hits to only 41 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 30 hits over her last 24 games played.
- Sydney Pennington has driven in at least one run in eight of her last nine games played, including a stretch of seven consecutive games with an RBI.
- Madi Sue Montgomery has driven in at least one run in seven of her last nine games, and has done so in each of the past four games.
- After a slow start to the year, Taylor Lynch has posted back-to-back multiple hit games and walked once.
- Emmie Robertson has struck out at least four batters in four of her five appearances this year, including a team-best nine against Oakland on Feb. 18.
- Logan Simunek has not allowed a run in five appearances this season, four of which came last weekend.