It was a night of firsts for Texas State.
In her first start for the Maroon and Gold, Emma Strood pitched five innings and allowed five hits, one run and three strikeouts en route to Texas State’s 2-1 win over San Diego Friday night at Bobcat Softball Stadium.
This marked both Strood’s and the Bobcats’ first win of the 2025 season.
“I don’t think we’re even close to coming to ourselves offensively,” Texas State head coach Ricci Woodard said. “To still be able to pull out a win tells me that we’re going to be able to be a great team when this is all said and done.”
In the bottom of the second inning, catcher Megan Kelnar hit a double to drive in Kate Bubela, a first-year transfer from North Carolina, who reached on a single earlier in the inning. Sydney Harvey reached on a single soon after, and her attempt to steal second base caused an error by San Diego, leading to Kelnar scoring the only other run for the Bobcats.
In a reversal of the Bobcats’ previous game against Arkansas, Maddy Azua came in relief for Strood to earn her first save of 2025. Azua allowed one hit and earned two strikeouts in two innings of work.
“[Azua and Strood] are a great one-two punch right now,” said Woodard. “I haven’t even gotten the rest of our staff in yet, and I’m excited to see what all of them are going to do for us.”
The Toreros’ lone run came in the top of the fifth inning off Kaitlyn Wynia‘s RBI single, which scored Shawnese Hogue-Lacy.
Kelsey Tadlock went the distance in the circle for San Diego and allowed one earned run, five hits and three walks.
The Bobcats have two more games in the Texas State Tournament. The first is against a Lipscomb squad that lost to Arkansas 23-0 Friday. Then, they will face a Bradley squad whose contest against Arkansas came down to the final inning.
“Game three and four of the weekend are always the toughest, in my opinion,” said Woodard. “We’ve got to figure out how to bring some energy and still have a little bit of life and fight through some adversity tomorrow.”
The Bobcats’ Saturday double-header begins at 2:30 p.m. against Lipscomb and will be immediately followed by their contest against Bradley at Bobcat Softball Stadium.
