Bobcats fall to Cajuns in thrilling series, battle ULM for conference title

TXST SOFTBALL

Texas State’s seventh inning rally came up short on Sunday as the Bobcats fell to the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns in a 4-3 loss to drop the home conference series.

The loss drops the Bobcats overall record to 3118 and their conference record to 13-8.

“That’s what we just talked about [was] I wasn’t sure if we’re good enough or tough enough to do this at this part of the season and then in the seventh, we showed we’re probably both,” Woodard said. “It’s just a matter of doing it and doing it for seven innings for the whole weekend. When we execute, we’re good, so we just have to figure out how to execute down the stretch of this [season].”

Going into the third game of the series on Sunday, the Bobcats rallied for a 3-2 win over the Cajuns on Saturday, helped by junior catcher Megan Kelnar’s two-run home run.

The win followed a tough loss for Texas State on Friday after the Cajuns won in extra innings 5-4.

In the seventh inning, the Bobcats trailed 4-0 after the Cajuns hit a three-run home run in the top of the third inning.

With two outs, the Bobcats put runners on the corners following a pair of singles from junior pinch hitter Emilee Baker and junior second baseman Sidney Harvey.

Freshman shortstop Erin Peterson connected with a RBI single up the middle, scoring the first run for the Bobcats to cut the lead down to 4-1.

Now facing runners on first and second, the Bobcats had a chance to cut into the Cajun lead. Texas State took advantage of the opportunity when junior outfielder Keely Williams connected with a two-run RBI double, cutting the lead down to 4-3.

In the next at-bat, the Cajuns opted to intentionally walk junior Aiyana Coleman to put runners on first and second with two outs. For Coleman, it marked the eighth time in the series she was intentionally walked.

“I keep saying that’s called mad respect right there,” Woodard said. “That is mad respect to put the winning runs and the tying runs on base late in ball games because you don’t wanna let her swing the bat. There’s not many hitters in the country [coaches] would do that too, but that just means we have to be able to hit behind her.”

With the game tying run on second and the game winning run at first, the Bobcats had an opportunity to both tie and win the game. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be.

On a good hit liner out in center field from the Bobcats, the Cajuns were able to make the running catch in the outfield to get the out and seal the Texas State loss.

Though Woodard can see where the Bobcat offense can improve on, she was proud of the team for continuing to battle despite trailing early.

“We have to do a better job early in the game,” Woodard said. “But when you get nine hits, you hope to win a ball game, so I don’t think we did a bad job.

I thought, again, we could have capitalized in some other places that we didn’t, but I like the way they continued to battle.”

Despite the series loss, the Bobcats remain in contention for the Sun Belt regular season title. After first place Louisiana Monroe dropped their series against the South Alabama Jaguars, the Bobcats trail the Warhawks by one game with both teams meeting up in the regular season finale.

Going into the final series of the regular season before the conference tournament, Woodard is focused on trying to get critical outs in critical situations which the Bobcats struggled with against the Cajuns.

“We have to continue to figure out how to get outs,” Woodard said. “Monroe’s a lot like ULL, they’re scrappy.

They’re going to run the base as well, so we’ve just got to figure out how to get out, period.”

The Warhawks enter their series with the Bobcats with a 34-18 overall record and a 14-7 conference record. ULM is also looking to protect their 22-0 undefeated home record.

First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Thursday night in Monroe.

cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc