The Bobcat offense had struggled leading up to the series finale against Louisana Monroe.
Scoring a combined five runs through three games, senior Keely Williams knew the team needed to bring the right amount of energy in Sunday’s game vs the Warhawks..
“Just playing our game,” Williams said. “Last time we talked, we were talking about energy and we had that same issue again. But we just had another quick conversation and brought back what we know then played our game today.”
Connecting with 13 hits, the Bobcats won their critical conference series against ULM, beating the Warhawks 10-2 in five innings.
“I'm hoping today was a statement win,” Head Coach Ricci Woodard said “We cruised into the 1st [game], we let them steal the 2nd one, and so I'm hoping that today we made the point that we're better than what we played on Friday and Saturday.”
“What we finally did is we didn't leave 11 runners on base. We left four,” Head Coach Ricci Woodard said. ”We had a ton of runners on base so it was nice to see us actually put better swings and better bat on ball today.”
The Bobcats struck first with a sacrifice fly by senior Karmyn Bass to score Williams at third, putting Texas State up 1-0.
Williams scored another run for Texas State, hitting an RBI double and extending the lead. Following Williams, junior Kate Bubela hit an RBI double, making it a 3-0 game.
ULM answered in the top of the third inning, loading up the bases before scoring on an RBI single through the left side.
The Warhawks threatened to score again with the bases still loaded but the Bobcats got out of the jam with getting the second out on a force out at home plate then a ground out at third.
Texas State got their run back in the bottom of the third when senior Sami Hood hit an RBI single, making it a 4-1 game.
Williams struck once more for Texas State, hitting an RBI single to extend the lead 5-1.
ULM answered back with a solo home run in the top of the fifth inning, cutting the Bobcat lead to 5-2.
The Bobcats scored again in the bottom of the sixth inning as Sami Hood hammered a solo home run over the wall in center field, extending the lead to 6-2.
Following a bases loaded walk from senior Aiyana Coleman who walked four times in the game, a ULM error allowed two more runs to come across as Texas State led 9-2.
Senior catcher Megan Kelnar scored the final run for the Bobcats, forcing a bases loaded walk to end the game at 10-2.
The improvement on offense was exactly what Woodard wanted to see, especially lower the number of base runners that were left on base.
“What we finally did was we didn't leave 11 runners on base. We left four,” Woodard said. ”We had a ton of runners on base so it was nice to see us actually put better swings and better bat on ball today.”
The intense series was built up from last year when Texas State swept ULM in the final series of the season which led to the Bobcats clinching the outright regular season conference title.
With the Warhawks wanting to get their licks back from last season, Williams was more focus on having the team continuing to play their game.
“Last year we swept them, so we were trying to do that same thing,” Williams said. “Obviously, they didn't go our way yesterday, but I mean, it's a new year, new game, new day, new everything. So just playing our game is just what it is.”
Texas State concludes their 23-game home stand and will go back on the road for the first time in over a month with a five-game road trip.
The Bobcats start their road trip Tuesday against Houston.
