Cowgirls win NCAA opener, face No. 1 UF
Brandi Needham pitched a complete-game shutout as Oklahoma State defeated Florida International 2-0 in the first game of the Gainesville Softball Regional on Friday.
Needham allowed only three hits on 89 pitches, but she lacked help from teammates as the Cowgirls failed to register a hit during first five innings.
OSU finally scored the bottom of the sixth inning. Maddi Holcomb singled to left field. She scored on Vanessa Shippy’s double. Madi Sue Montgomery then drove in Shippy with a single.
Shippy finished the game 1 for 1 with two walks.
“I knew that Brandi kept us in that game the whole time,” Shippy said. “I told her in the fourth, I think, to keep doing her thing, and we would score her a run. She’s been great all year.
“Madi Sue (Montgomery) and I ended up with those hits and Maddi Holcomb as well, but Brandi kept us in that game.”
With Friday’s victory, second-year OSU coach Kenny Gajewski is 4-2 in NCAA Tournament games.
“I thought that Brandi was really good and under control,” Gajewski said. “(It was) strike one for a bunch of those, and I think that was crucial for us just to get us off on the right track.
“We had some great at bats, but I looked up at the fourth, and we
had three or four walks and had yet to turn the lineup over, which was a little bit of a concern. The most important thing was we were getting runners on base, and we just had to figure out a way to execute.”
Needham allowed only four runners during the game. It was her first postseason victory.
OSU will play No. 1-seeded Florida at 11 a.m. Saturday in a winners’ bracket game. Gajewski was an assistant with Florida from 2012-15; the Gators won back-to-back national championships during the final two seasons as an assistant under close friend and former baseball teammate Tim Walton.
“This is a special place to me and to (assistant coach Stacie) Pestrak, too, but I wanted these kids to get all that stuff out early on,” Gajewski said. “I wanted them to see that our time here was really cool, but it’s their time here.
“It was amazing to walk back on this field for the first time. When you’re here, I think you take a lot of things for granted. This place will always be a special place to me and my family. It’s surreal to be back here.”