SAN MARCOS, TX — Batters can't hit what they can't see and that was case in point Friday afternoon when
Karsen Pierce tossed her first complete game shutout as a member of the Texas State softball program as the Bobcats beat Georgia State, 8-0, in five innings.
"I thought we did a great job of just sticking to our game plan today," said Texas State softball head coach
Ricci Woodard. "Karsen did a great job — early in the ballgame, late in the ballgame — of making (Georgia State) try to hit her pitches and that's the key to her success. And, offensively, I thought we did a good job of attacking the right pitches today."
After Georgia State's Emily Brown singled a 3-2 pitch to open the contest, Pierce (5-4) responded with back-to-back strikeouts, then, in traditional Pierce fashion, induced a groundball to record the first of her five scoreless innings on the afternoon. She went on to add two more to her strikeout total in the second frame, before recording just one in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively.
In her five innings of work on the day, Pierce's six strikeouts marked the most for the first-year Bobcat, surpassing her previous high of five set in three innings against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on March 2, 2022. Pierce's five innings pitched also matched her Texas State career high set against then-No. 12 Oregon on Feb. 17, 2022. Friday also marked Pierce's first complete game shutout since beating Southern, 8-0, in five innings as a member of the Southern Miss softball program on Feb. 20, 2022.
Pierce did not allow a hit in the third and fifth innings and even induced a 6-4-3 double play to end the top of the fifth and send the Bobcats to the dish with moment.
Heading to the plate looking to continue its offensive production during the bottom of the fourth — two runs on four hits and one Panther error — 11 batters had a plate appearance for Texas State (23-17, 9-8) as the Bobcats blew out the game with a six-run frame on six hits.
Cat Crenek, started the offensive carousel with a five-pitch walk, was inches away from becoming the one who ended the game via an eight-run lead when she sent an 0-2 back up the middle but Panther shortstop Daisy Hess knocked it down and prevented
Hannah Earls from scoring.
But
Anna Jones, who advanced Crenek to second on a ground out earlier in the inning, found redemption when she sent an 0-1 pitch into shallow left field to score Earls from third and cap a five-runs-in-five-plate-appearance span for the Texas State offense. The only run of the inning that didn't come during that span: a run-scoring single from
Sara Vanderford, who finished the game as one of four Bobcat student-athletes with two hits in the game.
Texas State will look to carry over its 13-hit, eight-run offensive outburst and five-innings of scoreless pitching into Saturday's series finale as the two teams will close out the three-game series at 10:30 AM CT.
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