Cowgirls On The Road For Four Games In Five Days

The Basics
The No. 6/7 Oklahoma State softball team (28-6, 6-0 Big 12) is back on the road for a five-day trip starting with a midweek contest at Wichita State at 6 p.m. Wednesday before heading to Ames, Iowa, to take on Iowa State in its second-consecutive Big 12 road series. Games are slated for Friday at 4 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at noon.

Watch, Listen, Follow
The Cowgirls' game at Wichita State can be streamed on ESPN+. All of the Cowgirls' games this week can be heard on 105.5 KGFY FM radio and online at stillwaterradio.net with Bill Van Ness on the call.
Live stats are available online on okstate.statbroadcast.com.
Fans can follow @CowgirlSB on Twitter all season for regular coverage and updates.

In the Rankings
As of April 5, Oklahoma State ranks:
• No. 6 in the USA Today/NFCA DI Top 25 Coaches Poll
• No. 6 in SoftballAmerica's NCAA Division I Softball Top 25
• No. 7 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25
• No. 7 in NCAA DI Adjusted Rating Percentage Index
• No. 7 in D1Softball's Top 25

Oklahoma State From a Distance
Eight starters and several other important performers are back from the 2021 team that finished No. 6 in the final rankings and played in the Women's College World Series. Five of OSU's returning starters
were also starters on the Cowgirls' 2019 WCWS team.

Some of the most decorated players in Oklahoma State softball history are back, including returning All-Americans Hayley Busby and Sydney Pennington, plus 2022 preseason All-American Kiley Naomi. Pitcher Kelly Maxwell is on the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Watch List and was invited to try out for a spot on the U.S. Senior National Team in January.

Impact newcomers include the 2020 Shortened Season National Player of the Year and first team All-American Miranda Elish, 2022 preseason All-America first baseman Morgyn Wynne, 2021 first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference pitcher Morgan Day and 2021 All-Southeast Region catcher Julia Cottrill.

Notable Streaks and Trends
• OSU has won 11 consecutive games and 23 of its last 25.
• OSU has won six of its last 11 games via run rule.
• OSU has outscored Big 12 opposition by a combined score of 47-6 through six games.
• OSU has homered in 16 of its last 20 games and has hit two or more in nine games during that stretch.
• OSU has blasted 23 home runs in its last 10 games.
• OSU has committed zero errors in seven consecutive games.
• OSU has committed zero errors in 16 of its last 20 games.
• The Cowgirls have been ranked in the NFCA poll in each of their last 176 games, dating back to the start of the 2019 season.
• Miranda Elish is batting .529 with four home runs and 10 RBI in Big 12 play.
• Sydney Pennington has started 241 consecutive games, which amounts to every game of her career.
• Kiley Naomi has at least one hit in eight of her last nine games and has raised her batting average from .205 to .262 during that span.
• Kelly Maxwell has tallied double digit strikeouts in eight of her 13 starts this season.
• Kelly Maxwell's 12-0 record on the year makes her one of just three pitchers in NCAA DI softball with an undefeated record (minimum 10 wins).
• Katelynn Carwile has reached base in 12 consecutive games, the team's longest active streak.
• Katelynn Carwile has at least one hit in 17 of her last 22 games, has tallied 10 multi-hit games during that stretch and has elevated her batting average 205 points since February 27.

Series History vs. This Week's Opponents
The Cowgirls head to Wichita State for their 99th all-time meeting with the Shockers on Wednesday. Including a pair of Oklahoma State wins earlier this year at the OSU Mizuno Classic, the series favors Oklahoma State, 85-14. The Cowgirls boast a 31-5 record in games played in Wichita.

As for its series history with Iowa State, OSU leads, 77-23, including a 22-10 record in games played in Ames.

At the reins of Cowgirl softball, Kenny Gajewski is 9-6 against the Shockers and 17-2 against the Cyclones. Last time out against the Shockers, the Cowgirls beat Wichita State in a 10-2 run-rule victory on March 19. Most recently against Iowa State, the Cowgirls bested the Cyclones 6-5 in the 2021 Big 12 Championship.

To The Max
Kelly Maxwell appeared in three of OSU's four games last week, starting once and coming out of the bullpen in the other two. In those three scoreless outings combined, she struck out 13 batters and allowed only four hits in nine innings of work.

Maxwell's week seven performance earned her Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week honors for the second consecutive week and the third time this season, which ties for the most in the conference.

The lefty out of Friendswood, Texas, elevated her season record to 12-0 with a complete game shutout victory over Baylor on April 2 and remains just one of three pitchers in NCAA DI softball with an undefeated record (min. 10 wins).

In just 17 appearances and 88.2 innings pitched, she ranks fifth nationally in strikeouts per seven innings (12.5), 13th in ERA (1.03), and 16th in strikeouts (158) nationally.

Defense First
OSU has not committed an error in its last seven games, dating back to March 17 and committed just five errors in a 17-game stretch in the month of March.

As a unit, the Cowgirls' defense ranks third in the nation with just 15 errors through 34 games and a .983 fielding percentage.

Built For The Big 12
After grinding through a nonconference slate that ranked top 20 in strength of schedule in each of the first five weeks of the 2022 season, Oklahoma State opened Big 12 play with
back-to-back series sweeps, marking the fourth time in its history OSU has achieved the feat (2003, 2010, 2017).

In its Big 12 opening series with Texas Tech, Oklahoma State outscored the Red Raiders, 32-3, including a resounding 16-2 victory in the series finale to complete the sweep.

The run-rule win marked the Cowgirls' most runs scored since totaling 21 against Florida A&M on February 8, 2020, and the most runs against a Big 12 opponent since scoring 17 against Iowa State in the 2019 Big 12 Tournament.

OSU followed that up by outscoring Baylor in a three-game series in Waco by a 15-3 combined margin to remain perfect in conference play and extend its winning streak to 11 games.

Young Guns
In a roster loaded with All-American talent, it's a pair of underclassmen in the top half of the OSU lineup whose numbers jump off the page.

Sophomore Katelynn Carwile has at least one hit in 17 of her last 22 games and has tallied 10 multi-hit games during that stretch. Since earning her first career start on February 27, Carwile's batting average has risen 205 points from .214 to .419. She has reached base in 12 consecutive games for the longest active streak on the team.

Brianna Evans, a freshman out of Red Oak, Texas, owns top five marks in batting average (.385), runs scored (20), hits (30) and on-base percentage (.457) among her teammates through seven weeks.

Evans boasts the longest hit streak of any Cowgirl this season – 11 games from March 4-19 – which ties for 14th in program history, and the longest active hit streak, currently at six games.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Hayley Busby

Katelynn Carwile

Julia Cottrill

Morgan Day

Miranda Elish

Kelly Maxwell

Kiley Naomi

Sydney Pennington

Morgyn Wynne

Oklahoma State University Athletics