STILLWATER — The Cowgirls fell 5-1 against the Longhorns this season, and 5-2 won’t get Oklahoma State to Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma State fell 4-2 to Texas in Game 2 of the teams’ Super Regional on Saturday in Cowgirl Stadium. The loss comes after OSU swept the Longhorns in their season series, beat them in the Big 12 Tournament and took the Super Regional’s first game Friday. Saturday’s game sets up a Sunday game that will determine which team goes to the Women’s College World Series and which team has its season end.

“This is this is what big time softball is all about,” OSU coach Kenny Gajewski said. “This is what elite softball is all about.

“If I could have told you at the beginning of August when we met for the first time, whether it was over zoom or what I don’t remember, but if I could have told you that this season was going to come down to one game to go to OKC, would you take it? Hell yeah you’d take it, and you’ll be ready to play.”

The Cowgirls struck first, in the third inning when Kiley Naomi outmuscled the in-blowing wind for a solo home run. It was her 14th run of the year.

Sophomore pitcher Kelly Maxwell was nails for four innings, but started to falter some in the fifth. That matched with the lack of further run support spelled doom for the Cowgirls.

In the fifth inning, the Longhorns hit back-to-back one-out singles. After Maxwell’s fifth strikeout, Texas’ all-everything second basewoman Janae Jefferson singled up the middle to score McKenzie Parker.

That was all the ‘Horns could muster in the inning, but after another scoreless frame for the Cowgirls in the sixth, Texas benefitted from two home runs in the bottom of the inning. Jordyn Whitaker started the inning with a solo shot to left. After a Taylor Ellsworth double and a UT sac bunt, Texas pitcher and OSU villain Mary Iakopo narrowly lined a ball over the right-field wall to make the game 4-1.

Logan Simunek came in and got the Cowgirls out of the inning.

“I think Kelly was starting to wear down, and we were just kind of in between,” Gajewski said. “It’s hard to take and kid out when you’re cruising along.”

It looked as if OSU’s comeback was on, as Sydney Pennington hit a leadoff home run in the top of the seventh, but that was all the Cowgirls got.

Maxwell finished having thrown 5 1/3 innings where she gave up the four runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out five. She is up to 137 strikeouts in her sophomore season.

Opposite Maxwell was another dealing sophomore in Texas pitcher Shea O’Leary. She allowed just three hits in a complete game. She walked just one and struck out five.

Thus far in the Super Regional, OSU hasn’t scored a run off anything but a home run. Gajewski said that isn’t a stat that concerns him.

“No, I love home runs,” Gajewski said. “I don’t mind it, it just is what it is. However you can score runs, you score runs. We’re a team that really prides ourselves on quality at-bats. I looked up in fourth inning, and I keep a little chart in there I keep on our lineup card in the dugout — we only had four [quality at-bats]. That was the irritating thing.

“We were a team that feasts on putting the ball in play hard and getting runners on base, and O’Leary kept us off balance enough here. I thought she did the best job that we’ve seen her do of throwing change-ups off speed for strikes. That was really the difference in this game.”

Texas coach Mike White said O’Leary would be in the circle for the Longhorns again Sunday. She’ll face off against Big 12 Pitcher of the Year Carrie Eberle, who held UT to one run Friday.

Up Next

Game 3 is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday in Cowgirl Stadium.

The post Texas Forces Series-Deciding Game 3 in NCAA Super Regional appeared first on Pistols Firing.

The Cowboys are 3-0 in OKC and are headed to the title game of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship after edging out top-seeded Texas 5-4.

The fourth-seeded Cowboys struck first, taking a 1-0 lead thanks to Max Hewitt’s RBI double in the top of the first.

Mitchell Stone got the start on the mound for the Cowboys and pitched three clean innings. But after striking out the first two batters in the fourth, Stone allowed three hits and two runs as Texas took a 2-1 win into the fifth.

Stone was back on the hill to start the fifth but a allowed a hit and committed a throwing error to put a runner on third before being subbed out for Kale Davis. Stone finished striking out five.

The Cowboys answered in the fifth when Matt Golda scored on a wild pitch. Then Jake Thompson’s single to right field scored two and knotted things up at 4.

The play of the game came in the bottom of the eighth when Cade Cabiness laid out to earn OSU’s second out and keep the bases clean.

And then the Cowboys earned their game-winning run when Thompson took a full-count walk with the bases loaded in the ninth.

Thompson finished 1-for-3 with three RBIs and that walk.

Davis held up his end of the bargain, pitching four innings, allowing just one hit and walking one while striking out three batters.

With a one-run lead and needing just three outs, OSU went with closer Brett Standlee in the bottom of the ninth, and he delivered earning his fourth save of the year.

The Cowboys will face the winner of Saturday evening’s game between TCU and Kansas State for a Big 12 tourney trophy. The Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship game will take place 5 p.m. Sunday inside Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

The conference tournament was canceled last season because of COVID-19, meaning the Cowboys are reigning champs after taking home the hardware as a 3 seed in 2019.

The post Cowboys Slide past Longhorns and onto the Big 12 Championship Game appeared first on Pistols Firing.

When state law goes into effect July 1, Cowboys and Cowgirls will be as prepared as any college athletes to make money off of name, image and likeness.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed the state’s NIL bill on Friday, making Oklahoma the 17th state to allow college student-athletes to make money off NIL. Saturday, OSU announced the next step in its relationship with INFLCR, a company the athletic department partnered with last fall.

OSU announced OSU Elite in partnership with INFLCR and OSU’s Spears School of Business.

INFLCR is a program OSU student-athletes have access to where they can download pictures and videos to share on their personal social-media accounts. Those cool videos OSU basketball players have been putting out, like Avery Anderson’s return announcement, are available to them through INFLCR.

The expanded partnership will house OSU student-athletes to money-making apps like Cameo, Mojo and Player’s Trunk.

The partnership with the business school includes two one-hour course offerings for student-athletes — Personal Finance and Managing Your Personal Brand: Name, Image & Likeness. It will also include group NIL lectures to OSU’s respective teams.

“Here at Oklahoma State, there’s nothing more important to us than the student-athlete experience,” said OSU Deputy Director of Athletics Chad Weiberg in OSU’s release. “This expanded partnership with INFCLR and the OSU Spears School of Business will bring the best tools in the fields of brand building and entrepreneurship to Oklahoma State student-athletes so they can remain on the cutting edge both on and off the field of play. I’d like to thank the Oklahoma legislature and Governor Kevin Stitt for making this legislation a priority for our state and for all current and future Oklahoma State student-athletes.”

The state law goes into effect July 1, but it’s anticipated that a federal law and/or NCAA amendment will be made before then to even the playing field across state lines. Still, OSU is ahead of many college departments with this partnership.

The post Oklahoma State Announces Expanded Partnership with INFLCR for NIL appeared first on Pistols Firing.

The Daily Bullets are brought to you by Hoboken Coffee: Get 20% off your first order. 

Scores

Baseball: Pokes hammer WV 12-2 to advance to Big 12 Semis
Softball: Cowgirls take game 1, route Texas 6-1
Men’s Golf: Pokes are T-4 after day one at NCAAs 

Three Thoughts

• The Athletic ($$$) has OSU hiring Mike Gundy as the fourth-best hire in the life of the conference and they’re spot on

• Predicting the non-conference games for the Pokes – the Boise State game could be a bear. That quarterback room for Boise could stack up to as good if not better than what the Pokes could have.

• It’s not hard to see why Cade Cunningham is considered the number one pick “regardless of which franchise wins the lottery.”

 And what should make him an attractive option for literally every franchise is his ability to flourish on or off the ball and guard multiple positions. If you need him to initiate offense as a lead guard, he can. If you need him to play beside a smaller guard, he can. And when it’s time to take over games, he’s built to do it — evidence being that Cunningham led the nation in clutch points this past season.

[CBS Sports]

Two Quotes

• Feel ya, Doug.

• Boynton on building a program here is terrific:

One Question

• Is it me, or do OSU’s spring sports just keep getting better and better?

Most Viewed of the Week

• No. 1 What Mike Gundy was Ahead of in College Football

• No. 2 OSU loses a 2022 Cornerback

• No. 3 Pokes land a transfer kicker

• No. 4 Pokes’ regular season-finale cancelled

• No. 5 Holliday’s Cowboys land a four-seed, face OU first

Non-OSU Bullets

• Friends and the idealized version of adult-friendships
• 100 little ideas
• Good faith-based take on taking caution about your job

The post Daily Bullets (May 29): Most Viewed of the Week, Mike Gundy – A Top-Five Big 12 Hire appeared first on Pistols Firing.

The Cowboys walked off in Friday’s Big 12 quarterfinal, but did so in the seventh inning.

The Oklahoma State baseball team run-ruled West Virginia 12-2 in seven innings in Bricktown Ballpark. The Pokes led 8-0 after two innings, putting up five in the first and three in the second.

It was a big day for 6-foot-8 senior Carson McCusker. The OSU left fielder went 3-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs and two runs scored. He hit a three-run home run over the tall fence in right field.

McCusker was one of seven who had multiple-hit days. Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Justin Campbell joined McCusker as Cowboys who had three hits.

Campbell, a freshman, had three RBIs and a double two nights removed from starting on the mound for the Cowboys against Oklahoma.

Parker Scott made his first start since April 16 after battling through injury. It’s a good sign for the Pokes, as Scott had been the Cowboys’ Friday starter for much of the season. He did throw one inning against New Orleans last weekend.

On Friday, Scott threw 58 pitches in four innings where he gave up two runs on four hits while walking one and striking out five.

Bryce Osmund, who has started most of the year, came on in relief. The freshman from Jenks didn’t allow a hit in three innings, where he walked five and struck out seven.

Caeden Trenkle, another freshman, went 2-for-5 at the dish with a triple, but his best play of the day came in the field when he robbed an extra base hit and a run from the Mountaineers with a diving catch at the warning track.

Up Next

The Cowboys await the winner of the late Friday game between West Virginia and Texas in the Big 12 semis. OSU will have two opportunities to put that team away to head to the finals. OSU’s next game is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

The post OSU Baseball Advances to Big 12 Semifinals appeared first on Pistols Firing.

STILLWATER — The Cowgirls dig the long ball.

Oklahoma State scored all of its runs on home runs in its 6-1 victory against Texas on Friday night in Game 1 of the teams’ Super Regional series. Alysen Febrey hit round-trippers in her first two plate appearances, both going to center field.

Down 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Febrey stepped to the dish with Chyenne Factor standing on second. Febrey bonked a 2-2 count off the board beyond the fence to straightaway center.

She came back up as the Cowgirls’ leadoff batter in the fourth when she hit the first pitch she saw a little farther right of that same board.

“She’s just a kid that I saw from an early age when I saw it at tournaments out there when she was young, I was like, ‘Man this kid just has something about her,'” OSU coach Kenny Gajewski said. “She looks the same — mentality, same kind of walk, same kind of toughness. That’s just from mom and dad or whoever coached her at a young age. The moment’s never too big. Her heartbeat doesn’t change you. It’s really hard to tell if she’s 0-for-4 or 4-for-4. She’s playing with a chip on her shoulder.”

A Hayley Busby home run directly followed Febrey’s fourth-inning home run. The solo shot was Busby’s 19th of the season.

Karli Petty supplied OSU’s other two runs with a two-run shot in the sixth.

All-everything pitcher Carrie Eberle was predictably outstanding in the circle for the Cowgirls. The only trouble she got in was in the first inning, where Texas lead off with back-to-back singles. Back-to-back sac bunts scored a run for the Longhorns before Eberle was able to strand two runners.

Eberle finished having thrown all seven innings where she allowed the one run off five hits while walking three and striking out three. Outside of the first inning, she allowed three hits, no runs, two walks and three strikeouts.

She got help with some remarkable play in OSU’s infield. The game ended on a 5-4-3 double play, just one of a few web gems Sydney Pennington supplied. In the fourth, Pennington stopped a chopper at full extension to prevent a base hit.

The next inning, Pennington knocked a ball down with her glove before bare-handing it in foul territory. Her throw narrowly took a fully stretched Febrey off first, but Kiley Naomi turned a 6-3 double-play to erase the base runner on the next at-bat.

“Sydney is one of the best third basemen I’ve ever seen,” Febrey said. “She’s just really quick with her hands and has a good glove. She always makes these good plays.”

Up Next

Game 2 of the Super Regional series is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. Saturday. An OSU win would send the Cowgirls to their second straight WCWS.

“You can’t look ahead,” Febrey said. “I mean, it’s best two out of three. Texas is a good team, you can’t overlook them. Just focusing on taking it pitch to pitch and then we should be fine, play our game.”

The post Cowgirls Roll Past Texas, Stand One Game from OKC appeared first on Pistols Firing.

OSU on Thursday was served up kick times and television programming information for its 2021 nonconference slate against Missouri State, Tulsa and Boise State. It features two night games — one at BPS and another in Boise — along with a morning kick sandwiched between those against Tulsa on Sept. 11.

With those games now set, I wanted to take a closer look at each of those three opponents and try to get a better idea of the matchups. Here is my attempt below with some chicken scratch notes included that I think could determine the outcomes.

6 p.m. Sept. 4 — OSU vs. Missouri State

Venue: Boone Pickens Stadium

What to know about Missouri State: This Bobby Petrino-coached (!) program is in year two under his tenure. The first was a whirlwind — the Bears played three nonconference games in the fall (in Sept. and Oct.) then a full conference schedule in the spring, where they went 5-2.

MSU’s defense was key to its success in the first season under Petrino. That’s in part because offense at times was something of a slog. Redshirt freshman QB Jaden Johnson, senior Matt Struck and freshman Jake Van Dyne combined for 155-of-284 passing, five touchdowns and 10 INTs on the season. On the ground success was marginal as well, with the team averaging 3.3 yards per carry on 377 attempts.

Scoring on this defense might be a challenge for OSU’s offense out of the gate given the weapons it has to defend the pass and rush the quarterback, but defending this offense might be an easy way for OSU’s veteran-laden defense to whet its early-season appetite.

Prediction: OSU 45, Missouri State 10

11 a.m. Sept. 11 — OSU vs. Tulsa

Venue: Boone Pickens Stadium

What to know about Tulsa: Tulsa’s best player, Zaven Collins, is off to the NFL after being selected by the Arizona Cardinals with a first-round pick earlier this spring. The Golden Hurricane are also replacing starting QB Zach Smith. But they bring back Davis Brin, who in spurts flashed star power at the QB position last season. Every pass-catcher of significance appears to be returning as well, with six of its leading receivers listed on TU’s 2021 roster. That group is led by Keylon Stokes and Juancarlo Santana, who combined for 1,188 yards receiving and 80 catches in 2020. Josh Johnson, the team’s leader in touchdown receptions with six in 2020, is also on the team’s 2021 roster.

On the ground, leading rusher Corey Taylor II departs but Deneric Prince, who averaged a team-leading 5.3 yards per carry on 88 attempts last season, is back. So, too, is Shamari Brooks — the team’s top talent at the position who missed 2020 with a torn ACL.

Prediction: OSU 41, Tulsa 30

8 p.m. Sept. 18 — OSU at Boise State

Venue: Albertsons Stadium in Boise

What to know about Boise: Former four-star QB Hank Bachmeier is the one to watch here. He had a good-not-great sophomore season in which he amassed 1,150 yards through the air for six scores in seven games. Backup Jack Sears also looked good, and the former USC product was plenty efficient. (TL;DR: The QB situation looks like it’ll be a challenge to OSU’s defense.) Leading receiver Khalil Shakir and leading rusher Andrew Van Buren are also listed on the team’s 2021 roster, giving the Broncos their top skill talents. This is a team with the goods to pull an upset and emerge as one of the best Group of Five teams in the sport. Danger zone. I reserve the right to change my pick, but …

Prediction: Boise State 38, OSU 35

The post Predicting OSU Football’s Nonconference Results in 2021 appeared first on Pistols Firing.

From all signs, it appears that we’ll have baseball on Friday.

The Cowboys came into Thursday white-hot, but facing a short turnaround, after topping the Sooners 9-5 late Wednesday night (and into Thursday morning) in their Big 12 Tournament opener. But thanks to mother nature, the Pokes get a little more time to prep for their next opponent. Hopefully heavy rains won’t dampen the Cowboys’ bats en fuego.

The Cowboys and Mountaineers are now scheduled to face off in Bricktown on Friday at 4 p.m. for a chance to move on the bracket.

OSU was originally scheduled to face 8-seeded West Virginia, fresh off its upset of top-ranked Texas, on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. but severe weather in the metro area shut down the festivities inside Chicksaw Bricktown Ballpark.

Fortunately, Friday looks like a nice day for a trip to the park. As of the time of this writing, the National Weather Service is calling for a cloudy, but clear, 70 degrees when the Cowboys’ game commences.

This change moves OSU-WVU from Session 5 to Session 6. If you had Session 5 tickets and want to see the Cowboys in-person on Friday, you can exchange your tickets at the ticket office, according to a release from the Big 12.

The post Big 12 Baseball: Cowboys-Mountaineers Rescheduled after Weather Delay appeared first on Pistols Firing.

The Daily Bullets are brought to you by Hoboken Coffee: Get 20% off your first order. 

OSU Bullets

• Game times were announced for OSU’s nonconference football games (Mo. State, Tulsa, and Boise St.)

• Cowboy Baseball takes on West Virginia today at 4pm in OKC – a reschedule from yesterday due to weather

• Cowgirl Softball kicks off it’s three-game series against UT today at 4pm as well – here’s what one publication had to say previewing the series:

The Longhorns narrowly escaped Oregon in the regional finals late Sunday night. Molly Jacobsen came up big with a shutout, and Janae Jefferson has been phenomenal the entire tournament. Her bat has been nearly automatic — she hit .583 and went 7-for-13 this weekend. They will now face the Cowgirls, who were smooth sailing through the regionals led by Carrie Eberle in the circle. Offensively they have been putting up a lot of runs with hot bats all weekend. They scored 10, nine and 10 runs in their three wins. Alysen Febrey leads the offense but they have production all the way down. Hayley Busby, Kiley Naomi, Sydney Pennington. You name it, this should be a good matchup. 

[NCAA]

• Cowgirl Maja Stark hasn’t made a decision if she’ll turn pro in golf just yet

• Pretty insightful look into the left tackles for all the Big 12 teams – OSU’s Caleb Etienne weighs in at the middle of the pack.

• Good for former Cowboy (and LSU) wide receiver Dee Anderson to find a landing spot to finish his career:

Non-OSU Bullets

• Working with insufficient slack
• This faith-based take on doing hard things for the Lord was great
• Finished this terrific read breaking down sayings of Charlie Munger (Berkshire Hathaway)

100 percent the life experience of this Thunder fan on Tankathon:

The post Daily Bullets (May 28): Cowboys’ Kickoff Times Released, Pokes Take on Mountaineers in OKC appeared first on Pistols Firing.