Oklahoma State’s Rosie Davis led off the bottom of the 11th inning with nothing to show for her previous efforts after going 0-for-4. A fifth straight out seemed likely with the groove in which Alexis Jensen found herself after relieving Jordy Frahm following the 7th inning. In the first three extra frames, Jensen had been stellar allowing just 1 hit while striking out 6, walking no one and throwing 40 of her 57 pitches for strikes before running the count to 2-0 on Davis.
Then, as has been Jensen’s
issue in an otherwise stellar freshman debut season, she grooved the 60th pitch a little too fat in the zone and Rosie absolutely blasted it to dead center for a 2-1 Cowgirls victory.
A game which appeared to be set to end with time to spare under two hours ended up with a run time of 3 hours, 11 minutes. The Stillwater crowd numbered 1,802 which ranked as their 4th largest ever and was a record for a home opener. However, only a fraction of that number were still around to see the Davis victory shot.
Most did remain long enough to see the Cowgirls escape the brink of defeat in the bottom of the 7th, however.
The Cowboys appeared to have gone quickly trailing 1-0 entering the bottom of the 7th inning. The Huskers scored their lone run in the bottom of the 5th with a little small ball from Coach Rhonda Revelle. Pinch runner Katelyn Caneda was bunted to 2nd by Hannah Coor, then tagged and advanced to 3rd base on a Bella Bacon drive to right field. Lauren Camenzind then scored Caneda when she chopped one up the middle which appeared to be actively darting away from Cowgirls gloves like an unruly puppy escaping its leash to take mom on a tour of the neighborhood.
Okie State quickly got a liner to left and fly ball to center for two quick outs. This fly was high and much shorter than the one Hannah Coor jumped up and snagged back into play in the bottom of the 6th, an amazing grab which thwarted what appeared to be a successful Cowgirls attempt to tie the game.
Tia Warsop then grounded one to Lauren Camenzind which she fumbled while turning completely around, but finally picked it up and threw to 1st for the final out. Frahm, who in her two previous matchups with Cowgirls starter Ruby Meylan, the former Omaha Skutt pitcher, had torn her ACL in Mexico and lost a 1-0 duel in Wichita, had finally gotten over on her rival.
Except Oklahoma State was challenging the call which was reversed upon review (Replays did show the runner was safe and by a decent margin.) In the later innings, her opponents began to tag Jordy hard and, with new life, they attacked. First, Frahm hit herself in the hip with the 2-2 pitch to Audrey Schneidmiller and Warsop took 2nd as the pitch slowly dribbled to the plate.
Schneidmiller then drilled the 3-2 pitch to right for a single tying the game. Jayden Jones smacked the next one to right as well putting runners on 1st and 2nd. And Aubrey Jones ripped a shot to – you guessed it – right field, and the game appeared over.
With a tip of the hat to Lee Corso, Husker right fielder Kacie Hoffman said, “Not so fast my friends, not so fast!” (I mean, she could have) and drilled a strike to catcher Jesse Farrell to nail pinch runner Kaya Booker at home with room to spare.
If not before the 7th inning started, should Revelle have brought Jensen in for Frahm somewhere in the middle of the 3-hit rally? Alexis’ performance in the extras suggests she would have been up to the task. However, to answer my own question, Revelle could hardly be blamed for sticking with Frahm who has repeatedly escaped so many similar situations with authority.
Jordy finished the night throwing 7 innings and giving up 7 hits, even with the 4 in the 7th added in, and striking out 9 while walking only 1. She has been stellar this season in relieving Jensen to the tune of 5 saves. But unlike 2025, where a struggling Jordy was still better than the alternatives, Jensen provides the same option and could confidently be inserted in the rare instances where Frahm appears human.
Jensen has now struck out 61 batters and walked only 4 in 31 innings of work.
On the Cowgirls side, Meylan threw yet another gem against her home state Huskers. She tossed 10 innings also striking out 9 and walking 1. She did not get the decision as the wonderfully named RyLee Crandall came on for her in the 11th for the win, but it is Meylan local fans will be talking about over sausage gravy and country fried steaks at the local diners tomorrow.
She silenced Husker bats which had come alive the previous weekend against ranked SEC opponents. Only Frahm (2-for-5) and Kacie Hoffman (3-for-4 in addition to her game-extending bullet to the plate) managed multi-hit games. The Husker Power was silenced like no previous game as they managed only one extra-base hit, a 4th inning rip to the right center wall upon which Nebraska failed to capitalize.
Oklahoma State managed to do it twice. First, it was a 7th inning rally following the 3rd out challenge. Then Rosie Davis swung from her heels and caught lightning.
The Huskers swing over to Tulsa tomorrow for a pair against South Dakota State and then the Golden Hurricane themselves with start times scheduled for 2:30 and 5:00. The SDSU game will not be televised, so I invite all to enjoy the Huskers Radio Network broadcast featuring Nate Rohr. The Tulsa game will be streamed on ESPN+.
