Box Score

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Huntsville, Texas – Texas State softball captured the 2011 Southland Conference Tournament Championship this afternoon at the Bearkat Softball Complex in Huntsville, Texas. The title is the second in three years for Texas State as it earns the automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.

The NCAA Softball Tournament Selection Show will be broadcast on ESPNU at 9 p.m. Sunday, May 15.

The Bobcats outscored its opponents 24 to 7 over the course of the tournament to highlight their successful run. Junior utility/pitcher Chandler Hall was named the Most Valuable Player. Jenna Emery, McKenzie Baack, Haley Lemons and Anne Marie Taylor all joined Hall on the all-tournament team.

Texas State fell behind for the first time in the tournament when A&M-Corpus Christi's Brittany Tucker hit a solo homerun over the centerfield wall in the bottom of the first. Both teams went scoreless in the second, but Tucker returned in the third to hit a two-run slammer off the scoreboard to give the Islanders a 3-0 lead after three innings of play.

Allyce Rother led off the fifth inning with a single to right field. Next, Lindsay Matt was able to garner a walk and Chandler Hall singled to load the bases. The Bobcats generated their first run when McKenzie Baack hit an RBI single to drive in Rother and move the runners over. Texas State wasn't quite done yet as senior stud Jenna Emery batted the ball to centerfield for a double that cleared the bases and give Texas State the 4-3 edge. The Islanders decided to make a pitching change, but it didn't seem to divert the Bobcats momentum as Anna Hernandez joined in on the hitting spree with a double to centerfield that scored Emery. Texas State tacked on five runs with four hits to spin the game in favor of the maroon and gold.

The Bobcats decided to add three runs in the top of the sixth to extend their lead to five runs. Rother began the inning with a leadoff double, followed by a single by Matt and a walk by Hall to load the bases with no outs. Lemons singled to push Rother home and give Texas State its sixth run of the day. Matt scored on an error and Hall on a sacrifice fly by Hernandez to take an 8-3 edge.

A&M-Corpus Christi was able to score a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to cut Texas State's lead to three. The three-run lead would prove to be enough for Texas State as the Bobcats earned their fifth conference tournament title.

Notes: Texas State made its third consecutive appearance in the Southland Conference Tournament Championship game … The Bobcats outscored their opponents 24 to 7 … First time Texas State has faced Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the championship game … Fifth NCAA Championship appearance.

Quotes:

Coach Woodard

"Obviously, it was a group of young ladies with experience today. They didn't get rattled when we got down by a couple of runs early in the ball game. They stayed with it and continued to make adjustments. It couldn't have turned out any better for me knowing that Chandler Hall was named MVP of the tournament. There's no one that works harder than Chandler. I thought it was a very well deserved award considering the way she swings the bat and pitches."