TXST SOFTBALL
Texas State opened the River State Classic with a shutout loss to No. 18ranked Oklahoma State Cowgirls before rallying in extra innings to beat the Kansas City Roos 7-6 following a two-run RBI double by redshirt-freshman Harley Vestal.
Texas State improves their record to 6-5 overall “It’s always a tough day when you have to play somebody like Oklahoma State first,” Head Coach Ricci Woodard said. ”You know that you’re going to use a lot of energy for that game. You have to figure out how to have that same energy in game 2 and I thought we had spurts of it. But proud of the win.”
The Bobcats opened play at the River State Classic against Oklahoma State as Texas State looked to take down a Top 25 opponent.
After two scoreless innings, the Cowgirls scored first in the third on an RBI single from senior Claire Timm.
Timm struck again, hitting another RBI single in the bottom of the fifth to put Oklahoma State ahead 2-0.
The Cowgirls added three more runs in the sixth inning to seal a 5-0 win.
The Bobcats looked to regroup after the loss, going up against the Kansas City Roos in the next game.
The Texas State offense got rolling in the first inning as senior Aiyana Coleman crushed a three-run home run to put the Bobcats up 3-0.
Later in the second inning, senior Sami Hood hit her first home run in a Bobcat uniform as Texas State went up 4-0.
The Roos responded by making their comeback.
Kansas City scored three runs in the top of the third before an RBI double tied the game in the top of the fourth inning.
The Roos scored their fifth unanswered run of the game on a sac fly as Kansas City took the lead at 5-4 going into the bottom of the seventh.
Despite now trailing going into their final atbat, the message for the team was to keep fighting.
“That’s the thing we talked about during the whole game,” Woodard said. “Just keep competing. Just get to a spot where we can win a ball game, and that’s what we did.”
Senior Keely Williams gave the Bobcats a prime opportunity to score, hitting a one-out triple. Vestal then scored the gametying run on a sacrifice fly to send the game into extra innings.
Following a scoreless eighth, the Roos took back the lead on an RBI single as the Bobcats once again trailed by one run going into their final at-bat.
But despite trailing once more, there was no panic for the team, especially for Vestal.
“We all worked together really well, and we wanted that win,” Vestal said. “I think we all knew that we should have had it sooner, so I was excited to get that moment and come through in the end.”
With an automatic runner on second, the Bobcats soon put runners on second and third with one out.
Vestal once again came through in the clutch, connecting with a tworun RBI double to score both runs and complete a dramatic Bobcat win.
As the Bobcats are set to play five more games in three days, Texas State is looking to finish the weekend out strong.
“We just need to reset and play our game,” Vestal said. “I think we’re going to come out tomorrow with more energy, be ready to go and focused.”
Texas State is set to face Colorado State in a showdown of future Pac-12 Conference members. The Rams enter the game with a 4-6 overall record, coming off playing at the San Diego and UC-San Diego Invite.
First pitch is set for 4 p.m. Friday. The Bobcats will continue play on Saturday and Sunday.
