Softball On SI

Oklahoma State Softball 'Not Doing Anything Well' in Series Loss to Iowa State

Oklahoma State softball’s struggles continued over the weekend, as the 22nd-ranked Cowgirls dropped a home series to Iowa State and drew blunt criticism from head coach Kenny Gajewski.

Maren Angus-Coombs

Oklahoma State's Ruby Meylan (66) pitches during a college Bedlam softball game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Oklahoma State University Cowgirls (OSU) at Devon Park in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, April 9, 2025.
Oklahoma State's Ruby Meylan (66) pitches during a college Bedlam softball game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Oklahoma State University Cowgirls (OSU) at Devon Park in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Oklahoma State has been known to have a type of swagger others team lacked in recent years.

The Cowgirls have lost their swagger and lost their fifth game in the last six contests.

OSU fell to Iowa State 8-4 on Sunday and dropped the series to the Cyclones for the first time since 1987.

The Cyclones also secured their first road series win over a ranked opponent in school history.

The Cowgirls struggled from the start and it wasn't just on offense. The pitching and defense weren't much help, either.

Katie Kutz got the start and allowed four hits and four walks in just 1.1 innings of work. By the time she was pulled and replaced by Ruby Meylan, the Cyclones had a 5-0 lead.

“We’re just not very sharp for some reason,” OSU head coach Gajewski said. “(Pitching coach Carrie Eberle) wanted to take Katie out after the first and I was like, ‘We can’t go to the bullpen yet.’”

“So that extra run is on me there,” Gajewski added. “We’re just not doing anything well.”

The Cowgirls have struggled mightily at the bat, especially with runners on. OSU was 0-for-3 with the bases loaded Sunday, making them 1-for-their-last-17 in those situations, according to Gajewski. They stranded 11 runners in the series finale.

“Just because you start doing some things good, the game doesn’t owe you,” Gajewski said. “You have to keep doing it. That’s the hard part, especially with young kids. 

“I thought we did a much better job in the second and third game of this series getting runners on base. Now we gotta do a better job of getting them in.”

The story of the game for Iowa State was its three freshman, Sereniti Trice, Jessie Clemons and Karlee Ford, who combined to score seven of the team's 11 runs.

Another highlight belonged to Sydney Malott who hit her fourth home run of the series.

The Cyclones eclipsed the all-time conference win record with the victory and won their third conference series. Before Sunday, ISU had never won more than two series in a single season.

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Maren Angus-Coombs
MAREN ANGUS-COOMBS

Maren Angus-Coombs was born in Los Angeles and raised in Nashville, Tenn. She is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and has been a sports writer since 2008. She has been covering college softball since 2016 and spent the 2023 season covering Husker Softball for Hail Varsity. In addition to All Huskers, she is a staff writer for the Los Angeles Sports Report.

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