STILLWATER — Kiley Naomi bent over in laughter at second base. Karli Petty stood next to her Oklahoma State teammate, pointing and giggling herself.
Behind home plate, a few other Cowgirls chased the ball that seconds earlier had been in Naomi’s right hand.
The Cowgirl shortstop had made a brilliant play going to her left on a sharp grounder up the middle, then in one motion, spun and let loose a throw in the direction of… first base?
The ball sailed about 30 feet west of its target, bouncing off the backstop, and Naomi immediately doubled over.
It was that kind of night at Cowgirl Stadium, where seventh-seeded OSU opened the Stillwater Regional with a 12-0 run-rule win over Fordham in five innings in Friday’s first round of the NCAA softball tournament.
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Coming off a challenging stretch of tough losses and gritty victories, the comfort level was high Friday night. Playing a game in their home stadium for the first time in 26 days, the Cowgirls (42-12) were relaxed and rolling, laughing at their rare mistakes rather than wringing their hands over them.
Before the game, OSU coach Kenny Gajewski found himself lost in his own office, trying to remember his pregame routine.
“You play a lot at home, so you have this routine you go through,” the coach said. “I was walking around like, what am I gonna do right now?
“It was great to be back home. We play well here. That’s the advantage of being able to host. To have our fans here — the atmosphere was great. I think it’ll keep getting better as the weekend goes.”
OSU scored its first six runs in two-out situations — three in the second inning and three more in the third. Clutch hitting, dominant pitching, a perfectly executed double-steal in which Hayley Busby swiped home, even though it wasn’t called by Gajewski.
All that came prior to the six-run fourth inning, when Katelynn Carwile clubbed a solo home run off the top of the scoreboard in right field, and Julia Cottrill ripped a grand slam to almost the exact same spot.
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Carwile’s emergence this season has been vital for a Cowgirl team that has seen some of its standard run-producers struggle at the plate. Carwile didn’t start the first 11 games of the year, but fought her way into the lineup in right field and hasn’t left. She hit her 12th double of the season, then her seventh homer, getting hit by a pitch in her only other at-bat as her average raised to a team-best .371.
Cottrill’s home run was her team-leading 11th, but was important for her while she’s been fighting through some difficulties at the plate. She was 0-for-12 in a four-game span from April 28 to May 6, then got replaced in the starting lineup by senior catcher Taylor Tuck and hadn’t had a plate appearance in the previous four games. Before the homer, her last hit was April 24 against Texas.
“Going in, coming off the bench and not necessarily having my timing down for a couple games, the players before me that had at-bats off of her did a good job of giving me a good plan going into that at-bat,” said Cottrill, a junior Stillwater native who has hit eight home runs at Cowgirl Stadium this season. “And sticking to that plan was really helpful. After my first couple swings, I felt better as the at-bat went on.”
The Cowgirls’ ace pitcher, Kelly Maxwell, was on cruise control against the Rams (30-21). She allowed two hits with one walk, striking out 10 over five innings. She improved her record to 17-4 with her ninth complete-game shutout of the season.
“That’s what it takes,” Gajewski said. “I don’t even know that she was as sharp as she would like to be, so it’s good to see that.”
With the win, the Cowgirls advance to the winner’s bracket final against Nebraska at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Nebraska 3, North Texas 0
Nebraska’s Olivia Ferrell and Courtney Wallace combined on a three-hit shutout to give the Cornhuskers the victory in their first NCAA Regional appearance since 2016.
North Texas and Fordham will meet in an elimination game at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Cowgirl Stadium.
