Jun. 13—Oklahoma State softball coach Kenny Gajewski was prompted to issue an opening statement on what had just transpired roughly a half-hour prior to that very moment. The Cowgirls had just been handed a seasonending loss by Tennessee in the Women’s College World Series.

Gajewski, barely removed from another objectively successful campaign, started by congratulating the Lady Vols and their coach, Karen Weekly. He thanked the staff in charge of hosting the event in Oklahoma City. And he finished by sharing sentimental words about “Team 8,” — what he called this year’s squad — before turning the attention to Team 9.

“We’ll take some time and regroup to figure out how we can improve, and we’ll be back,” Gajewski said June 4. “We’ll be right back here next year and make another run.”

Gajewski and Co. knew they were going to have crucial pieces returning for the 2024 season before the 2023 title run even started. Cowgirls ace Kelly Maxwell, now a two-time All-American, revealed in early February that she would be utilizing her extra season of eligibility from the COVID-19 pandemic and stay in Stillwater for a sixth year.

Sitting next to Gajewski on the bottom floor at Hall of Fame Stadium, OSU pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl, who had just finished her first year with the Pokes after transferring in from Florida, was asked if she’d also be taking advantage of another year of eligibility.

“Yes, I will be,” she said. “I’ll be coming back, for sure.”

That means, at least as of Tuesday, the Cowgirls will return their top-four pitchers in 2024 with Kilfoyl (1.70 ERA in 2023), Maxwell (1.91 ERA), soon-to-be sophomore Kyra Aycock (2.51 ERA) and soonto- be senior Ivy Rosenberry (2.51 ERA).

They’ll get better in the circle, too. Katie Kutz, an OSU signee out of Bishop O’Connell, was named the Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year for the second consecutive season on Monday afternoon.

She led her team with an individual record of 19-0, sporting a 0.45 ERA in the process while striking out 268 batters and allowing a meager 24 hits across 109 innings of action. A two-way player, Kutz hit .557 with 13 home runs and 46 RBI.

“Katie is arguably the best high school pitcher and allaround athlete that I have seen,” Rita Horning Rahl, the head coach at Elizabeth Seton High School, told Gatorade. “The thing that makes Katie a standout is obviously her velocity, throwing consistently in the high 60s, low 70s. ... She also has the ability to pick a batter’s weakness and locate her pitches on demand.”

And she isn’t the only one. Gajewski lured another Gatorade Player of the Year to Stillwater in Karli Godwin from North Carolina. Godwin differs from Kutz, though. The 5-foot-9 shortstop doesn’t do her damage in the circle.

She does it at the plate, where she finished her senior season batting .731 with 20 home runs en route to East Columbus making it to the state semifinals. After striking out once in 131 plate appearances, Godwin’s onplate percentage was .809 and helped her become the No. 8 recruit in the Class of 2024.

“Karli Godwin is a special athlete and softball player,” William Deese, a coach at another school in North Carolina, told Gatorade. “Defensively, she seems to make the difficult plays look easy. Offensively, she’s in another stratosphere.”

Talent like that is what keeps Gajewski looking ahead, never wanting to get too far behind in pursuit of a fifth-straight trip to the WCWS. This past season was among the most rewarding of his tenure, he said. It came with challenges, expectations and slumps they’ve never experienced before.

But it’s a tough choice. He made that assessment sitting next to Kiley Naomi and Chyenne Factor, a pair of departing, program-changing seniors who played key roles in Gajewski’s first trip to the sport’s biggest stage in 2019. Those two, along with cornerstone Taylor Tuck, helped turn OSU upside down in the best of ways.

Younger pieces — Tallen Edwards, Micaela Wark and Aycock — will take on a larger role. Transfers, such as the ones who helped this past season in their final year of eligibility in Rachel Becker and Morgyn Wynne, are expected to continue to be a key part of the Cowgirls moving forward.

“We’ve already committed some kids out of the portal. We’ve got a really good class coming in. I’ll stay active in the portal. I’ll stay active in NIL,” Gajewski said. “If you’re out there, don’t hesitate because I’m coming at you.

“We’ll start looking forward to Team 9 here in a couple of days.”