TXST SOFTBALL
Texas State’s quest for a second consecutive Sun Belt tournament championship begins this week as the Bobcats enter the conference tournament.
After hosting last year’s tournament in one of the more memorable moments of the 2024 season, Texas State makes the trip to Troy, Alabama for this year’s tournament.
Despite replacing over half of their roster and being picked to win the conference, the Bobcats lived up to the preseason expectations and captured the regular season title for the first time since 2018 and the program’s first outright Sun Belt regular season title.
This year the Bobcats were powered by the 1-2 punch of sophomore pitcher Madison Azua and junior pitcher Emma Strood in the circle.
Azua finished the regular season with a 20-7 overall record while striking out 186 batters, recording two saves and having an ERA of 2.71.
Strood, a transfer from LSU, wrapped up her first season with the Bobcats, finishing the regular season with a 12-8 overall record, striking out 105 batters and maintaining an ERA of 2.94.
As deadly as the Bobcats are on defense, Texas State is just as deadly on offense.
Junior first baseman Aiyana Coleman, a transfer from Texas A&M, exploded on the scene for the Bobcats. In just her first season, Coleman broke the single season record from most home runs (17) and RBIs (55) while maintaining a batting average of .429, just the third Bobcat player in program history to have a batting average higher than .400.
Along with Coleman, the Bobcats have four batters with batting averages higher than .300 with junior catcher Megan Kelnar, senior outfielder Ciara Trahan, junior outfielder Keely Williams and freshman outfielder Bailee Slack.
Going into the tournament, the Bobcats claimed the No. 1 seed with Texas State being placed at the bottom of the bracket.
Texas State will take on the winner of James Madision- Troy on Thursday before the victor will face the winner of Georgia Southern-Lousiana Monroe in the semifinals.
The Bobcats missed both James Madison and Georgia Southern in conference play but played both Troy and Louisiana Monroe.
Texas State dropped the series against Troy at home but swept ULM on the road to capture the Sun Belt regular season title.
The Bobcats take the field at 5 p.m. Thursday. All conference tournament games will be streamed on ESPN+ with the championship final being broadcast on ESPN2.
cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc
