SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State softball finished the regular season with a 5-0 win over Marshall, sweeping the series against the Thundering Herd and ending on a five-game win streak. The Bobcat end the regular season with a 42-13 record and a 18-6 record in conference play.
 
Tori McCann started and threw the complete game for the Bobcats as a highlight on the afternoon, throwing just two hits in the shutout. Her seven innings included walking three batters with nine fly outs and 11 ground outs.
 
JJ Smith was two for two on the day with one run and a double. She was also walked. Kat Zarate batted in two of the RBI on her single. Also highlighting the offense was individual RBI from Karmyn Bass and Sydney Harvey.

Texas State finished the regular season at the #2 seed in the conference, behind only Louisiana. The Bobcats will return to play on May 9 at 7 pm with an opponent to be determined. The Bobcats will face the winner of the game between the tournaments 7 and 10 seed, with the final seeding and bracket to be determined this weekend.

What Head Coach Ricci Woodard said: "It's nice to go out and finish this part of the season like we did today. Tori McCann threw a great game. We played great defense all the way through. We got some timely hitting and some timely baserunning. I think to finish things the way we did today, I was pretty excited going into postseason."
 
What Pitcher Tori McCann said: "I was feeling good. I knew my team had my back. I knew we were going to get hits. It was just about keeping the ball low. I knew they were going to swing the bats, so I just let my defense work.
 
What First Basemen JJ Smith said: "We saw the pitcher all weekend, I think that was my third time seeing her. So I knew what her plan was, she threw the same thing to me that she's thrown to me the last couple days. I knew just to attack those pitches and stay above the ball, and just trust my swing."

How it Happened
McCann started in the circle and despite starting off the game hitting a batter, she was able to settle into the game and force two fly outs and a pop out while giving up just one hit in the first inning. The Bobcats were retired in order in the bottom half of the inning, though.
 
It took the Bobcat offense until the 3^rd inning to get on the board. Kat Zarate started off the inning with a four-pitch walk. When Makayla Hall was hit by a pitch, she'd advance to second. They'd both advance on a sacrifice bunt from Hannah Earls. Ultimately, a pass ball by the Herd's catcher helped Zarate score the first run. Hall would score on a ground out by Harvey to go up 2-0.
 
McCann retired the Herd in order in the top of the 4^th. In the top of the 5^th she'd walk one batter, but get out of the inning without any hits or runs scored. 
 
Texas State tacked on three runs in the bottom of the 6^th inning to put the game away. Sara Vanderford was walked to get things started, she'd advance to second and third on Anna Jones and Piper Randolph's at-bats. With two outs, Smith was walked. From there Bass batted in one runner with a single to right field. Zarate would hit a single and force a Herd error for the 2^nd and 3^rd runs of the inning. 
 
McCann sat down the Herd in order to end the game with two ground outs and a fly out. McCann notched her second win of the season with the complete game shutout.
 
The Bobcats will stay in San Marcos for the postseason as Texas State hosts the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Tournament. The tournament will run for four days from May 8-11 with tickets available for purchase at txst.com/tickets.