Bobcats finish strong at Texas State Tournament

Texas State kicked off the 2023 softball season by hosting the Texas State Tournament and finishing with a 3-2 record, which concluded with a 7-4 win over the Wichita State Shockers.

“It feels good,” starting pitcher Jessica Mullins said. “Of course I’m still working through some things to get comfortable throughout the season. It just feels great to have a big win on our shoulders.”

Through five games, the Bobcats defeated Kent State twice winning the first game 8-0 and the second game 5-1 while losing to Wichita State 3-2 on Friday and to Villanova 4-2 Saturday afternoon.

Head Coach Ricci Woodard was proud of her team for bouncing back after a tough defeat to Villanova.

“I loved how we came out punching first,” Woodard said. “After a day that could have gone either way, I liked how we responded and came out.”

That was a main message for the Bobcats coming into the final day. They needed to be the ones throwing the first punch.

“That’s the thing we keep talking about,” Woodard said. “We can’t sit back and wait… We did a great job learning from the first four games and using what we learned from those games. I thought we did a better job all the way around.”

After trailing the Shockers 2-0 in the top of the third inning, Texas State put up their first runs of the game as a bunt by shortstop Hannah Earls led to a throwing error by Wichita State, which allowed second baseman Katarina Zarate to score.

Center fielder Piper Randolph tacked on another run with a infielder’s choice followed up by another Wichita State throwing error allowing one more run to come across as the Bobcats took a 3-2 lead.

Senior third baseman Sara Vanderford knocked in a run with an RBI single while also taking second base to give the Bobcats two runners in scoring position on third and second.

First baseman JJ Smith then hammered a tworun RBI double to break the game open as Texas State took a 6-2 lead.

Heading into her atbat in the third inning, Smith took advantage of her experience playing college softball against a young pitcher.

“I knew that she (the pitcher) was a freshman,” Smith said. “This was the biggest spot she had been in this season. I knew with my experience that I had some big confidence heading into that moment and I knew the first pitch she was going to give me was something that I was going to hammer and score the two people on base.”

Another fielder’s choice allowed one more run to score as Texas State finished the third inning with a commanding 7-2 lead.

The bounce back inning was a big boost to the Bobcat offense who had trouble scoring runs against Villanova on Saturday.

“It was almost like I was saying that they had magnets in their gloves,” Smith said. “All we have to do is keep doing what we are doing. The ball will find a spot whether it is the green or the dirt, so we just have to keep swinging.”

After giving up two runs in the third inning, Mullins felt a sense of relief seeing her teammates come up big.

“I was hyped,” Mullins said. “It made me feel so great that my teammates can pick me up whenever I need it the most. It was very comforting that they put up more than two runs so I could have room to work.”

Mullins threw a complete game while allowing just eight hits and two walks while throwing four strikeouts.

After allowing nine walks to Villanova on Saturday, Woodard was happy about the pitching staff learning from their mistakes and keeping the base on balls to a minimum.

“Today I thought we did a much better job of limiting the walks,” Woodard said. “That’s a team you cannot give walks too… That’s a great hitting ball club so she did a really good job.”

Texas State co-hosts another tournament with UTSA this weekend in the I-35 Invitational.

The Bobcats kick off tournament play by hosting Lamar on Thursday before a three game series with South Dakota State and closing out the weekend with New Mexico State on Sunday.

All of the Texas State games during the I-35 Invitational will be held at Bobcat Softball Stadium.

cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc