SAN MARCOS, Texas — Pitching has been the cornerstone of the Texas State softball program and Saturday's doubleheader against Georgia Southern gave fans another opportunity at that as the Bobcats swept the Eagles 7-0 and 3-0. 

"I thought we just did a good job of maintaining the momentum the whole day," said Texas State softball head coach Ricci Woodard, whose team is now 29-9 on the season and 11-5 in the Sun Belt Conference. "I thought our pitchers did a great job today and that was the key to our success."

Jessica Mullins (15-6) got the starting assignment in the day's opening game and went 6.1 innings with five strikeouts and allowed just two hits and two walks — both coming with two outs in the top of the sixth inning — to 23 batters faced. Tori McCann entered the pitching circle with one out in the top of the seventh — after Mullins surrendered her second hit — and retired both batters she faced. 

Mullins' strong pitching performance was fueled by a two-run bottom of the first inning when Hannah Earls, who extended her on-base streak to a career-high 21 games with a leadoff walk, and Piper Randolph scored from third and second, respectively, on a fielding error by the Georgia Southern shortstop. 

An inning later, ArieAnn Bell scored on a double steal as the Eagles threw to second base as Kylie George was sliding on a stolen base attempt, which allowed Bell to swipe home. 
Oltmann made it 4-0, Bobcats, in the third inning when she led off the inning by being hit with a pitch, advancing to second on a groundout, swiping third then scoring on a second fielding error by the Eagle shortstop. 

The Bobcats really put game one in the bag when they scored three runs on four hits and another Georgia Southern error in a bottom of the fifth that was highlighted by a two-run single from Cat Crenek. 

Dalilah Barrera was the first Texas State pitcher to take the circle in the second game and was nothing short of remarkable. In four innings of work, the senior right-hander surrendered just one run, issued no walks or runs and struck out four. Meagan King relieved her to start the fifth inning and went on to strikeout three en route to retiring all nine batters she faced. 

Georgia Southern's lone base runner during the second game came when Allyssah Mullis blooped a 1-2 pitch into shallow left-centerfield for a one-out single in the top of the second. From there, the combination of Barrera and King retired the next 17 straight Eagle batters. 

"I think (Barrera and King) just did a good job of just going right at the hitters," Woodard said. "And those two are going to be really effective, because Pudge throws the ball up well and Meagan has the great off-spin. But even today, Pudge's off-spin pitches were working well today, so I think that's what threw Georgia Southern off."

Vanderford gave Barrera an early 1-0 lead when she sent a 3-2 pitch over the left-field fence for her ninth home run on the season, which tied Tara Oltmann for the most by a Bobcat this season. Caitlyn Rogers added a run two innings later when she doubled home pinch-runner Molly Damiani from second. Kylie George followed with a suicide squeeze during the next at bat to score Baylee Lemons from third. 

The two teams will wrap up the three-game series with a pre-lunch special on Sunday, April 25 with first pitch slated for 11 a.m. CT.