Why Kenny Gajewski played for the future in Oklahoma State softball's loss in WCWS
Berry TramelOklahoman
Kenny Gajewski played for the future. Which is a funny thing to be doing in the Women’s College World Series.
In the WCWS, the future is now. Treasure every trip. Shoot the moon. Unless you’re one of those historic-run teams like the current Sooners or the Arizona/UCLA teams of yore, you’re not guaranteed annual trips to Hall of Fame Stadium.
Try to take advantage of every opportunity.
But Thursday night in the rain-soaked first round of the 2023 World Series, Gajewski seemed to punt on the present, and Florida State run-ruled his Oklahoma State Cowgirls 8-0 in six innings.
Rain and/or lightning delayed the start of the game 80 minutes, then delayed the game another 106 minutes in the top of the third inning. Gajewski’s Cowgirls trailed 2-0 when play resumed at 9:55 p.m., and OSU pitching ace Kelly Maxwell did not resume.
Understandable. OSU’s staff knows its players well, and Gajewski said Maxwell’s history has not been keen when she’s had to take long breaks.
But what’s not so understandable is Kenny G. going with his No. 3 pitcher, rookie Kyra Aycock. With co-star Lexi Kilfoyl stationed in the dugout and perhaps being saved for an elimination game Friday night, Aycock struggled against the Seminoles. Eight of the first 10 batters against Aycock reached base; five scored, capped by Kaley Mudge’s three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Florida State suddenly had a 7-0 lead, and this game was over.
Gajewski called the decision to replace Maxwell “easy … to be very honest, as the delay got longer, we know her history very well, the more she sits, it doesn’t usually work out in her favor.”
In the modern era, virtually every World Series team relies on more than one pitcher. But even in 2023, teams that go to their No. 3 pitcher are playing with fire, and the Cowgirls got burned.
“As far as Kyra goes, she's thrown one inning in the last two weeks,” Gajewski said. “That's not enough. She's a kid that the more she throws, the better that she'll be.
“Trying to be back here every year. To do that, I got to get these kids experience. We felt like it was the best move for our team at that time.”
Sign me up for the Cowgirls being here every year. They’ve made four straight World Series, joining OU as the only schools that can make that claim.
And if Aycock throwing 3 ⅔ late-night innings against Florida State helps make this OSU foundation even more solid, fine. But no way was Aycock over Kilfoyl the best move for his team. The program, OK. But not this team.
Going with Aycock seemed to be a sign that Gajewski was giving up on this game.
These Cowgirls came in hot, with regional and super-regional sweeps. The OSU-FSU winner would be the favorite to make the championship series, which would be the next progression in the Cowgirls’ rapid ascent up the softball food chain.
But the postseason momentum evaporated quickly. Michaela Edenfield slugged a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning to give the ‘Noles a 2-0 lead. Then OSU super-senior Kiley Naomi ran into a third out at second base with teammate Chyenne Factor on third in the top of the third inning.
“When that happened, I felt the wind come out of us, and we never quite got anything back,” Gajewski said.
After Naomi’s out at second base, the Cowgirls took the field, with Aycock in the pitching circle. The freshman from Newnan, Georgia, entered with a 9-2 record, with a 2.51 earned run average in 95 innings. Then she faced 20 Florida State batters and gave up three walks and six hits.
Turns out, the Cowgirls would have been hard-pressed to win even had Aycock been flawless. Florida State star Kathryn Sanderock was superb; she held the Cowgirls to four hits and a walk in five innings.
OSU fielded poorly, ran the bases poorly and didn’t hit much. So blaming much on the pitching isn’t fair. This was a team effort.
And maybe Gajewski realized this just wasn’t the Cowgirls’ night. He said the pitching decision wasn’t some kind of pre-determined plan, in case of rain.
“I think most of the time we're going to just kind of make it midstream,” Gajewski said. “I mean, in baseball, you're planning like crazy and all this stuff.
“Softball, these kids are used to flying by the seat of their pants. We don't even tell our starter who is throwing until the day of, where baseball they're announcing it on Tuesday. It's kind of a unique thing in our game which is kind of cool, too.”
Maybe Aycock eventually becomes the Cowgirl ace. Maybe she’ll have some great times in the World Series. Maybe she’ll look back on her rocky WCWS debut as invaluable experience.
But Aycock’s appearance Thursday night was a sign that Gajewski was playing for the future, a strange thing to be doing in the Women’s College World Series.
