HUNTINGTON, West Virginia – Texas State softball suffered a 5-3 loss to Marshall on Friday night in the series opener against the Thundering Herd.

After giving up an early grand slam, Texas State battled back but felt short in its efforts to take the 5-3 loss. 

HOW IT HAPPENED:
Erin Peterson led off the first inning for the Bobcats, getting a walk in the process. She was left stranded, though, after three ground outs from the Bobcats ended the top half of the inning.
Emma Strood started in the circle for the Bobcats, allowing two hits and walking one batter in the first inning for the Thundering Herd to take the lead.

The Bobcats mirrored their first inning in the second, with a leadoff walk from Megan Kelnar. From there, though, the Bobcats loaded the bases from a walk for Mayson Garrett and a single for Kate Bubela. Despite that, though, a ground out from Erin Peterson would be the end of the inning.

Strood walked a single batter in the 2^nd but escaped the inning with no additional baserunners. Texas State was unable to answer with runs in the top of the 3^rd.

The Thundering Herd loaded the bases off three consecutive singles in the bottom of the 3^rd. The Herd would hit a grand slam to go up 5-0. Maddy Azua came in to pitch at that point, striking out three straight batters to get out of the inning.

Texas State looked to have a way back into the game in the fourth with three consecutive singles to load the base on one out, but the Thundering Herd turned a double play to end the inning. Azua kept the heard from extending their lead in the bottom half of the inning, though, keeping it a 5-0 game.

Texas State was able to pull a run back in the 5^th off an RBI single for Kelnar which scored Erin Peterson who reached on a walk. Trahan followed that up with an RBI single of her own to make it 5-2 after the 5^th.
Neither side were able to add any runs to the board through the 6^th inning.

Aiyana Coleman kept the game alive with a solo home run in the top of the 7^th, but after back-to-back groundouts to end the game, the Bobcats fell 5-3.

After today's loss, Texas State is now 20-9 on the season and 4-3 in Sun Belt play.

Up next:
Texas State will continue its series with the Thundering Herd with two games tomorrow, March 29^th. The first game will start at 2 pm (CT) at Dot Hicks Field. Fans can tune in on ESPN+. After this weekend series, the team will head out on the road to finish its halted game and play another against the Sam Houston Bearkats on April 2.