Shocker SB at Oklahoma State

[flyingMoose]

The Shockers travel to Stillwater for a single game with the Cowgirls on Wednesday at 530pm.

Oklahoma State are a pick for fourth among the seven Big 12 teams playing softball. Their current record is 12-9 with a game against Evansville on Tuesday before they play the Shocks. They have played in tournaments hosted by LSU (two losses to the Tigers), U of South Florida, a Mary Nutter Classic in Cathedral City (a win over UC Santa Barbara and a loss to Cal) and their own tournament this past weekend (a win and a loss against Northern Iowa). They also have played Arkansas mid-week.

Vanessa Shippy of the Cowgirls is on the Top 50 Watch List for Collegiate Player of the Year. In 2016 she was Co-Big 12 Player of the Year and an All-American. This year she has an OPS of 1.162. Rylee Bayless (1.131) and Taylor Lynch (.897) are the other leading hitters. Junior Jessi Hafner, a Carroll alum, is a 1B/DP for Oklahoma State. Brandi Needham (ERA of 3.10 and WHIP of 1.47) and Logan Simunek (3.54 and 1.52) lead the Cowgirls in the circle.

The Shockers now have a record of 11-6. Leading hitters are Laurie (1.137 and four homers), Mackenzie (1.129) and Paige (1.005 and four homers). Others with an OPS above .900 are Kelli, Madison (three homers), Macklin (four homers) and Mauriana. Katie now has an ERA of 2.67 with a WHIP of 1.34. Bailey is at 3.78 and 1.74. Jenni's numbers are unprintable - unfortunate, but we shouldn't be surprised given her situation. Of course, the goal with Jenni is to have her ready for conference the weekend after this.

[flyingMoose]

Tuesday

Evansville 2-21(5) Oklahoma State

The Purple Aces were in Norman over the weekend for a tournament hosted by the Sooners (losing 13-3(5) and 5-4 to Oklahoma). Then they stayed in Oklahoma two days too long.

The Cowgirls did not even score in the first inning, using the three innings following to rack up their runs. They had thirteen hits and were gifted eleven walks and a hit batter. According to innings pitched, Oklahoma State used their #5 pitcher. Evansville used four different pitchers.

The Oklahoma State record is now 13-9.

[flyingMoose]

Shockers 3-11(6) Oklahoma State

The Shocks led off the first with the first two batters reaching on errors. A ground out and double play ground ball ended the threat. Bailey started this one, but only lasted three batters. A walk, caught stealing, walk and single and Katie was on in relief. The Cowgirls scored two on a single.

An error, single and ground out got Shockers to second and third with one out in the second, but none scored. In the third, two-out singles by Laurie and Paige preceded a three-run blast by Madison for a 3-2 Shocker lead.

Oklahoma State retook the lead at 7-3 in the bottom of the third with five unearned runs. With two runners on, one by error, and two outs, the Cowgirls got four straight hits, two of the infield variety, to score their runs.

The Shockers never got two runners on in an inning the rest of the game. (Brandi Needham did the pitching for the Cowgirls.) In the bottom of the sixth, four consecutive hits and a hit batter brought Bailey back in the game. She gave up a single that scored the last two runs of the four the Cowgirls needed for the runs-ahead win.


Of the seven Shocker hits, Macklin had single and double and Paige had two singles. Madison had the three-run homer for her only hit. Katie have up eleven hits and four earned runs in her four and two-thirds. Bailey faced four batters and did not retire any of them, getting her one-third of an inning on a caught stealing.