Kenny Gajewski after beating Oklahoma: 'It's the Cowgirl way'

A Bedlam softball battle between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State on Saturday was dominated by defense for most of the early going. But the Cowgirls bats got hots in the sixth inning, leading to an eventual 6-2 victory in Norman to claim their first series win in the rivalry since 1993.

Entering the top of the sixth trailing 2-1, OSU reeled off five runs on the back of three homers to take the lead for good. That included a three-run blast from Jilyen Poulard that increased the Cowgirls’ lead from one to four to give them some cushion entering the final two frames.

The Sooners went three up, three down in the bottom of the inning as well as in the seventh as OSU went on to celebrate. Coach Kenny Gajewski spoke with ESPN’s Holly Rowe postgame on what the win means for his program.

“They’re just tough,” he said. “It’s the Cowgirl way. It’s relentless, it’s excellence and it’s passionate. It’s what this team is all about and it’s what the kids before them have paved this way. It’s people like (Vanessa) Shippy and (Carrie) Eberle that just, they’re special. We’ve got an amazing group that’s not afraid.”

Oklahoma State was still scoreless with only four hits after four innings of play. However, the Cowgirls would see their luck begin to turn around in the fifth when Caroline Wang hit a solo home run to left field to score their first run.

That momentum carried over into the sixth, which forced the Sooners to make a pitching change after their first two homers. Gajewski was proud of his team for sticking with it through those first four innings to make something happen.

“I thought we swung the bats good,” he said. “We were taking some nice at-bats and we were just fearless. We kept grinding and stayed with our plan. We got some balls up and we finally made it happen. That’s why we play the full game.

“It’s tough here. These people make it hard on you. They want to bully you around here. But this group’s just done an amazing job of coming back. When they get down, they answer. I’m just so proud of them. It’s a really, really fun group.”

Oklahoma State kept its hope of winning the Big 12 softball regular season title alive with its Bedlam win on Saturday. The Cowgirls will need to finish off the sweep and also for Texas to lose to Texas Tech on Sunday in order to clinch the conference crown.

The start time for the Bedlam series finale is set for 3 p.m. CT on Sunday in Norman.