Carlson: What was the biggest factor in OSU's WCWS win vs. Georgia? Chyenne Factor
Jenni CarlsonOklahoman
Chyenne Factor decided to be the aggressor.
She has been struggling at the plate, but after fouling off a couple pitches in the third inning Thursday against Georgia, the Oklahoma State center fielder made up her mind — she wasn’t going to sit back. She wasn’t going to react.
She was going to attack.
“I just decided to swing,” she said. “Good things happen.”
The best thing happened for Factor.
She smashed a pitch to deep center for a two-run home run.
OSU 3, Georgia 2.
On a day the Cowgirls won the ever-important first game at the Women’s College World Series, they did it the way they’ve won most of this season. OSU ace Carrie Eberle and the Cowgirl defense came up big time and again. Lots of nifty double plays. A runner thrown out at the plate. A tough groundout to end the game with Sydney Pennington charging from third base and making an off-balance throw to first.
But all the defense in the world wouldn’t have mattered without that Factor’s bat. She not only had the homer but also had a sacrifice bunt that was key to driving in a late insurance run.
She fought through a difficult slump to get to those moments.
Of course, Factor knows a thing or two about fighting through.
Last season, the Yukon High product was struggling. She’d had a great freshman season the year before, but as a sophomore, nothing seemed right. She wasn’t having fun. She wasn’t enjoying softball.
“Chy Factor in 2020, in my opinion, was falling out of love with softball,” Cowgirl coach Kenny Gajewski said.
Then, COVID hit.
With the pandemic canceling spring sports and shutting down softball, Factor was forced to step away from the game.
“I’ve never had a break like that,” she said, “as no one has probably.”
She chuckled.
“It was good,” she said. “I needed that.”
A couple weeks before the postseason started, Gajewski pulled Factor aside one day.
“I think you may be the only kid that COVID helped,” he told her.
“Coach, it saved me,” she replied. “I was borderline done.”
Hers is a story of resilience, and never was that tenacity more important than Thursday.
The Cowgirls were facing one of the hottest pitchers in college softball. Bulldog ace Mary Avant blew through super regionals, dominating a big-hitting Florida team on its home field in Gainesville.
But Avant left that third-inning pitch to Factor up in the strike zone just a little, and it was the opening Factor needed.
She was an unlikely home-run hitter in that moment.
“It’s been no secret — I haven’t been having very good at bats,” Factor said.
She went hitless in super regionals, 0 for 2 in the opener, 0 for 3 with two strikeouts in the second game and 0 for 2 in the third game. And when she was due to bat late in that last game, Gajewski opted to pinch hit for her.
Thursday, he decided to do something different.
Gajewski didn’t like what he’d seen in Factor’s first at-bat. Her swings weren’t good. She didn’t seem comfortable.
So, Gajewski called for a run-and-hit, which he said is similar to a hit-and-run except that it focuses on creating action and depends on the hitter being more aggressive.
Factor went after a pitch that was down in the strike zone, and while she fouled it off, Gajewski liked the swing.
“That swing is the one I want,” he thought.
Factor swung the same way on the next pitch — and hit it out of the park.
Her next at-bat in the sixth inning, she laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt. First pitch. Moved Kiley Naomi to second base. And the very next batter, Alysen Febrey, drove her in.
“This kid is really good,” Gajewski said of Factor. “Like anybody, when you’re not going to as good, it’s tough. … It’s been a grind the last couple weekends.
“But this is all it takes — one good at-bat and you get going again.”
Chyenne Factor got going again at the perfect time to keep the Cowgirls riding high.
