SAN MARCOS, Texas– Texas State softball tallied its 20
th home win of the season with a 5-2 win over the South Alabama Jaguars on Saturday afternoon.
Highlighting the night was 2 RBI from
Keely Williams and a two-hit night from
Aiyana Coleman. That, and a clutch relief performance from Maddy Azua as she retired seven-straight batters ended the game with a 5-2 win.
WHAT HEAD COACH RICCI WOODARD SAID: "It's nice to be 2-0 when you get through a Saturday. I still don't think we're playing our best ball, but we're making the plays we need to make along the way. We're making good pitches. We're getting balls in the air in this kind of weather, and any time you can get the ball in the air you're probably going to win the ball game. We did a good job of capitalizing off ground balls today."
WHAT 1B AIYANA COLEMAN SAID: "It's important, just bouncing back from Marshall and all the games that we've had previously, learning from our mistakes and just sticking together as a team."
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Emma Strood started in the circle for the Bobcats, allowing just three hits, starting with one in the first inning. The Jaguars runner was stranded after a foul out and fly out, though.
From there, both sides were retired in order in the bottom of the 1
st and the top of the 2
nd. It took
Ciara Trahan getting hit by a pitch for the Bobcats to get a runner on. She and
Karmyn Bass would be stranded on base after a
Megan Kelnar ground out and
Kate Bubela pop up ended the inning.
Texas State bounced back well in the third, though, getting three runs in that inning. Starting things off was a walk for
Sydney Harvey, followed by
Erin Peterson reaching on a fielding error during her sacrifice bunt attempt. The pair would score on
Keely Williams single up the middle.
Aiyana Coleman would also single up the middle to score Williams.
South Alabama answered with two runs in the top of the next inning, though. Strood allowed an RBI single and had two runners on base when Woodard opted to bring in
Analisa Soliz. She'd allow one more run on a fielder's choice, but escape the inning with the lead.
Azua came in to pitch with runners on in the 5
th. She'd retire 7 straight batters to end the game.
The Bobcats battled to hold their lead, not extending it until a sacrifice fly from
Ciara Trahan in the bottom of the 5
th inning. That gave the Bobcats a 4-2 lead after the 5
th inning.
Bailee Slack batted in an insurance run to make it 5-2, scoring
Kate Bubela who had previously been walked.
The Bobcats would win 5-2 and improve to 24-11 on the season and 7-4 in Sun Belt play.
Up next:
The Bobcats will continue its series with the Jaguars tomorrow, April 6, at 12 pm. The game will be Kids Day inside Bobcat Softball Stadium with plenty of activities for the kids, including post-game autographs with the team and the opportunity to run the bases. Fans can purchase tickets at txst.com/tickets or tune in on ESPN+.
