The Cowgirls didn’t step up to the plate this weekend.
Missouri came into Stillwater and swept the Cowgirls, winning 2-1 on Friday night and 6-1 on Saturday afternoon.
Friday evening’s game was all about the pitching. Cowgirl senior Jessica Hoppock and Missouri’s Jen Bruck pitched complete games. It was Hoppock’s 88th complete game of her career.
Hoppock struck out five and gave up five hits for two runs: two solo home runs from Bruck in the third and Amanda Renth in the fourth. Those two runs were enough to win the game for the Tigers because the Cowgirls had no answer offensively.
The lone run for Oklahoma State (24-22, 2-5 Big 12) came in the third when Krystle Sanchez singled to left to score Shanel Scott who was on second base. But despite the Cowgirls eight hits, the runs weren’t coming in.
“We couldn’t get them home,” Coach Rich Wieligman said. “We left nine girls on base. It seemed like we would get them on with two outs. We just needed that clutch hit and it didn’t come through.”
The pitching held up throughout the game. Missouri’s Bruck struck out a career-high 10 batters. Although Hoppock got the loss and is 12-11, Wieligman said he was pleased with her performance.
“Jess did great,” Wieligman said. “She pitched a compete game and only gave up two runs and that’s a good hitting team.”
On Saturday, the hits weren’t even coming in for the Cowgirls. Oklahoma State had only four hits and the lone run was in the third inning when Jenna Harmison hit a triple to center field and scored on a sacrifice fly by Sadie Krywicki.
“[On Friday] I felt like we hit the ball well but didn’t get that big hit,” Wieligman said. “Today we just couldn’t get anything going offensively.”
The Cowgirls are going to need their offense next weekend when they travel to Waco to play the No. 11 Baylor Bears.
But the offense wasn’t the only thing lacking in Saturday’s game. Oklahoma State went through three pitchers and had a defensive error in the loss.
“Hitting comes and goes,” Wieligman said. “But I feel like you can always play catch and you can always field the ball cleanly. We did some things today defensively that I wasn’t happy about: overthrows, not getting outs, things like that.”
Freshman Anna Whiddon started the game and gave up two runs before she left in the second inning. Senior Chelsey Barclay came in for Whiddon and gave up three run off of four hits. Hoppock relieved Barclay in the fifth and gave up one run. Whiddon got the loss and is now 10-7.
Loading ...
All Articles