SAN MARCOS, Texas – In a quick turnaround after its extra inning victory over Houston Baptist on Wednesday evening, the Texas State softball team heads west for the Campbell/Cartier Classic hosted by San Diego State on Friday. The Bobcats will play five games in three days, starting with an 11 a.m. contest against St. Mary's College.
 
A Look At The Competition
Saint Mary's
Saint Mary's won its final two games at last week's Hotel Encanto Invitational at New Mexico State, starting the season with a 2-3 overall record. The Gaels hit at a .290 clip as a team, including an impressive .326 team average with two-outs. Of the Gaels' 19 RBI over the weekend, 13 of SMC's RBI came with two outs in the inning.
 
Lahela Usui hit .500 in just four plate appearances, while Brittany Sabatini had a team-high eight hits, hitting safely in each game and enters the weekend with a .421 average and 10 total bases.
 
Cal State Fullerton
Cal State Fullerton moved to a perfect 6-0 after defeating San Diego on Wednesday night by a score of 4-2. Following her third home run on the season, transfer Missy Taukeiaho has hit safely in all five games of the season, increasing her batting avg. 10-points (.625) to lead the Big West.
 
San Diego State
After one weekend, the Aztecs, who have opened up the season with a 4-1 overall record, have three players batting over .400 in freshman Sydnee Cable (.462), senior Katie Mathis (.429) and senior Patrice Jackson (.417). The home portion of the Aztecs schedule starts with the 24^th annual Campbell/Cartier Classic.
 
California
No. 24 California tallied eight hits, including a pair of homers from junior Danielle Henderson and senior Victoria Jones, to surge to an 8-3 win over Portland State in the final game at the Kajikawa Classic Sunday. The Bears finished the weekend with a perfect 4-0 overall record.
 
Freshman Katie Sutherland-Finch earned her first win as a Golden Bear for a five-inning effort, tossing four hits and six strikeouts while allowing only one walk.
 
South Dakota
South Dakota scored four runs on six hits in the fifth inning of a 4-2 win against Long Island Sunday at a tournament hosted by Central Florida. The Coyotes outscored their competition 14-7 in finishing 3-0 during their opening weekend.
 
Katie Dinning was 3-for-4 in the contest. Minogue finished 1-for-2 with two walks. She hit safely in all three games in Orlando and reached base nine times in 11 plate appear­ances.
 
About Texas State
The Bobcats are coming off of an extra innings, 7-6 victory last Wednesday night over Houston Baptist. Senior Timishia North had a runner on second in the bottom of the eighth inning when she ripped a single past the Huskies' third baseman to score freshman Bianco Prado who was standing on second.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, down 6-5, Texas State placed pinch runner Danielle Warne on second base due to the international tiebreaker. A throwing error by the Houston Baptist third baseman on a sacrifice bunt by Katie Doerre sent Warne home with one out. With pinch runner Bianca Prado on second with two outs, North's single found its way to the left field corner, pro­viding the opportunity for Prado to score the winning run.
 
In her first season as a Bobcat, sophomore Kendall Wiley has made her presence known, lead­ing the team with a .615 average. She leads the team in total bases with 16 and RBI's with eight. She has hit two home runs in five games and has eight total hits.
 
Five of the starting Bobcats are averaging .350 or higher. The team itself is averaging a blister­ing .341 from the plate, outaveraging its opponents by 87 points.
 
Kelli Baker is a perfect 4-for-4 this season in stolen bases. Timishia North is right behind her, successfully going 3-for-3.
 
Senior pitcher Rayn House is a perfect 3-0 for the Bobcats with two starts and 17.0 innings pitched. She has recorded 21 strikeouts and has a complete game shutout under her belt this season.
 
Freshman pitcher Kaylee Garner has also done work on the mound for the Bobcats, recording a one-hit shutout against Missouri Valley opponent in Southern Illinois. In that victory, Garner allowed just one walk while striking out eight batters.  
 
First pitch against the Gaels is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Friday. The game against Cal State Fullerton at 3 p.m. will wrap up Friday's action. Saturday's games are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. (vs. San Diego State) and 6:30 p.m. (vs. California) while Sunday's lone game against South Dakota will begin at 11 a.m. A link for live stats is available for all five of the Bobcat games this weekend at www.txstatebobcats.com.