MOBILE, Ala. — Needing two wins on the day to win its first Sun Belt Conference championship since the 2018 season, the Texas State softball program came up one short as the third-seeded Bobcats fell to top seed Louisiana, 7-1, in the league's championship game.
This came after Texas State outlasted Coastal Carolina, 3-1, behind a seven-inning, six-strikeout performance from sophomore
Karsen Pierce to open Saturday's action.
"Hats off to Louisiana. Congratulations on a great season," said Texas State softball head coach
Ricci Woodard. "They definitely outplayed us in today's ballgame, and it'll be fun to watch them, because they're a great team, represent the Sun Belt over the next couple of weeks, I hope."
Needing to beat the Chanticleers to even make the conference tournament championship game, Texas State overcame an early one-run deficit following a second-inning home run off the bat of Abby Jankay. The Bobcats used a two-run, two-hit top of the third to take their first lead of the game on back-to-back run-scoring hits from
Ciara Trahan and
Sara Vanderford, who was one of two Texas State representatives on the league's all-tournament team.
Now with a lead, Pierce (8-4) went on to surrender just two hits — both singles — and a walk over the game's final five frames.
Vanderford extended the Bobcat lead in the top of the fifth with a two-out single through the left side to score
Hannah Earls, who became one of just seven student-athletes in program history with 40 career stolen bases when she swiped second in the top of the first, from second.
Looking to counteract Friday morning's one-run loss to Louisiana (45-11), Texas State, again, rallied from an early one-run deficit after the Ragin' Cajuns scored on a sacrifice fly in the top of the first.
Two innings later, senior
Caitlyn Rogers tied the game when she sent the seventh pitch of her third inning at bat into left field to plate Earls, who led off the inning with a walk, from third.
Louisiana re-took the lead, though, with a six-run top of the fifth inning that was highlighted by a pair of two-run home runs and two solo home runs. Texas State's best opportunity to respond came in the bottom half of the frame when Earls and Vanderford, who was joined by sophomore right-handed pitcher
Jessica Mullins (27-13) on the all-tournament team, were on second and first, respectively, with two outs, but a strikeout brought the rally to an end.
Texas State (38-19, 19-8) will now find out a potential postseason destination at 6 p.m. CT on Sunday, May 15, when the NCAA Division I Softball Selection Show occurs. The Bobcats, which will be looking for its season NCAA Division I Softball Tournament berth in as many years, entered Saturday's pair of games ranked 53rd in the NCAA's latest RPI report.
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