At about 2 a.m. at her Connecticut home last summer, Rachel Becker jumped off the couch, stood up and went into shock.

She was watching what ended up being OSU’s final softball game in 2022; a 6-5 loss to Texas in the Women’s College World Series. Becker was the only one in her family who stayed up to watch the conclusion of the series.

Well, she was the only one intentionally awake. Becker may have awoken her family when she saw OSU lose a late lead and get eliminated.

“Seeing that at the end, I honestly felt it,” Becker said.

Becker, a grad transfer from Purdue, said she knew she wanted to be a Cowgirl while watching the WCWS. Despite being one of the Big Ten’s best players, she had not played in a postseason game as a Boilermaker. She could stay up until 2 a.m. because her season was already over, and that was not a good feeling.

In the offseason, Becker left her beloved school where she led the Big Ten with a .429 batting average.

“I loved Purdue,” Becker said. “But I had always wanted to play on the biggest stage. I knew that wasn’t going to happen at Purdue. I knew I had to leave. And my main goal was to play for a team that could get me there.”

It was not without sacrifices. Becker played shortstop at Purdue but told OSU coach Kenny Gajewski to play her where OSU needed. That was second base.

It was worth it to join No. 3 OSU. Besides, Becker figured things would change. She said she got familiar with OSU while watching the Cowgirls throughout the 2022 postseason.

“I watched everything. Because I was at home doing nothing because we were done. Just watching them compete, I was like, this team has some fight and I really want to be a part of something like that. So that was a huge factor.”