SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State softball team split Saturday afternoon with the UL Monroe Warhawks. Texas State earned an extra innings victory in game one by a score of 3-2 before dropping game two by a 3-2 margin. The Bobcats move to 22-11 on the year and 3-5 in Sun Belt Conference play.
 
Game One
Through four innings of play, Rupp struck out nine Warhawk batters. The two teams were scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when the Bobcat offense came alive to register the first run of the day.
 
Sara Rupp, with two outs, hit a double to deep left field to be the first Bobcat base runner in scoring position since the bottom of the first inning. An RBI single up the middle by Bianca Prado gave Texas State a 1-0 lead over the visiting Warhawks.
 
UL Monroe took over the lead in the top of the sixth inning with a two-run shot to left center.
 
In the bottom of the seventh trailing 2-1, Texas State took advantage of a defensive miscue by ULM. With two outs, Kelli Baker reached on a fielding error by the second baseman. Back-to-back drawn walks by Kimberlin Naivar and Ariel Ortiz loaded the bases for Corrina Liscano. Liscano, who was down 1-2 in the count, got pegged to bring in the tying run.
 
The Bobcats continued to rally in the bottom of the eighth inning with a lead-off single by Taylor Webb. Webb advanced to second on a throwing error by the left fielder to move into scoring position for Texas State.
 
A sacrifice bunt by Rupp moved the pinch runner, Kayleigh Norte, to third with just one out. A walk drawn by Prado put runners on the corners for Alex Cruz who brought in Norte from third on a fielding error by the shortstop to end the contest and give Texas State its third conference victory of the season.
 
Charleston earned her second victory of the season after putting in two-thirds of an innings worth of work for Texas State. Rupp finished the game with 7.1 innings of work with 12 strikeouts and just one walk. Baker, Naivar, Webb, Rupp, and Prado all recorded hits for Texas State and Liscano got hit by two pitches in game one.
 
The Warhawk defense was charged with five errors in the game.
 
Game Two
Two home runs combined for three Warhawk runs in game two to lift ULM to the doubleheader split. The Warhawks put one run on the board in the top of the third inning with a solo home run off of Charleston.
 
The Bobcats registered their first hit of the ball game with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning by Prado. Prado advanced to second base on a pass ball, but a strikeout ended the inning.
 
ULM added two more in the sixth to take a 3-0 lead over Texas State.
 
A one out double to left by Naivar in the bottom of the sixth inning set the Bobcats up with a runner in scoring position. With two outs, Liscano got hit for the third time Friday to set up runners at first and second for Webb. A single to left field by Webb scored Naivar to cut into the Warhawk lead.
 
A lead-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning by Jaelyn Young cut the Warhawk lead to just one, 3-2. Three straight outs, however, all to the left fielder ended the Bobcats chances of another late inning comeback.
 
Young's home run in the seventh inning was her first home run as a Texas State Bobcat.
 
Naivar, Webb, and Prado were the three Bobcats who earned a hit in both games Friday afternoon. Charleston was handed the loss in game two and she falls to 2-4 overall.
 
Up Next
Texas State and ULM will take to the field for the series finale tomorrow afternoon. First pitch at the Bobcat Softball Stadium is slated for 1 p.m. Live stats, live audio, and live video will be available at www.txstatebobcats.com.