SAN MARCOS, Texas — The Texas State softball program earned its 11th win at home — eighth in a row — Thursday night when the Bobcats knocked off BYU, 2-1, in seven innings behind a strong pitching performance from
Tori McCann and
Jessica Mullins.
Mullins, who earned her fifth win on the season, entered the pitching circle in the top of the fourth after Bobcat starter
Tori McCann allowed one run on one hit and struck out two throughout the game's first 3.1 innings. Mullins, in her time in the circle, struck out five of the 16 batters faced on the night.
"Actually, the pitching plan developed exactly as we wanted it to tonight," said Texas State softball head coach
Ricci Woodard. "I thought we got exactly what we wanted out of Tori tonight and any time you can bring in Mullins under the lights with her speed, it's going to take teams awhile to adjust."
BYU (8-9) struck first on the scoreboard Thursday night when Alyssa Podhurcak sent a 1-2 pitch over the left-field fence for a two-out solo home run in the top of the second inning. Texas State (12-3) responded in the bottom of the third when
Tara Oltmann sent the first pitch of her at bat to centerfield to score
Kylie George, who reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to second on a
Sara Vanderford single.
Vanderford, during the following batter, pushed the Bobcats ahead when she scored from third on a steal when Oltmann, the senior, purposely got caught in a rundown between first and second base to allow Vanderford to score.
BYU attempted to answer in the top of the fourth inning when the Cougars loaded the bases with two outs, but Taylei Williams fouled out to MacKay to end the threat. In the bottom half of the inning, the Bobcats looked for insurance runs, but
Caitlyn Rogers grounded out to the pitcher with
Baylee Lemons and
Cat Crenek on the corners with two outs.
The Cougars had a runner at second in the top of the fifth, then two runners in scoring position in the top of the sixth, but Mullins struck out a BYU batter to end each visitor scoring opportunity.
Texas State will now turn its attention to UTSA, which it hosts on Friday, March 12 at 6 p.m.
