Box Score
Austin, Texas – The Texas State softball team closed out its season today at the NCAA Austin Regional. The Bobcats were defeated by Louisiana-Lafayette 11-2 in the fifth game of the regional that was played in a double elimination format at McCombs Field.
The Bobcats reached the regional after claiming the Southland Conference Tournament last week to qualify for their fifth NCAA postseason appearance.
Just like against Texas last night, Anna Hernandez produced the first hit of the game with a blooper to left field that advanced McKenzie Baack to second who had reached base on a leadoff walk. Allyce Rother followed with almost the same exact hit to load the bases for the Bobcats. Next was Jordan Masek who came up big for the Bobcats with an infield chopper to the pitcher that scored Baack.
In attempt to throw Baack out at home, Louisiana-Lafayette's pitcher Christina Hamilton was injured on the play when her foot got caught on the dirt as she went down to the ground forcing the umpires to halt play.
Pinch hitter Allison Snow entered the game and lined the ball down the right side to push Hernandez home for the 2-0 lead after two.
The Ragin' Cjauns scored their first run of the game off a one-out double by Sarah Draheim in the top of the third. Paige Cormier added to ULL's timely hitting with a hard-hit single past the shortstop that drove in a pair of runs to give the Ragin' Cajuns a one-run lead.
Unfortunately, ULL's hitters continued to produce into the fourth as it began the inning with a hit by pitch and back-to-back bunts to load the bases with no outs. Christi Orgeron stepped to the batter's box and singled to the shortstop and all runners advanced one base to drive in one more run for ULL. Gabriele Bridges then hit a sacrifice fly to left field, followed by a base clearing double by Cormier as ULL went up 8-2 on the Bobcats. The Ragin' Cajuns scored six total runs in the inning to extend the score 9-2 in their favor midway through the fourth.
The Ragin' Cajuns tacked on two runs in the top of the fifth to go up 11-2 on Texas State to force the Bobcats to score at least two runs to stay in the game.
Hernandez finished 2-for-2 from the plate with one run scored to lead Texas State.
Notes
Today was the second time Texas State has played Louisiana-Lafayette in a regional; the last time was in 2009. The Bobcats finish the 2011 season 33-25.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Ricci Woodard
Opening statement: It's obviously not the way you want to finish the season. We had a hard time getting them out, and they produced when they needed to. It's one of those deals when you're happy to be here, but not happy with the way it ends.
On bringing in a new pitcher: Well the game was still 3-2 then, and you're still hoping to get to another game. We were hoping to get a few innings out of Crystal, and I had already told Anne Marie that she would probably go back in the ball game. It was just one of those deals where we were trying to get to the next ball game.
On next season's outlook: We're returning a pretty good group, but we're also losing a good group. It's just going to be a matter of replacing some kids that did a really good job for us. As I told the senior class, we wouldn't have been here without them. They're going to be tough to replace, but obviously we expect to be sitting in the same spot next year.
