Why Kenny Gajewski, Oklahoma State softball find themselves at forefront in the sport
Jenni CarlsonThe Oklahoman
Before noon on Tuesday, Kenny Gajewski and his Oklahoma State softball team had already had quite a travel day.
Drive from home to board a charter bus in Stillwater.
Take the bus to the Oklahoma City airport.
Fly to Atlanta.
But despite all the moving parts, the end goal was worth it for the Cowgirls — four games in four days in and around Atlanta against three quality opponents.
OSU will play at Georgia on Wednesday, at Georgia Tech on Thursday and Friday and against Penn State on Saturday. The first three games are against teams ranked in the top 25 in the RPI while the fourth is just outside the top 100.
The only thing that could’ve made the trip better?
“I tried to get an extra game,” Gajewski said as the Cowgirls waited to board their flight at the Oklahoma City airport. “I wanted to see if Tony (Baldwin, Georgia coach) would play two. I reached out to Georgia Tech and Penn State both, and nobody wants to play extra games.”
Maximizing road trips has become a focus for Gajewski — and he might be at the forefront of a trend that could grow in the coming years.
With the geographic expansion of the power conferences, softball teams now have league games that are farther afield. OSU, for example, has a league series at Arizona this season while OU goes to Florida.
There’ll be no bussing to those games.
And for conferences like the Big Ten and ACC, some road trips are even more far-flung.
How about Oregon at Rutgers? Or Washington at Penn State?
Florida State at Cal, anyone? Stanford at Clemson?
Those sorts of jaunts can be costly, both in dollars and in wear and tear on athletes.
“We’re on flights every weekend,” Penn State coach Clarisa Crowell said. “So for me, it’s really about, how can I get my student-athletes to various places for the experience piece? Then you’ve got to look at RPI groupings.
“But you also have to be mindful of the travel because maybe it doesn’t catch up to you Week 1 or 2 but when you’re in Week 5, Week 6, that’s tough.”
That’s one of the reasons Crowell decided to fly her Nittany Lions to Atlanta this weekend to face OSU on Saturday and Georgia Tech on Sunday. One trip gets them games against two quality opponents.
And this road trip comes on the heels of Penn State spending nearly a week in Oklahoma City for Big Ten games.
Yes, Oklahoma City.
Devon Park hosted eight Big Ten teams over the past two weekends. Each team played a pair of two-game conference series, and while the participating teams were teams from cold-weather areas looking for better conditions in early March, the set-up could be a precursor for things to come.
“One of my goals is to maybe tap into the SEC and the Big 12 having an odd number of teams so everybody’s getting a weekend off,” said Cheryl Bond, chief financial officer at USA Softball, which oversees Devon Park. “Trying to convince Oklahoma State, ‘Hey, go grab some of those other schools that it’s their off-weekend.’ So instead of Texas Tech and South Carolina playing (in Columbia), everybody comes here.”
Bond could even foresee a regular-season event where power-conference teams play in the main stadium while the backfields at the complex are used for games between lower-level teams, including Division II and junior college.
She knows the allure of playing at Devon Park.
“My kids grew up here, so they had the fortune of winning a state title on this field and playing on it,” she said. “But the pinnacle of our sport is playing at this stadium.”
And most years, only a handful of college teams get to play there in the Women’s College World Series.
Crowell said playing on that field was one of the best things about the Big Ten games in OKC.
“The coolest experience for our student-athletes was to be able to play in the stadium,” she said. “Obviously, that stadium is where people win championships. I mean, it’s the mecca of softball.
“A lot of our kids really haven’t gone to Oklahoma, so for them to be able to play on that field was a pretty awesome experience.”
But because the Big Ten is returning to a more traditional schedule — Crowell already has next year’s conference schedule in hand, and it has eight three-game conference series with one bye week — the conference won’t be bringing games back to OKC.
Still, the scheduling challenges for college softball programs continues.
Gajewski senses some coaches are looking for answers, willing to try different solutions.
“I think there’s a small contingent of that,” he said. “I don’t know that it’s as large as I would like so it’d be a little easier to find games.”
But it doesn’t keep him from asking. Last season, for example, when OSU lost two games to inclement weather at the Clearwater Invitational, Gajewski called on his buddy and Florida coach Tim Walton to see if the Gators might be willing to add a home game against the Cowgirls.
A day later, the two teams were playing.
The philosophy of finding a quality mid-week game before the start of a conference road series is something Gajewski leans into. OSU played at North Texas earlier this season before its road series at Texas Tech, then next week OSU will play Arizona State in a non-conference game before starting a weekend conference series at Arizona.
OSU is also looking to host other teams who might be coming to the state to play OU. Texas, for one, will play in Stillwater a couple of days before the Longhorns play an SEC series against OU in Norman.
“Next year when we go to Baylor,” Gajewski said, “we’ll schedule (Texas).”
And of course, OU and OSU agreed to an annual Bedlam showdown, a mid-week game that will be played later this season at Devon Park.
But a bigger fix for the sport may be in order.
“One of the things we’re talking about as a coaching group is the amount of games that we’re playing, talking about is there a reason to take that down in the 50 range instead of the 56 range?” Gajewski said. “There’s a lot of things that are being talked about, but I just hope that people will continue wanting to play good games.
“That’s what our game needs.”
What the teams need, too.
“When you get to OKC and you look at those final eight teams, they usually play the best schedule,” Gajewski said. “That’s the recipe, and I learned that from Patty (Gasso, OU coach) a long time ago. I think it’s important that we all kind of think the same way.”
But even if Gajewski and the Cowgirls are part of a small group, he’s OK with that. He’ll keep asking to get on teams’ schedules. He’ll keep calling until he figures out ways to make the most of every opportunity.
“If we’re already somewhere and we have the opportunity to play, it’s not a money issue; we’re already there,” he said. “So let’s try to figure out a way to maximize that.”
