ARLINGTON, Texas – Texas State suffered a 4-3 setback in 10 innings in the regular season finale Saturday afternoon at UTA.
 
UTA scored manufactured the winning run in the 10th inning on three hits – only one of which left the infield – and a fielder's choice. Krista Rude scored the winning run as she slid under the tag at the plate after Reagan Wright's sharply hit single to shortstop.
 
Texas State finishes the regular season at 39-13 overall and 18-8 in Sun Belt play. UTA improves to 25-14 overall and 14-13 against league competition.
 
UTA outhit the Bobcats 13-8 with four Mavericks totaling multi-hit days at the plate. Ariel Ortiz went 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI to lead TXST, while Christiana McDowell was 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
 
Texas State loaded the bases with no outs in the first on an infield single, hit by pitch and bunt single. However, the Bobcats could only muster a single run on Jaelyn Young's sac fly to the warning track in left that scored Kennedy Cline. The Bobcats doubled their lead to 2-0 in the third with Ortiz's RBI single through the middle that plated McDowell, who had led off the frame with a walk.
 
McDowell scored for the second time in the fifth, boosting the Bobcats to a 3-0 lead. The freshman opened the inning with a single to third and was sacrificed over to second before taking third on an Ortiz fly out and coming home on Taylor Webb's well-placed single up the third base line.
 
UTA threatened in the home half of the fifth as a single and fielder's choice put runners on first and second with one out. However, the threat would not come to pass as Randi Rupp worked out of the potential quagmire with a strikeout and ground ball to first.
 
The Mavericks tied the game with a three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh, tallying three unearned runs. Mallory Foster started the rally as she reached on a Bobcat error. Pinch runner Bri Burchianti scored the first run on Kacey Everett's double to right and Kayci Moore followed as Sandra Mendoza hit an RBI single to short. Everett scored the tying run a batter later as Rude knocked an infield single.
 
Rupp, who started 29 Maverick batter with strikes, started and threw nine complete, despite not factoring into the decision. She finished with nine strikeouts and did not allow an earned run. Quincy Charleston (8-2) was charged with the loss in her 0.2 inning.
 
UP NEXT
Texas State travels to the 2017 Sun Belt Conference Championship hosted by Troy University. The Bobcats have earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will play their first game on Thursday, March 11 at 12:30 p.m. The full tournament bracket and seedings will be announced Sunday (May 7) evening after the conclusion of all Sun Belt series. -
 
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