STATESBORO, Ga. — Nearly a month since driving in three runs in a win at Coastal Carolina on March 25,
Ciara Trahan was a focal point in Texas State's 11-1 win at Georgia Southern as the freshman drove in a career-high four runs in two official trips to the dish.
"Trahan had a huge hit yesterday in a key situation for us, so it's nice to see her get the RBI opportunities at this point of the season," said Texas State softball head coach
Ricci Woodard. "That will usually translate to a very good offensive day, if the top of the lineup is producing RBIs."
The top of the Texas State (29-17, 13-8) lineup —
Hannah Earls, Trahan,
Sara Vanderford and
Caitlyn Rogers — combined for 10 of the Bobcats' 13 hits on the afternoon, eight RBI and seven runs scored. The quartet was also credited with five doubles with three coming from Vanderford alone.
On the three-game series win at Georgia Southern (9-29, 4-14), the Texas State offense totaled 18 runs on 32 hits, while holding the Eagles to just two runs on eight hits en route to extending its season-long winning streak to nine straight games.
"I felt like we have really continued to swing the bats well all week and made some great adjustments today to have a lot of extra base hits," Woodard said.
Texas State's extra base hits started early, too, as leadoff batter
Hannah Earls was credited with an infield double to begin Sunday's game. Following a Trahan sacrifice bunt, Vanderford sent the first pitch of her at bat to the right-centerfield gap to plate Earls and give the Bobcats an early one-run lead.
The following inning,
Claire Ginder was credited with her second triple of the season — her first since Texas State's season-opening win at New Mexico State on Feb. 11, 2022 — to extend the lead after scoring
Piper Randolph, who led off the inning with a five-pitch walk, from first.
Tori McCann continued her productivity at the plate as the junior followed with a sacrifice fly to centerfield to bring home Ginder.
After a single run in the bottom of the third snapped a streak of 21.1 consecutive scoreless inning by
Jessica Mullins (20-11), Trahan started her career day when she drove in McCann, who started the inning by reaching via a fielding error, and Earls, who singled to left field two batters later, with a one-out single to left field. Vanderford followed with her second double to score Trahan. Rogers singled the first pitch of her plate appearance to centerfield to bring in Vanderford from second, before Randolph capped the five-run, five-hit inning with a run-scoring single to left-centerfield to bring home Rogers.
Even though the fourth inning came to an end, the momentum carried over into the fifth for Texas State with a four-hit, three-run inning that was highlighted by a two-run double from Trahan and a one-run double off the bat of Vanderford.
Texas State will now turn its attention to an upcoming three-game conference series against Troy starting on Friday, April 26 at 6 p.m. CT. The Bobcats and Trojans head into the series both sporting a 12-8 Sun Belt records.
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