Why Ruby Meylan picked OSU, and how its quick action helped land the transfer ace
Cowgirl softball landed the portal's best player during the WCWS dead period.
Ruby Meylan, the pitcher widely seen as the best softball player in the transfer portal thus far this summer, picked Oklahoma State after making an official visit to Stillwater less than 24 hours after entering the portal. (OSU Athletics)
Ruby Meylan was flipping channels, watching regionals during the first weekend of the NCAA softball tournament when she landed on an Oklahoma State game.
After watching the Cowgirls for a while, she had a sudden thought.
"If I ever were to transfer," she said, "I would probably go to OSU."
Now, Meylan struggles to believe that moment. After all, she was playing in a regional, too, then the pitching ace at Washington who had no plan to leave the Huskies.
No desire to leave either.
A week later, that changed — and Meylan got to make good on that prediction about going to OSU.
Meylan is now a Cowgirl. The most high-profile and sought-after softball player to enter the transfer portal so far this spring is headed to Stillwater. OSU, badly in need of pitching to replace Lexi Kilfoyl and Ivy Rosenberry, struck gold with Meylan. The tall, hard-throwing righty has been an All-American, and she still has two years of eligibility remaining.
So, how did she end up a Cowgirl?
Let’s rewind first on how she ended up in the transfer portal. When Washington's season ended with a regional loss to Missouri, Meylan wasn't thinking about transferring. She was happy in Seattle. She was content being a Husky.
But the Wednesday after regionals, three of the Huskies' top four hitters and one of their top three pitchers entered the portal.
"Our team kind of broke apart," Meylan told me during a phone interview, "and a lot of girls decided to leave. I was like, 'OK, it's probably in my best interest (to leave, too).'"
Meylan heard from OSU coach Kenny Gajewski less than 15 minutes after her name hit the portal.
"Well, you want to get down here?" she remembers him asking.
Meylan was on a flight from Seattle to Oklahoma City the next morning, and by that evening, she was in Stillwater at Cowgirl Stadium for OSU's super regional opener against Arizona.
It was a brilliant move by Gajewski and Co. for a couple of reasons.
First, on-campus recruiting visits had to cease once the Women's College World Series started. By getting Meylan on campus when OSU did, it almost guaranteed she wouldn't have time to squeeze in another visit until after the nearly week-and-a-half-long tournament was over.
More on how that worked out in a bit.
Second, getting Meylan there so quickly gave her a chance to experience OSU's biggest home softball weekend of the season. The Cowgirls' willingness to have Meylan there when the stakes of the games were so high impacted her.
"Most coaches I feel like would be like, 'OK, it's super regionals; we're gonna wait till after to have people on a visit,' which is totally understandable," she said. "But the fact that this coaching staff wanted me down there immediately and were so welcoming on game day when that stuff can be super stressful, it felt like I was already part of the family when I literally had just gotten there and hadn't committed yet."
Meylan was around the team and in the locker room. That gave her a good look behind the curtain to see how the program is when the spotlight is bright and the opportunity is big.
"I feel like there's no hiding anything at that point," she said. "It was really good for me to see what the atmosphere was like on a game day.
"I even got to hang out with the girls on game day, which was crazy to me. I was like, 'Dang, at Washington, I would have been sitting in my apartment alone.'"
Meylan left Stillwater after the weekend loving everything about the program. The positive atmosphere. The blue-collar approach. The swagger of the underclassmen. The vibe of the coaches.
A lot of what she had liked while watching their regional game on TV, the things that had made her think she'd like OSU if she ever did transfer, were born out.
Still, Meylan didn't commit during her trip to Stillwater. She had two other official visits scheduled, and she thought she needed to follow through on those plans.
But every day as she talked with her parents about her situation, she expressed interest in the schools that she was going to visit. But passion for them? Excitement about them?
Nope.
Finally, after a few days, her dad spoke up.
"If you don't have any interest," he said, "why waste their time? Why waste your time? There's no point ... if you already have your mind made up and your heart set on OSU."
Remember how Gajewski got Meylan to Stillwater before that recruiting dead period? It meant she had lots of time to think only about the Cowgirls while waiting to take her other visits, and the more she thought about OSU, the more she wanted to commit.
She canceled her other recruiting trips, and then last Thursday, Meylan texted Gajewski.
Ruby Meylan, a hard-throwing righty, will have two years of eligibility remaining with the Cowgirls. (OSU Athletics)
"What's up?" she remembers him asking when he called back.
"I'm gonna be a Cowgirl," she said.
She said Gajewski got "super excited," and why wouldn't he be? With pitches that top out at 75 mph, comparable to national player of the year and Stanford ace NiJaree Canady, Meylan has a chance to step into Kilfoyl's shoes, be OSU's next ace and win a lot of ballgames for the Cowgirls.
But listen to Meylan talk about her decision, and it's hard to believe anyone is more excited about it than her.
"My goal is to be a top-five arm in the country," she said, "and I think that's really attainable. ... This season was tough, mentally and physically, so I think just getting back to where I know I can be and lead this team to national championship, that's what it's going to take. So I'm willing to do whatever.
"I just want to get back to where I know I can be and will be so that I can put our team in the best situation possible to hopefully host a regional, host a super regional and get back to Oklahoma City."