MacKay’s walk-off HR seals sweep over Chanticleers

Hailey MacKay didn’t feel any pressure stepping up to the plate with the series sweep on the line.

Texas State made quick work of Coastal Carolina in the teams’ series-opening doubleheader on Thursday, taking down the Chanticleers 6-5 in the first game and 5-1 in the second inside Bobcat Ballpark. But Friday’s series finale proved to be a tougher task.

The maroon and gold scored an unearned run to lead off Friday’s matchup, but allowed the visitors to score runs in each of the third and fourth. The Bobcats tied the game up at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI double from freshman left fielder Hannah Earls, but neither team scored in the next two innings, leaving the game to be decided in the seventh.

“When you get into this part of the season and you’re winning ballgames, you forget that there’s things you have to do to keep winning those ballgames,” head coach Ricci Woodard said. “And as I’ve talked about before, the maturity of some of the players in this program, you hope they’re at the right time at the right place and we keep falling into that spot. And so, I knew going into the bottom of the seventh we had the right people coming up and I think that always helps us.”

Junior right-handed pitcher Meagan King grounded out the side in the top frame to give Texas State a chance to take the win the bottom.

Junior shortstop Tara Oltmann popped up to first base with a full count, bringing MacKay up next.

“I’ve worked really hard to be prepared in those moments,” MacKay said. “And so, going into that, just relying on the work that I put in prior to this week made me feel comfortable in that moment. And I knew that my teammates had my back, too, so if it wasn’t me, I knew somebody else would get the job done.”

“It was a really good person to have been in that position, for sure,” King said. “She definitely works really hard and we all had faith in her in that moment.”

MacKay tipped the first pitch she saw, then got back ahead in the count, 2-1. Finally, she saw another pitch she liked and swatted it to left field. The ball sailed over the fence for a walk-off solo home run, clinching the game for the Bobcats, 3-2, and the series sweep.

King said she got so excited she lept in the air and accidentally landed on senior outfielder Marisa Cruz’s foot.

“Honestly, I knew I’ve been seeing the ball really well, it was just a matter of time until I got a hold of one,” MacKay said. “So, just trying to keep it as simple as possible in that moment and putting a good swing on a good pitch.”

King (7-1) finished the series with two wins and a save. She allowed just seven hits and one run while striking out seven in 12.1 innings of work across all three games.

“I think I did a really good job this weekend of keeping the ball down,” King said. “Because it’s no surprise that Coastal is a great hitting team, you know, that’s usually how they get a lot of their wins. So just staying low in the zone and hitting my spots, I think, was a big factor in doing so well.”

The victory over Coastal Carolina (8-16, 1-8 Sun Belt) extended Texas State’s winning streak to 17-straight, the second-longest mark in program history. The Bobcats (24-3, 8-0) will look to tie the school record at 18 when they host Texas A&M (25-8, 4-5 SEC) on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Woodard hoped that Friday’s tight contest served as a reminder for the Bobcats to not get complacent.

“I think when you have a win streak going on, players forget that you have to score runners early in games when you get the opportunity or you’re going to end up getting beat,” Woodard said. “And so, I just told him going into April, we’ve got to do a better job. Our competition is going to get tougher and we have to do a better job of continuing to score runs as the game goes. And so, I hope that we might have learned a lesson, we’ll find out on Tuesday night.”