Cowgirls Fall to No. 5 Oregon, Mississippi State at Nutter Classic

Friday, February 23

Palm Springs, CA

12 P.M. CT

Oklahoma State University

9-2

Oregon

10-1

Oklahoma State

Oregon

Cowgirls Fall to No. 5 Oregon, Mississippi State at Nutter Classic

February 23, 2018 | Cowgirl Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. – The Oklahoma State softball team dropped both of its matchups at the 2018 Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic on Friday, falling to No. 5/2 Oregon, 4-1, and Mississippi State, 9-4.

It is the first time this season that OSU (9-5) has dropped both games of a doubleheader during invitational play.

"It's a rough day when you lose two, but it's a part of the way that a season goes," head coach Kenny Gajewski said. "I thought in the first game against a very good Oregon team - a top-five team - we in that game until the very end. Oregon did what good teams do though and kept chipping away and finally got a big hit that put the game away, but I was happy with the way we played and battled.

"As far as the second game, we just didn't play well. It was one of the worst games that we've played in my time here and that's part of the way a season goes. We'll talk about it as a group and figure out ways that we can improve."

The Cowgirls opened Friday with a solid showing against the fifth-ranked Oregon Ducks.

Emmie Robertson set down the first five batters she faced, but a two-out solo home run broke open the game's scoring. OSU answered the solo shot with a run of its own in the fourth inning.

Taylor Lynch started the Cowgirls' run-scoring sequence, as she recorded her second single of the game. Taylor Pence came in to pinch run for her and immediately found herself on second base after a wild pitch.

Pence took third on another wild pitch and a throwing error by the catcher gave her the window she needed to scurry home and tie the game. OSU's run snapped Oregon's streak of 40.1 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.

The Cowgirls kept it tight with the Ducks, but Oregon squeaked three more runs across home plate in the bottom of the fifth inning to secure its 4-1 victory.

In the second half of the doubleheader, OSU jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but Mississippi State handled the adversity well, scoring nine combined runs across the third, fourth and fifth innings to knock off OSU.

Vanessa Shippy, Taylor Lynch and Maddi Holcomb all logged two hits against Mississippi State. Coupled with her 2-for-3 showing against Oregon, Lynch finished Friday 4-for-6 at the plate with one run scored.

"We need her to hit and she's a kid who has hit for us every year," Gajewski said. "She's kind of starting to get her groove and we need her to be taking good at-bats. When she's doing that, we're going to score some runs and she's starting to do that."

Oklahoma State will wrap up its week at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic tomorrow morning against UC Davis. For more information on the Cowgirls, follow the team on Twitter (@CowgirlSB), Facebook (Cowgirl Softball) and Instagram (osusoftball).