Texas felt ready to start Big 12 play, but Stillwater proved to be a tough destination.
Texas brought its tally of one-run losses to seven on the season with 1-0, 2-1 and 10-9 losses to Oklahoma State.
The first two games proved to be battles on the mound.
Senior pitcher Tiarra Davis started the pitching battle for Texas. Davis allowed one run on four hits and four strikeouts Friday. Oklahoma State pitcher Brandi Needham struck out six Longhorns and allowed only two hits and no earned runs.
The sole run of the game was a homer up the middle by Oklahoma State pitcher Jessi Haffner. Freshman third baseman Kaitlyn Slack and senior first baseman Kelli Hanzel provided Texas’ only hits of the game with singles in the third inning.
Redshirt sophomore pitcher Erica Wright was at the mound for the Longhorns in the second game. Her streak of 15 scoreless innings ended when a walk followed by a home gave the Cowgirls a 2-0 advantage.
Texas saw its first spark of production in the fourth inning when sophomore outfielder Reagan Hathaway blasted a solo home run down the right field line to bring the score to 2-1. Freshman catcher Taylor Ellsworth and freshman second baseman Jade Gortarez followed up with a single and double, respectively, but were unable to score.
Offense took center stage Sunday.
Oklahoma State was quick to score in the first inning, taking an early 2-0 lead. At the bottom of the third, Ellsworth led the charge with an RBI double to bring the score to 2-1. Gortarez followed with a two-run RBI double to give Texas a 3-2 lead. Freshman outfielder Tuesday DerMargosian capped off the third with a single RBI, extending Texas’ lead to 4-2.
Sophomore pitcher Brooke Bolinger entered the circle for the Longhorns in the fifth inning, keeping the Cowgirls scoreless for Texas to maintain the lead. Fielding errors by the Cowgirls put Hanzel and Slack on base in the sixth, then senior shortstop Devon Tunning sent a triple out to the wall to give the Longhorns a 6-2 lead. Hot hitting from senior outfielder Stephanie Wong, Ellsworth and Davis brought Texas to an 8-2 lead.
It seemed like the Longhorns had the game under control with 13 hits heading into the seventh.
But the Cowgirls were resilient as they loaded the bases at the top of the seventh and eventually tied the game at 8-8.
In extra innings, Ellsworth was made Texas history by going 5-for-5 at bat for the first time since Taylor Thom in 2011. But the Cowgirls answered once again at the plate, closing out the 10-9 victory and concluding the three-game sweep.
