Texas State finds its rhythm early at Lone Star Invitational

Ricci Woodard knew her team would be resilient heading into this season. She got a flash of just how hard her team would push as Texas State finished its first week of its schedule with a 6-2 record.

The Bobcats went toe-to-toe with No. 7 Texas in Austin on Wednesday, sending the game into extra innings and giving up an unearned, game-winning run to fall 1-0.

The maroon and gold returned to Bobcat Softball Stadium to host a handful of games in the Lone Star Invitational, including three against SEC opponents, losing just one. Texas State split a doubleheader against No. 16 Mississippi State on Friday, winning the first game, 4-3, and losing the second, 6-2. The team earned a pair of wins Saturday, defeating Ole Miss, 2-1, and Sam Houston State, 10-3, and nearly run-ruled Lamar on Sunday, 8-1.

“I think we are starting to come together as a team and figuring out who we are and how to play together as a family,” sophomore catcher Cat Crenek said. “And I think we learned that we can be really good this season.”

“Getting those two SEC wins underneath our belt sets us up for a good season,” junior outfielder Kylie George said. “So I think that that, just like Cat said, proved to ourselves that we can hang with anybody if we want to.”

The Bobcats gave up a run in the first inning of Sunday’s matchup with the Cardinals. After another two innings, Crenek said the hosts were tired of seeing zeros on their side of the scoreboard.

Junior right fielder ArieAnn Bell drew a base on balls to start the bottom of the third and a sacrifice bunt by junior centerfielder Marisa Cruz moved her into scoring position. George took four straight balls and both players stole a base. Crenek drove a triple out to deep left centerfield, scoring Bell and George and giving Texas State a 3-1 lead. 

The team loaded the bases with two outs in its next four at-bats. Freshman second baseman Sara Vanderford doubled down the right field line to pick up three RBIs. Bell stepped up to bat for the second time in the frame and brought Vanderford home with a single to right center, completing the seven-run inning.

“I think it’s just a matter of, again, you see pitching over and over again and you get comfortable,” Woodard said. “I think this team does a good job of not pressing. And that’s kind of been their forte so far in just this one week and not worrying about who the competition is, but just staying in what they do best. And again, I think we do a lot of things well offensively with speed and power. And I think they did a good job of sticking to what we do well.”

Senior first baseman Hailey MacKay added another RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to bring George across the plate, sealing Texas State’s 8-1 win.

Crenek now leads the team among qualified players with a .409 batting average. She trails just George among all players on the team, who’s collected three hits in six plate appearances.

“My approach has been just don’t think, kind of just go up there and play it pitch by pitch,” Crenek said. “And it’s been working so far.”

“I’ve just been trying to be aggressive at the plate,” George said. “You know, at the beginning of the week, I was letting a lot of pitches by me that I should have been hitting. And so I just tried to go out there and get a piece of it and just see good pitches and drive the ball.”

The Bobcats will face Texas Tech (5-6) on the road in a doubleheader Wednesday. They’ll then return home to play Houston (7-5) in a three-game home series beginning Friday at 6 p.m.

“I wanted to get out of here with five wins. But I told myself if we get out of here at 4-1 I was gonna be really happy, so I can’t complain,” Woodard said. “I thought the players did a great job of just staying tuned in the entire weekend. You know, as we just talked about, we started this week on Monday and it’s been a long week and to come out and still do what we did today, I thought, was a fantastic job on their part.”