SAN MARCOS, Texas– Texas State softball finished out the series sweep of the South Alabama Jaguars with an exclamation mark in a 4-0 shutout win. Maddy Azua tossed the complete game in the circle allowing just three hits in her seven innings of work.
That, paired with timely hitting from
Megan Kelnar,
Aiyana Coleman and
Ciara Trahan helped the Bobcats get the 4-0 win and improve to 8-4 in Sun Belt play this season.
WHAT HEAD COACH RICCI WOODARD SAID: "We just talked about, we are not playing our best ball right now. But we keep finding ways to win. Some of that is about people coming up off the bench and doing a great job for us. And obviously Maddy Azua threw the ball well all weekend. I couldn't be more proud of the battle, just because again, I don't feel like we're close to playing our best ball."
WHAT PITCHER MADDY AZUA SAID: "It means a lot. Bouncing back from [the loss at Sam Houston]. Instead of letting that carry on us, we moved on and it helped us move on and hopefully we can piece it together on the road [next week].
WHAT CATCHER MEGAN KELNAR SAID: "[This win] means a lot. It's helping with our team bonding, team chemistry. There's lots of new people on this team and we are finding ways to work with each other. Coach Woodard was talking a lot about how we're fighting through the hard right now. We're trying to figure out who goes where and there's a lot of moving pieces right now. It definitely means a lot that we can still come together and trust each other."
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Azua started out the game with one of her five strikeouts against the Jaguars leadoff batter. She'd retire the lineup in order in the first. In the second, she allowed a lead off double before retiring her first of eight straight batters through the top of the 4
th. Azua struck out all three batters in the third inning.
In the fifth inning, Azua gave up a single, but two fly outs after that ended the inning, preserving the shutout.
Texas State's bats came alive in the fifth, but it started with a lead off four-pitch walk of
Aiyana Coleman.
Emilee Baker pinch ran for Coleman and advance to second on
Ciara Trahan's sac-bunt. From there,
Makayla Hall was walked and Mel Reeves came in to run for her.
Baker would score on an RBI single up the middle from Kelnar. Following that up, Bubela had an RBI ground out to score Reeves.
Texas State added two more insurance runs in the bottom of the 6
th. It again started on a leadoff walk, this time for
Erin Peterson. From there, she'd score on an Coleman single after advancing to second on a
Bailee Slack groundout. Trahan followed that up with a single to load the bases. Kelnar was then walked in four pitches as well to score the fourth and final run.
Azua struck out the Jaguars lead off batter in the7th, and got out of the inning without allowing any runs. Texas State finished the game with a 4-0 win.
With the win, the Bobcats improve to 25-11 on the season and 8-4 in Sun Belt play.
Up next:
The Bobcats will head back out on the road for a midweek meeting with #1 Texas on Wednesday, April 9. That game will start at 6 pm and be streamed on the SEC+ Network. After that, the fans will head to Southern Miss for a three-game series running April 11-13. Fans can tune in to that series on ESPN+.
