Cowgirls Hand Huskers Second-Straight Big 12 Loss

Stillwater, Okla.-Oklahoma State celebrated its stadium dedication with a 4-2 win over the Nebraska softball team Saturday afternoon at Cowgirl Field and put a damper on the Huskers' hopes of a Big 12 title. The Cowgirls put away the Huskers early with three first-inning runs and never looked back. Nebraska fell to 32-18 overall and 7-2 in the Big 12 with its second straight conference loss.

The Cowgirls hammered NU starter Jenny Voss in the first inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Christina Shaddox hit a grounder that was mishandled by Amanda Buchholz, who fired the throw past NU catcher Amber Burgess, allowing two Cowgirls to score. The third run of the inning came when Liz Silva stroked a single to right field to score an OSU runner from third. Jamie Fuente broke up OSU freshman pitcher Lauren Bay's bid for a no-hitter in the fourth inning by lining a ball into left center. OSU added its fourth run in the bottom of the fourth when Shelly Graham singled to left field to bring around Casey O'Neill from second base. O'Neill had advanced to second when Voss got called for her third illegal pitch of the game.

Nebraska pulled within two in the next half of the inning. Jill Baker and Buchholz collected back-to-back infield singles to lead off the fifth. Kim Ogee then hit a routine ground out to OSU shortstop, Casey O'Neill, but O'Neill got called for interfering with the runner, Baker, keeping everyone safe. Leigh Suhr then drew a bases loaded walk to add a run to NU's side of the board. Jennifer Lizama followed that up with a sacrifice fly in shallow right that scored Buchholz from third and made the score 4-2. Burgess and Fuente closed out the inning with back-to-back strikeouts leaving NU two behind with two innings to play. But Nebraska wouldn't even reach base again and the game ended when Suhr fouled out to first base.

Jenny Voss came up short for the second straight start in her effort to become NU's first 100-game winner and fell to 12-8 on the year. Bay improved to 14-9 with the four-hitter for the Cowgirls. Nebraska got all its hits from the bottom half of its lineup as the top five went 0-for-10. The Huskers have traditionally struggled in Stillwater and now have a 1-14 all-time record there with 12 straight losses.

The Huskers will finish off its Oklahoma State series with a single game at noon on Sunday at Cowgirl Field.

W: Lauren Bay (14-9); L: Jenny Voss (12-8)
E: Buchholz (5), O'Neill (16);
LOB: Nebraska 6, Oklahoma State 4
SB: Baker (8); SH: Shaddox (5);
SF: Lizama (2); BK: Voss (2)
Time: 1:56; Attendance: 275