Bobcats look to roll in Sun Belt Tournament

The road to Oklahoma City starts this week for the Bobcats as Texas State enters the Sun Belt Conference Softball Tournament.

Coming off of a series win against James Madison, Head Coach Ricci Woodard said she was proud of her team taking the series, as the Bobcats look to continue their momentum.

“If you are going to be playing your best ball, it better be at the end of the season,” Woodard said. “This is the time you want to be playing it. The biggest thing that we are doing is looking forwards and not backwards. We can’t control anything that we have already done only what is ahead of us. That is what we are trying to do right now.

The Bobcats are currently on a roll as of late, winning their last three series including Marshall and James Madison, to close out the regular season.

With the momentum seemingly on their side, Texas State will look to continue strong play going forward in the tournament.

“It’s only as big as the day,” Woodard said. “We have to figure out how to build off of this. But I’m proud of how we got after it this weekend.”

Texas State will enter the Tournament as the fifth seed which earned the Bobcats a first round bye.

This year will see a different format be used tournaments as the 2023 tournament will be a single elimination tournament rather than the double elimination tournament style that was used in the past.

Though the change in format will be a challenge, first baseman J.J. Smith is confident that the Bobcats can navigate a tough tournament especially with Texas State winning their last three series.

“It’s about staying strong,” Smith said. “There have been a few bumps in the last few series. We just need to figure out what we need to change and I thought this weekend we did a really good job of that.”

For Smith, an element that has helped the team through an up and down the tiny moments.

“Just celebrate the little victories,” Smith said. “If we do that, that will help build that each and each.”

One of the strengths for the Bobcats has been the pitching staff.

Headed up by starting pitcher Jessica Mullins, who was named to the First Team All Sun Belt Conference team, the staff has allowed an average of 3.2 runs over their last 22 games.

As the pitchers look to keep the runs off the scoreboard, Mullins is quick to talk about how both the staff and the offense must have each other’s back.

“Our key thing is remembering what we play for,” Mullins said. “We have to make sure that we play for each other. That we have to realize. Once we figured that out, we started rolling and never stopped.”

Tournament play begins today as the first round will feature Coastal Carolina vs Southern Miss and Louisiana Monroe vs Georgia State.

Texas State will begin tournament play against Troy Thursday Afternoon.

In the Bobcats last meeting with the Trojans, Troy and Texas State ended in a 2-2 tie as the travel conditions prohibited the Bobcats from continuing the game in extra innings.

First pitch is at 4 p.m.

cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter@ColtomBMc