Rattlers fall in first game of playoff series

San Marcos was unable to overcome two errors as the Rattlers fell to the Lake Travis Cavaliers 4-1. The Cavaliers scored three runs off of two San Marcos errors with two runs coming in the fourth inning.

“We made too many mistakes,” Webb said. “When you are playing against a top 10 team, you can’t make that many mistakes. Three of the four runs were unearned, which you cannot do.”

The Rattlers were the first to strike as starting pitcher Gavin Gomez kicked things off with a leadoff triple in the bottom of the first inning.

Gomez scored on a groundout by Kutter Gage Webb as San Marcos took a 1-0 lead.

Lake Travis answered back in the second inning as the Cavaliers reached base with a San Marcos error.

Despite the Rattlers gaining two outs, the Cavaliers scored the run in from second with a RBI single into right field.

Following a scoreless third inning, Lake Travis was back on the base paths with a leadoff single. San Marcos committed their second error of the game on the next atbat as a run scored for the Cavaliers and the batter moved to second base.

The Cavaliers tacked on another run with another two-out single as Lake Travis took a 3-1 lead.

San Marcos was back in the game, scoring in the same inning with a forced walk by Dallas Calderon and a single by Webb that allowed the pair to be on base, while also moving into scoring position following a Lake Travis error.

But the Cavaliers pitching staff was too strong as they recorded three consecutive strikeouts in a row to end the inning, and keep the Rattlers off the scoreboard.

San Marcos woes at the plate, against one of the tougher pitching staffs in the state, were another factor in scoring the loss.

“We were in scoring position two or three times but we couldn’t take advantage of it,” Webb said. “We struck out too many times at the plate. But ultimately we didn’t get it done as a team.”

Lake Travis added an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning as the Cavaliers shut the door on a San Marcos comeback, winning Game 1 with a score of 4-1.

Now San Marcos looks to bounce back in Game out to two runs again, as an RBI single made it a 3-1 game.

Louisiana then hit a solo home run in the 5th to make it a 4-1 game.

"Credit to Louisiana," Woodard said. "They came out with a good game plan and executed it from the get-go."

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Bobcats as Texas State defeated Troy 3-0 in the Sun Belt quarterfinals.

The Bobcats were led by pitcher Jessica Mullins who threw a complete game shutout, while allowing just one hit–her second one hitter in a span of a week.

"If you can throw 74 pitches and get a win out of that, that puts you in a pretty good spot as far as controlling the plate," Woodard said. "I don't know if there's enough words to say about Jessica Mullins right now."

The Bobcats scored the first run of the game in the fourth inning as Anna Jones hit a sac fly into center field to score Sara Vanderford, to put the Bobcats up 1-0.

Emilee Baker scored the next run for Texas State in the fifth inning hitting a RBI single to score Hannah Earls as the Bobcats went up 2-0.

Vanderford struck again as the senior third baseman hit a RBI single ,as Texas State extended the lead at 3-0.

Vanderford led the Bobcats in offense going 2-2 from the plate with two hits, one RBI and a walk.

“Vanderford was lights out tonight," Woodard said.

Texas State will now await their fate as the Bobcats hope to qualify for the NCAA Softball Tournament as an atlarge bid.