After WCWS exit, OSU still looking for next step
After watching his Cowgirls commit another error and Tennessee score another run, Kenny Gajewski removed his cap and raked his hands through his hair.
He didn't pull any out as far as we know.
But no one could have blamed the Oklahoma State coach if he had. Tennessee 3, OSU 1.
Facing elimination from the Women's College World Series, the Cowgirls needed to be sharp Sunday evening. Not perfect, but if they wanted to beat the Vols, the Cowgirls needed to be as good as they were for the first couple months of the season. Or during the regionals or super regionals. Or in the elimination game against Utah on Friday.
They were not. Not in the field. Not at the plate. Not in the circle.
And instead of moving onto the semfinals as OSU has the past two years, a special season is over.
“We fell short, and that part hurts,” a teary Gajewski said after the game. “That part is the toughest part.
“But like I told them, if you just keep kicking shins, they'll eventually break. That's what we're going to do – we're just going to keep kicking the shins of our opponents, and we'll eventually break this door down.”
Still, it felt like OSU had a team this season to do just that. This, after all, was a supremely talented bunch. It was ranked in the top three nationally much of the season, and it had a great blend of supreme talent, veteran leadership and young moxie.
OSU was one of the best hitting teams in the country. One of the best fielding teams, too. The Cowgirls ranked in the top 10 in both categories throughout the season. They actually entered the WCWS ranked in the top 20 nationally in batting average, fielding and earned run average.
The only other team that could say that?
OU.
Around here, we tend to judge all college softball teams against the juggernaut that is OU. It's totally understandable. But it's not all that fair to OSU.
The Cowgirls stood on their own as a great team this season. Exceptional pitching. Splendid defense. Marvelous hitting. This was a team capable of not only making the championship series, something the program has never done before, but also winning the whole darn thing.
Instead, they didn't make the semifinals.
This wasn't a lost season, but it sure was a missed opportunity.
In the WCWS, the Cowgirls weren't able to capitalize on the momentum they built during regionals and super regionals. Hot bats went cold. Pitchers who had gotten ahead of batters and limited walks instead threw lots of firstpitch balls and ended up walking more batters against Tennessee than they had the previous two weeks. Fielders who had been so clean made mistakes again.
“It's really hard to win here if you don't just click on all cylinders,” Gajewski said. “It's rough.”
You have to be talented, sure, but you also have to be resilient, not letting one bad inning become two, not allowing one mistake to lead to more.
And whether against Florida State or Tennessee, OSU had trouble creating positive momentum. When the Cowgirls struggled to score runs, they could never quite get anything going. They never found a way to string together a few hits or manufacture a run and just get things going in their favor. Then, when the defense faltered, whether pitching or fielding, they struggled to put a stop to it. One issue snowballed to two or three.
Handling such things often comes down to intestinal fortitude.
“We've got to be tough,” Gajewski said. “We're not quite tough enough yet. That's on me. I've got to get better at that. I'm getting better at creating that toughness because, when you're here … it's like an MMA fight.”
For as disappointed as Gajewski and the Cowgirls were Sunday evening, he still sees this as a season of growth for the program.
“We didn't get quite as far as last year – one day short – but we're better for it,” he said. “I'm better. I'm a better head coach here today than I was here last year at this time. My staff, I love what we're doing and how they're working.” Learning lessons is a great thing. So is growth.
But you know what else Gajewski and the Cowgirls who are coming back can take away from this season?
How disappointing the end felt. Yes, they won a ton of games and beat a lot of big-time opponents while experiencing for the first time what it meant to be a team for whom everyone was gunning. Sure, they turned around a disastrous end to the regular season to be one of the last six teams playing. All of that is part of the narrative of this season.
But so is the disappointment of the WCWS.
When the final out had been made and the handshake line with the Vols was done, the Cowgirls turned their handshake line on itself. Some players and coaches high fived, but most of them hugged. There were lots of long hugs.
Maybe if they hung on long enough, they could hang on to the season a little bit longer, too. Maybe they could hold onto all the great memories. The big wins. The great moments.
And maybe, for a moment, they could forget the disappointment and the dread of what could have been.