Kenny Gajewski Uses Fall Ball as Springboard for Success

Photos courtesy Oklahoma State Athletics

Fall softball around the country means different things to different coaches.

At Oklahoma State, fall softball represents more than competition. It’s an opportunity to establish the culture and form a camaraderie amongst the team that head coach Kenny Gajewski hopes will result in the Cowgirls fifth consecutive trip to the Women’s College World Series.

On Sunday, Oklahoma State fell behind 3-0 to West Texas A&M and responded by scoring 18 consecutive runs to cruise to the victory.

Gajewski saw something different than a lopsided victory.

A portion of the postgame speech to his team centered around wasted opportunities.

“Winning is a mindset and a mentality. I told them I was really proud of the way they played today, but we had three innings that we didn’t score. That’s not acceptable. We have to have better at bats and ultimately we need to beat you so bad you don’t want to play tomorrow.”

But when the program is chasing a national championship high expectations are the norm.

Another aspect of the Gajewski program at Oklahoma State is integration and elevation. Integrating freshmen and transfers into the program and elevating the current players on the roster to greater success.

This applies to Cowgirls Rosie Davis and Audrey Schneidmiller.

Davis is a highly-touted freshman from Tennessee and Schneidmiller is entering her junior season looking to improve on a solid sophomore season.

For Davis, her first fall season in an OSU uniform has come with challenges but also has been made easier by the coaches and her teammates.

“The coaches are really supportive of me, Coach Cloer (Whitney Cloer) and Coach G (Kenny Gajewski) have both been super nice and always wanting me to get better and giving me opportunities to get better. And I think they’re understanding of it being stressful, but you have to own it.

“It’s gone really well. I love this place and it feels like my second home. Being far away from home has been really hard, but definitely the environment here has made me feel very safe.”

Gajewski has been pleased with the progression his freshman infielder has made during the fall season.

“She has fit in really well with the team and she’s really starting to settle in. A lot of times we think we have to go a hair faster and we really don’t. We actually can go a hair slower. But the last 10 days she has really taken some major strides and I’m really proud of the way she is going.”

That progression was shown on the field on Sunday as Davis went 2-for-4 at the plate, drove in two runs and had one of the eight doubles the Cowgirls hit on the day. She also turned in a clean performance at second base as she handled her chances flawlessly.

“It gives me a lot of confidence in being able to perform for my teammates. It makes me really happy.”

And when things don’t go as well, her teammates are there to coach her and pick her up.

“I love them all. They coach me in a really nice way and they hold me accountable for the things that I do out there and they help me. And the things that I struggle with or if I have questions, they’re always there to answer them for me.”

It was indeed out of here 😎#GoPokes https://t.co/Q759Quf7KF pic.twitter.com/d55eHzQqQz

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) October 22, 2023

Schneidmiller had a productive 2023 season for Oklahoma State and will be looking for even greater success in 2024.

She saw action in 25 games, including making 18 starts, last season and finished the year with a .297 batting average to go along with one home run and seven RBIs. She saw action in the WCWS against both Florida State and Utah.

Success from last season, along with a productive summer, has resulted in a solid fall season for Schneidmiller.

“I feel pretty confident in how the fall has been going so far. We’re very young, so we’re just getting our bearings on that, but today I feel like we did very well.”

Schneidmiller did her part to ensure the Cowgirls did very well as she finished the day 3-for-3 with five RBIs and a home run and a double.

“It makes me feel a lot better. Obviously we had a great warm up today. We came out and had fun and whenever we have fun I feel more confident to go out there. We just have fun together. That’s basically it.”

Gajewski is excited about the upcoming season for Schneidmiller.

“Audrey has had a great fall and I don’t think she is thinking about her knee anymore. She is swinging the bat really well and has had some really good performances. She has all the tools and I think its good to have Caroline (Wang) here as well and they can share that catching load. If she can swing the bat like she did today this team will be really good.”

Entering her junior season, Schneidmiller embraces the role of passing along the Cowgirl standard.

“We obviously have high standards for ourselves, but we also have standards as people. So when like Rosie and all of them came in as freshmen, we made sure to bring them in and welcome them. And then once we got on the field, they were comfortable enough to play their hearts out and not be intimidated by us. So our standard is kind of being great people, but also being great teammates.”

In what may well be the greatest expression of being a leader and a teammate, Schneidmiller has welcomed in Liberty transfer catcher Caroline Wang.

Wang was the Atlantic Sun Player of the Year in both 2022 and 2023 and started over 200 games at Liberty, but Schneidmiller has embraced the competition and understands that ultimately the duo will only make Oklahoma State stronger.

“Oh my gosh, I love her. She’s one of my favorite people. She’s a good time and she’s had a lot of experience too, so I can learn from her. And we’re already really close friends and we’re already competitors too. So we’re fighting for a spot, but in a healthy way. And it’s just a lot of fun.”

That’s just the Cowgirl way.

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