Two freshmen lead Wichita State softball to dramatic win over No. 3 Oklahoma State
A pair of true freshmen proved to be the heroes in the highest-ranked road win in program history for the Wichita State softball team.
In a rematch of top-25 teams in Stillwater on Tuesday evening, freshman starter Alex Aguilar threw a complete-game gem and freshman Sami Hood delivered the game-winning, two-run home run with two out in the top of the eighth of a 3-1 victory for the No. 23-ranked Shockers over No. 3 Oklahoma State at Cowgirl Stadium.
WSU has now handed Oklahoma State (39-5) two of its five losses this season.
“It means everything to be able to help my team get this win,” said Aguilar, who threw her seventh complete game of the season to improve to 11-2 with a 1.58 ERA. “You know sometimes it’s you and sometimes it’s not. I’m glad it was us today.”
After a loss to snap a 12-game winning streak to Houston at home on Sunday, WSU revived its chances of hosting an NCAA Regional with its third top-10 win on the season to improve to 37-8 overall. The Shockers, which defeated then-No. 2 OSU 8-7 in Wichita on April 4, also completed a rare season sweep in the regional rivalry.
While WSU won’t be able to match the quantity of standout wins that many major-conference teams possess through sheer opportunity, the Shockers can now point to two wins over Oklahoma State and a run-rule victory over Arkansas as evidence that they belong in the conversation for a top-16 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Tuesday’s win was perhaps even more impressive considering WSU was missing its No. 3- and No. 4-hole hitters, as senior slugger Zoe Jones is sidelined indefinitely with an arm injury and junior star Lauren Lucas missed Tuesday’s game with an illness.
“Anytime you can beat a top-five team two times in a season, that’s a pretty good year,” WSU coach Kristi Bredbenner said. “This is a good one and we’re going to enjoy it for tonight, but we’ve got to get back to work and get ready for East Carolina this weekend.”
While Hood provided the dramatic, game-winning hit in the end, it was Aguilar who pulled off a high-wire act to maneuver through a stacked OSU lineup and hold the Cowgirls to a single run in eight innings.
OSU had a base runner in every inning, but Aguilar consistently managed to escape jams. She never overpowered OSU (only one strikeout), but she had great command of her pitches. The game plan called for Aguilar to work the outside of the plate, which she did successfully and pointed out why OSU hit into 16 groundouts.
“Everything tonight was about location, location, location,” Aguilar said. “If people go back and watch the game, we had a lot of groundouts and it was definitely because we were hitting that outside corner.”
With WSU clinging to a 1-0 lead entering the bottom of the sixth, Bredbenner could have pulled Aguilar when she gave up a lead-off double. Or in the seventh inning when Aguilar loaded the bases with one out. Or in the eighth inning when she allowed a lead-off single.
Bredbenner never wavered in her belief in the freshman from Midland, Texas.
“To me, it looked like she was feeling it,” Bredbenner said. “She wasn’t getting hit hard and they weren’t really making a ton of adjustments. I never felt like there was ever a reason to bring anybody else in.”
Aguilar said she never had to appeal to her coach to leave her in the game.
After giving up the lead-off double in the sixth, Aguilar recorded three straight outs to strand the runner at second base. The bottom of the seventh inning certainly presented some nervy moments with the game on the line, but Aguilar limited the damage to a single run. Aguilar said she was empowered by her coach’s confidence in her in the circle, which allowed her to stay calm in the bottom of the eighth inning and coax three straight outs to close out the win.
“Honestly, I don’t really have a lot of emotion during the game,” Aguilar said. “Once I got to the later innings, I was really just going off adrenaline at that point. You just can’t freak out because once you freak out, then it’s over, especially against a top-three team in the country.
“It helped knowing that my coach and my team had that much faith in me. They just kept giving me all of the confidence in the world.”
This story was originally published April 18, 2023 at 9:06 PM.
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