Bobcats drop pitchers duel against No. 2 Texas

In a showdown with the No. 2 ranked Texas Longhorns in front of a packed house at Bobcat Softball Stadium, Texas State fell just short of the upset as the Bobcats lost 1-0.

Head Coach Ricci Woodard was proud of her team’s effort, and their ability to keep up with the No. 2 ranked team in the nation.

“I thought we competed well,” Woodard said. “That’s a good ball club over there, and I thought Mullins threw the ball as well as she could possibly throw to keep us in the ball game and give us a chance to win. We had a chance to win. You can’t really ask for more than that except maybe two runs to their one.”

It was an electric atmosphere in San Marcos as 1,191 fans packed Bobcat Softball Stadium making the game the third most attended Texas State softball game in program history despite the temperature being at 55 degrees.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown by new transfer quarterback Jordan McCloud, accompanied by football coach G.J. Kinne.

The game was a tightly contested pitcher’s duel between Texas starting pitcher Teagan Keavan and Texas State starting pitcher Jessica Mullins going the full seven innings.

Mullins finished the game allowing just six hits, two walks, one earned run and striking out five batters against a Longhorn offense that averaged 9.1 runs per game.

“She threw really well,” Woodard said. “That is a good offensive team right there that she held really to a couple of hits and not many hard hits. She threw the heck out of the ball all night long.”

Texas got their lone run of the game in the top of the fourth inning on a RBI single into left field.

Despite the offense managing just two hits and one walk, Woodard was still proud of the offense for competing against one of the tougher pitching staffs in the nation.

“I thought [the offense] really competed,” Woodard said. “[Keavan] was hitting her spots when she needed to. She came up with some big pitches in that ballgame when she needed to hit. She did a really good job on the mound, having us guessing at the plate.”

Texas State has been on a hot streak as of late with the Bobcats just completing a full sweep of the Arizona State/ Grand Canyon Tournament beating Arizona State, Ohio State, Grand Canyon, Utah Valley and Idaho State on top of beating Texas Tech at the conclusion of the TXST Tournament winning in dominate fashion 8-1.

One of the reasons for the Bobcats success has been their ability to stay competitive no matter the circumstances from the opponent to the weather.

“I’ll be honest with you, I’m proud of them,” Woodard said. “The last time we played in this weather, we lost two ball games that day, didn’t play well, and didn’t compete. Since that day, we have completed our tailends off on every game we played. I’m proud of how we have started to grow a little bit. We are going to see how things progress but we have to get back after it this weekend and not take any days offs.”

Now Texas State will shift their focus to the final tournament of the year as the Bobcats make the trip out to Lubbock for the Texas Tech Tournament.

The Bobcats will play both UTEP and New Mexico State today before playing both teams again on Saturday.

First pitch against UTEP is set for today at 4:30 p.m.

cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc