NORMAN — Love’s Field sat in stunned silence. 

Oklahoma State freshman Karli Godwin hammered a two-run shot in the fifth inning, her fourth RBI of the night, to put the Cowgirls up by four runs.

Oklahoma’s warts of the past month were on display. 

Oklahoma only brought one run around in the first inning despite having the bases loaded, and stranded runners all night.

In the other dugout, Kenny Gajewski’s Cowgirls delivered clutch hit after clutch hit to stun the Sooners and take Game 1 of Bedlam for the first time since 2021.

OSU won Friday’s contest 6-3, pulling No. 1 Texas level with the Sooners at the top of the Big 12 standings and putting OU’s 11-year regular season conference title streak in jeopardy. 

“Not good enough. Give Oklahoma State credit. They swung it really well. They pitched really well,” OU coach Patty Gasso said after the loss. “… Our bats were not timely. Our defense was great. Our pitchers gave up too much, too many hard-hit balls. They’re good, and we knew it. We have to pitch more competitively. That’s the word we were talking about is competitive. More competitive swings, competitive pitches, athletic that way.”

No. 2 Oklahoma (45-5, 21-4 Big 12) stranded eight baserunners in the loss to No. 4 Oklahoma State (43-8, 20-5), and was out-hit 7-3.

WATCH: Oklahoma’s Bedlam Postgame Press Conference

Friday was OU’s first defeat to the Cowgirls at home since 1997 and OSU’s six runs were the most the team had scored in Norman since a 6-2 Bedlam win on May 2, 1985.

The Cowgirls nearly took the lead from the jump. 

Kelly Maxwell fired a pair of strikeouts, but she walked Tallen Edwards to put a runner on first. 

Godwin doubled to the wall and Gajewski knew exactly what he wanted. He waved Edwards home, setting up a play at the plate. 

Rylie Boone hit Tiare Jennings on the cutoff, and she fired home for a bang-bang play. Edwards slid under Kinzie Hansen’s tag and was called safe, drawing a ferocious fist pump from Gajewski and putting OSU on top — or so the Cowgirls thought. 

After review, Edwards’ move to avoid Hansen took her wide enough for the Sooner catcher to apply the tag before Edwards’ hand caught a piece of home. The call was overturned, ending the top of the first with both teams still scoreless. 

The Sooners carried that momentum into the bottom half of the inning. 

Jayda Coleman, Jennings and Alyssa Brito all drew walks to load the bases with one out. 

Hansen drew the fourth walk of the inning putting Oklahoma up 1-0, but the Sooners struggled to turn the screws on Oklahoma State right-hander Kyra Aycock’s shaky start. 

Despite only throwing 12 of her 30 first inning pitches for strikes, Aycock got Ella Parker and Alynah Torres to fly out and limit the damage in the frame. 

Oklahoma capitalized on a mistake in the second inning. 

Kasidi Pickering dribbled a grounder toward the gap in the right side of the infield with two outs and Boone on second. OSU second baseman Rosie Davis covered the ground to field the ball, but mishandled the exchange to her throwing hand as she moved to try and toss the ball. 

Boone rounded third and sped home as soon as she saw to ball hit the dirt to double OU’s advantage. 

A walk and a hit batter came back to bite Maxwell in the third, as Godwin produced again with a two-out double to clear the bases and tie the game up for the Cowgirls at 2-2.

OSU took the lead in the fourth. 

Micaela Wark hammered a one-out delivery to dead center, putting the Cowgirls in front 3-2.

Kierston Deal came on in relief to end Maxwell’s outing to start the fifth. Maxwell allowed four hits and two walks while striking out three batters in her first start against her old team.

“I am extremely proud of Kelly because it’s a very tough situation,” Gasso said of Maxwell. “Even if you’re playing at home, it’s a tough situation for her. So I was proud of her competing. But there’s too many walks.

“There’s hit batters. … I thought Kelly came out and was a little bit nervous, and then she started to settle in a bit, but this is a day that she was knowing was coming, and if you’ve ever been in a situation like that, your heart beats a little bit differently that day.”

The change didn’t slow down the Cowgirls, as Jilyen Poullard greeted Deal with a solo shot to extend OSU’s lead to 4-2.

Godwin continued to torment the Sooners, belting a two-run shot to put the visitors up four.

Gasso went to Karlie Keeney two batters after Godwin’s bomb, ending the night for the back-to-back Big 12 Pitcher of the Week.

Though a small sample size, Deal entered the night with a 4.85 ERA when entering games out of the bullpen, a stark contrast from her form when she starts games. Gasso didn’t put the struggles at the feet of any mental disconnect from starting games to entering in relief, however.

“KD has been our hottest pitcher as of late,” Gasso said. “So if I felt like (if) she wasn’t ready to come in, I wouldn’t put her in. It’s just, she had an off night, she left the ball over the plate too many times and she’ll tell you that herself.”

Hansen didn’t see any difference out of the sophomore left hander, either.

“They executed on good pitches really,” Hansen said. “That’s all you can really say. I think that the ones that we were trying to get them to chase on, they didn’t and then the ones that were over the plate they got the barrel on it, so tip the cap to them.”

Over the past three seasons, the fifth inning is typically where Oklahoma turned the tide, pulling a dramatic comeback victory out of the fire. 

With runners on first and second, Boone popped up her first pitch to record the second out, but Coleman helped get one run back for OU. 

Her hard-hit ball to third turned into a run off a bad throw, allowing Coleman to reach base and a run to score, but Pickering flew out with runners at the corners, ending the sixth with the Cowgirls up 6-3.

Still, OU was held without a hit from the second inning until the sixth.

“They pitched really well,” Jennings said. “But at a certain point we got to adjust. We had little spurts of it here and there. Just not enough to execute.”

Keeney stopped the bleeding in the circle to give Oklahoma one final chance. The Sooners had Jennings, Brito and Hansen due up in the seventh to erase the three-run deficit.

This time, there was no magic.

Jennings flew out to the warning track and Brito and Hansen both grounded out to end the contest.

“We gave ourselves a chance late in the game, but we were just kind of in a lull in the middle,” Gasso said. “Against a good team, you can’t give up innings. You can’t sit back and wait. There have been times when we used to be able to do that pretty easily. We’re not made that way this year.

“We can’t take innings off. We have got to grind, work better at passing the bat on that side. And we have to make competitive pitches. We keep trying to catch up but then giving up a lead, then what does that help? We talked a lot more about being competitive and fearless. Fearless.”

Game 2 between the Bedlam rivals will start at noon Saturday, and will be broadcast on ESPN.

Title: District Manager – Oklahoma and Central/Western Kansas

Desired Location: Oklahoma City, OK

We are hiring! Geloso Beverage Group is ready to add a hard-working, dedicated new member to our growing team. We are seeking a self-motivated and forward-thinking team player to fill our District Manager – Oklahoma and Central/Western Kansas position.

Geloso is one of the largest Beer & Malt Beverage Companies in the U.S.A. and G.B.G. is one of the largest suppliers in Convenience Store Channel. Based in Rochester, NY, since 2002, Geloso distributes multiple flavored malt beverages, including Clubtails “Cocktail in a Can” and Johny Bootlegger. These beverages can be found nationwide, in most convenience, grocery, and liquor stores.

Geloso is a TOP 100 Beverage Company in the USA, recipient of 3 Hot Brand Award for Johny Bootlegger & 4 Hot Brand Award for Clubtails.

Position Summary

The District Manager works with area distributors to develop and build our brands within the designated territory. This position requires 40% overnight travel and encompasses the states of Oklahoma and Central/Western Kansas with occasional visits to neighboring territories. The desired location of residence is Oklahoma City, OK

Overarching Roles

·       Manage & Increase brand visibility and sales.

·       Strong leadership and representative of Geloso Beverage portfolio brands at all times.

Primary Roles

·       Establish and build distribution of our brands by working with distributor network.

·       Support Distributor in proper account merchandising and maintenance.

·       Conduct Distributor ride-withs on a regular basis (weekly) to ensure programs and priorities are on track, and to help identify new opportunities.

·       Target and track new accounts and product placements.

·       Work with distributors in developing effective market plans and incentives.

·       Tracking and reporting all work successes on a weekly basis.

·       Work under the direction of the Regional Sales Manager to meet monthly and quarterly sales goals.

·       Report monthly depletion reports to Regional Sales Manager as required.

·       Maintain and build strong rapport with distributor personnel.

Account Management                                                                                                 

·       Sell new and expanded distribution to both off-premise and on-premise accounts.

·       Build and maintain strong relationships with the owners & managers of the top accounts within the area of responsibility.

·       Support training and development initiatives for wholesalers and with key accounts.

·       Prioritize existing accounts and deploy resources (materials, budgets) to achieve set Geloso Beverage market goals.

·       Identify market specific business development opportunities.

Expectation Indicators

·       Understand how to use Vermont Information Processing (VIP) to track and manage all key sales leads.

·       Understand and explain national data trends with the use of Nielsen/IRI.

·     Provide market insight and recommendations against the target account list and update as needed with new account openings, new opportunities, etc.

·       Competitive tracking: report on competitive activity and watch for market trends.

·     Present to and engage distributor sales personnel at distributor sales meetings, while sharing upcoming priorities, events, and brand initiatives.

·    In market work: 4 days per week with distributor personnel or working off a Lilypad target account list.

·       Execute all aspects of sales plan with wholesaler network. Execute brand plans and programming by working with Geloso Bev Regional Manager and primary contact at the distributor.

·       Responsible for tracking and reporting on-going and consistent market conditions through Lilypad and iDIG VIP.

·       Weekly retail/market recap of execution and performance, providing manager feedback on market using Lilypad and iDIG VIP.

·       Work with teammates on a regular basis in the field. Provide best practice sharing and coordinate in market execution/activation drives against key market/account initiatives, new item launches and/or distribution drives.

·       Responsible for brand execution at the market level. Brand standards to include pricing, shelf placement, cold box placement, and display placement.

·       Keep abreast of competitive trends and report appropriate developments.

·       Responsible for management of own operating and T&E expenses within company guidelines

·       16 days (80% of time) ensuring retail execution, surveying (with key personnel of the wholesaler), evaluating distribution, display and ad feature execution.

·       4 full days (20% of time) managing all administrative requirements due on a monthly basis (distribution tracking, program execution tracking and performance management) as well as all local initiatives.

Desired Skills and Experience

The candidate must have:

·       Minimum of 1-5 years’ experience in sales & marketing in a related beer business or alcoholic beverage industry.

·       Proven ability to manage distant and high-level relationships with distributor leadership and key retailers in multiple markets.

·       Proven track record of success.

·       Knowledge of local beer market.

·       Proficient in Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Web-based reporting tools.

·       Knowledge of and experience with Vermont Information Processing (VIP) a plus.

·       Clean driving record and proof of automotive insurance.

·       Ability to travel as necessary.

·       Position contingent upon successful completion of background check, drug screen, and physical.

Communication skills

·       Excellent interpersonal skills, diplomatic, persuasive, strong negotiating skills.

·       Strong written, verbal, and public speaking skills.

Results

Focus/Teamwork

·       Hands-on approach with can-do attitude; problem solving; resourceful; ensure constructive accountability for actions; collaborative but decisive.

While Oklahomans are currently being drenched with spring storms, the heat of the summer is coming.

Summer starts on June 1 or June 20, depending on whether you ask a meteorologist or an astronomer, but either way AccuWeather is predicting a hot summer for most of the contiguous United States.

Here’s what you should know about how Oklahoma temperatures will fare this summer.

2024 Oklahoma Summer forecast: Above average temperatures expected

According to AccuWeather, much of Oklahoma can expect to see temperatures two to three degrees higher than historical averages.

Southeast Oklahoma may not see as high of a departure from average temperatures.

But the Oklahoma panhandle could see some of the hottest temperatures, especially when it comes to August and showers and thunderstorms will likely provide a break from the heat in June and July.

2024 US Summer forecast: What states will see the most heat?

The areas expected to see the highest temperature departures from historical averages include over the Great Lakes, the Upper Midwest and the southwest Plains.

Northeast cities like New York and Boston could see twice to three or four times as many 90-degree days this summer as compared to 2023.

“Energy demand is expected to be higher compared to average,” AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Forecaster Paul Pastelok said. “Air conditioners and other cooling devices will be in high demand.”

Meanwhile, showers and thunderstorms will help curb the heat in Gulf Coast states after a dry 2023 boosted temperatures and left drought to expand.