Cowgirls Pitch Pair of Complete-Game Shutouts

Friday, March 9

Oklahoma City, OK

4 P.M. CT

Oklahoma State University

15-6

Purdue

3-17

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Purdue	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1
Oklahoma State	4	0	1	0	1	1	X	7	5	0

March 09, 2018 | Cowgirl Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

PDF Box Score - Purdue
PDF Box Score - Drake

OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 24 Oklahoma State softball team won both of its opening matchups of the OSU Hall of Fame Classic on Friday, besting Purdue, 7-0, and Drake, 2-0, at the ASA Hall of Fame Complex.

Oklahoma State (16-6) is now riding a seven-game win streak following Friday's doubleheader sweep.

"Yeah, I thought the pitching was obviously really good," head coach Kenny Gajewski said. "Any time you can go back-to-back shutout games, that's what it's all about. It takes the pressure off of our offense. Emmie [Robertson] and Sam [Clakley] both were really good. It was good to see. The second game, the kids we just faced were as good as we've seen all year long. I knew it was going to be a grind. But this team was better than I thought. After we struck out the first five kids, we made adjustments. The swings got shorter, easier and we started to barrel some balls. The pitching set the tone."

In the opener against Purdue, Oklahoma State again displayed its potent offense as the Cowgirls put up four runs in the first inning.

Vanessa Shippy reached base to open the game with a leadoff walk. She was followed by a Taylor Lynch single and Madi Sue Montgomery walk to load the bases. Jessi Haffner drove in the first run of the game two batters later with a groundout to third that scored Shippy.

Whitney Whitehorn followed Haffner with an impressive 10-pitch at-bat. Whitehorn turned on the 10th pitch, smoking a three-run home run over the fence in left field.

OSU tacked on three more runs over the next six innings, including one in the third thanks to Montgomery's solo home run to right center. It was her fifth home run of the season, which is tied for second with Sydney Pennington among the Cowgirls this season.

Emmie Robertson toed the rubber for the Cowgirls, pitching a complete-game shutout to improve to 6-3 on the year. Robertson allowed only three hits, walked just one and struck out seven. She leads the Cowgirls with 54.2 innings pitched and 47 strikeouts this season, while also holding a 2.30 earned run average.

Oklahoma State and Drake battled in a pitcher's duel throughout the first two-thirds of Friday's night cap. The Cowgirls' finally cracked open the scoring in the fifth inning when Maddi Holcomb doubled down the left-field line with two outs, scoring both the pinch-running Brighton Gilbert and Chelsea Alexander.

"I felt pretty confident," Holcomb said. "They kept throwing me out, and I kept fouling them off. Coach G was telling me to slow down. And I told myself to slow down and barrel it up. I shortened my swing and was just trying to put it in play."

In the circle, Samantha Clakley had some ups and downs, but continuously put zeroes on the board. She pitched her fourth complete game of the year, allowing no runs and striking out three.

The Cowgirls will be back in action tomorrow with matchups against Connecticut and Saint Francis at 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., respectively. Check back on okstate.com later on for a full recap of the day's action.