STILLWATER, Okla. — Last year was a Cinderella story for the Oklahoma State softball squad, making it to the Women’s College World Series for the first time since 1998.

And with just two everyday starters — and a relief pitcher — gone from that squad, the Cowgirls have the chance to make their own fairy tale ending after losing both contests they played in the WCWS.

“It think we’re a work in progress. I like our team, but we’ve got to learn to play together as a team with all the new parts and develop our own personality — and it’s come a long way from the fall season,” OSU coach Rich Wieligman said. “I think our freshmen are stepping up and we’ve got some kids who are wanting to step into those roles left open from our main starters last year graduating.

“Any time you lose seniors that were starters for four years and were your leaders — both emotional leaders as well as being seniors on the field — you are going to change your personality a little bit. You just don’t replace a player on the field, you’ve got to replace a player in the locker room and that’s on the bus. It goes all the way through.”

While the squad has lost some talented seniors, they have another core group of seniors to step up in the leadership department.

“They’ve all accepted that role. They’ve done an exceptional job with it. They just lead in a different way,” the OSU coach said. “That’s fine, but we’ve got to have that senior leadership of saying, ‘We’ve worked too hard to bring this program to where it’s at. We need to keep going!’ And from that standpoint, they’ve done a good job so far.”

With lofty goals following a successful season, comes a large target on the back when taking to the diamond.

No longer will these Cowgirls be able to pull off any “surprises” and will be the ones looking to avoid be upset as the preseason No. 11 team.

“Coach always says we have a target on our back now. We’re the team that people want to play and will give us their best every time,” OSU senior shortstop Chelsea Garcia said. “We’re not going to get teams thinking, ‘Oh, it’s just Oklahoma State. No big deal.’ We’re not going to be able to surprise anybody.”

The Cowgirls return both their starting pitchers from last year — Kat Espinosa (23-10 last year) and Simone Freeman (9-8).

“I have even greater expectations for our pitchers this year — not to say that I think they need to achieve more, but that I’ve seen them in practice and I’m really excited to see them in action,” OSU senior outfielder Sammy Jo Diffendaffer said. “I feel that they’ve all improved a lot and I’m anxious to see how good they can be this year.”