Game Notes: Bedlam Set to Cap Cowgirls' Regular Season

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STILLWATER – The Big 12 championship is on the line this weekend for the No. 22 Oklahoma State softball team. To earn the program's first conference title since 1995, the Cowgirls will have to sweep their Bedlam rivals - No. 3/3 Oklahoma - for the first time since 1993.

OSU is coming off a 2-2 weekend on the west coast, where the Cowgirls were bested twice by No. 1/1 UCLA. Despite the losses, the Cowgirls showed that they can still go head-to-head with the best teams in the country and keep things interesting.

In the Rankings
Oklahoma State is receiving votes in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll and No. 22 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 this week. It is the 10th time this season that OSU has been ranked in at least one of the national polls, with the Cowgirls peaking as high as No. 15 on February 13.

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 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).

Notable Streaks and Trends
- OSU is 35-22 in games decided by two runs or less since the start of the 2016 season.
-  Vanessa Shippy has started 225 consecutive games.
-  Madi Sue Montgomery has started 173 consecutive games.
-  Vanessa Shippy has tallied 214 hits to only 53 strikeouts since Gajewski became head coach at OSU.
-  Vanessa Shippy has recorded 80 hits over her last 66 games played.
-  Samantha Clakley has not walked more than two batters in her last 25 appearances.
-  Taylor Lynch has logged at least one hit in 43 of 52 games played this season.
-  Maddi Holcomb has logged at least one hit in 32 of her last 45 games.
-  Madi Sue Montgomery has driven in multiple runs on 15 occasions this season, including a career-high six in Oklahoma State's run-rule win over No. 16 Baylor on April 13.
-  Madi Sue Montgomery has logged 60 hits in 2018, with 28 of those resulting in extra bases.
-  Sydney Pennington has recorded at least one hit in 38 of her 52 games played thus far and has driven in at least one run on 23 occasions so far in 2018.

Second Place Secured, And a Chance at More
Oklahoma State, by virtue of series wins over Texas and Baylor, has secured second place in the Big 12 Conference for the first time since 2001 and the third time overall since the league began play in 1997. The Cowgirls have improved each season under Coach Gajewski, finishing fifth in 2016 and third a season ago.

Gajewski and the Cowgirls now have an opportunity to do something the program hasn't done since 1995 - win the league. To do so, OSU will have to sweep Bedlam, something the Cowgirls have not done since taking all four games from the Sooners in 1993.
Regardless of this weekend's series though, Oklahoma State has earned a first-round matchup against either the Lady Bears or Longhorns in next week's Phillips 66 Big 12 Softball Championship.

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