Oklahoma State Softball’s Stillwater Regional Has Been Year in the Making
A year ago, when the NCAA announced the softball tournament field, the Oklahoma State Cowgirls felt the shock of going right back on the road.
After five straight trips to the Women’s College World Series, they realized that their road to a sixth would not start in Stillwater, Okla., but in Fayetteville, Ark. It also ended in Fayetteville, as Arkansas beat Oklahoma State twice and was eliminated.
He said the early elimination prompted some “difficult conversations” with his team. It led to the Cowgirls beefing up their schedule for this season. it made the road to get back to hosting a regional, which Oklahoma State will do starting on Friday as a national seed once again, all that sweeter.
“It's probably healthy to go through what we went through,” Gajewski said during his Zoom interview with reporters on Sunday. “We looked at it like the sky was falling. It’s not like the sky was falling, you know? I mean we were in the postseason. We were a high seed matched up against a good team. But it’s crazy what the expectations are for this program now.”
How Oklahoma State Got Back Home
OSU’s record entering the Stillwater Regional is 38-15, only a bit better than last year’s record (35-20). But Gajewski and his staff worked to ensure that this year’s schedule would help yield a home regional — assuming the Cowgirls could master it.
OSU played nine ranked teams outside of Big 12 play and finished with a record of 8-5. That included wins in April over then-No. 1 Oklahoma and Texas, both of which were away from home. The Cowgirls also beat Georgia, Texas A&M, UCLA and Nebraska. OSU split two games with the Huskers, lost to Duke and LSU and lost two games to Stanford. Oklahoma State could face Stanford on Saturday.
That list doesn’t include two wins over Cal or a win over Texas State, the latter of which was over a team that made the NCAA Tournament.
All of that not only helped pave the way for the Cowgirls to return home, but it helped prepare them for the potential for rematches in their side of the bracket. Based on seeds, OSU could see Nebraska in super regionals.
“Like I told our team and after they announced the final bracket, I said, ‘Hey it's cool to look at that top 8 [seeds] and know that you beat four of them,” Gajewski said. “It's cool to look at this whole bracket and know we beat a lot of them. That's why we played the schedule.”
The path back to Oklahoma City won’t be easy. But at least it starts at home.
NCAA Tournament
Stillwater Regional
Friday’s Games
Game 1 – 1 p.m. CT – Princeton vs. Stanford (ESPN2)
Game 2 – 3:30 p.m. CT – Eastern Illinois at Oklahoma State (ESPN+)
Saturday’s Games
Game 3 – Noon CT - Winner G1 vs. Winner G2
Game 4 – 2:30 p.m. CT - Loser G1 vs. Loser G2
Game 5 – 5 p.m. CT - Winner G4 vs. Loser G3
Sunday’s Games
Game 6 – 3 p.m. CT - Winner G3 vs. Winner G5
Game 7 – 5:30 p.m. CT - Winner G6 vs. Loser G6 (if necessary)
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Matthew Postins is the publisher of Oklahoma State on SI. He is an award-winning sports journalist who was formerly the editor of the College Football America Yearbook and covers the Big 12 Conference for Heartland College Sports.
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