Game 1: Texas State 11, UT Arlington 0 | Box Score
Game 2: Texas State 2, UT Arlington 0 | Box Score
Game 3: Texas State 11, UT Arlington 2 | Box Score

ARLINGTON, Texas – A pair of home runs by Ariel Ortiz, the Top 25 NFCA National Freshman of the Year finalist, led the Texas State softball team to an 11-2 victory over UT Arlington Sunday afternoon. With the victory, the Bobcats have clinched the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Tournament scheduled to begin Wednesday morning.
 
Texas State will await the winner of the No. 6 UL Monroe and No. 7 UT Arlington game to play in the 5:30 p.m. contest.  The Bobcats finished the 2015 regular season with a 32-20 overall record and 14-6 mark in just their second season as a member of the Sun Belt Conference.
 
Freshman pitcher Randi Rupp earned her 24^th victory of the season Sunday afternoon while sophomore pitcher Kaylee Garner picked up her first save of the season in two innings of work. The two combined to allow just three hits while striking out three.
 
For the third consecutive game, the Bobcats put up a number in the top of the first inning. With one out, Ariel Ortiz singled to third base and immediately moved to third on a double down the left field line by senior Courtney Harris. A ground out by Kortney Koroll would score Ortiz for the first Bobcat run of the day.
 
Promptly in the bottom half of the first, UT Arlington scored its first and only runs of the series on a two-run homer by Mya Anderson. Anderson scored Sandra Mendoza who led the inning off with a walk.
 
After three scoreless innings for both teams, the Bobcat bats opened up in the top of the fifth inning. With one out, Kelli Baker got on with a six pitch walk to ignite the Texas State. Ortiz followed Baker's walk with her first home run of the day and to put Texas State back on top, 3-2.
 
The Bobcats continued to keep the bats rolling in the fifth as they strung together two more hits along with capitalizing on a Maverick error to score two more to take a 5-2 lead over UTA.
 
The momentum from the fifth carried its way to the sixth as seven hits, including Ortiz's second home run of the day, turned into six runs and an 11-2 lead over the Mavericks. Baker, Ortiz, Lexi Fryar, Katie Doerre, Taylor Webb, Kendall Wiley, and Kimberlin Naivar all notched a hit in the top half of the sixth. Twelve Bobcats stepped up to the plate in the sixth inning.
 
Ortiz finished the afternoon with a team-high three hits and career-high five RBIs. Wiley finished with two hits and 10 total Bobcats recorded a hit on the day.
 
With Ortiz's two home runs, the 2015 Bobcats have tied the program-high of 59 home runs set back in 2003.
 
Texas State will now return home as it hosts the 2015 Sun Belt Conference Championship at the Bobcat Softball Stadium. For information regarding the upcoming tournament including the complete championship bracket, fans can go to www.sunbeltsports.org.