A picturesque day in San Marcos was highlighted by an offensive barrage of 13 runs on 14 hits, a pair of home runs off the bats of Karmyn Bass and freshman Mayson Garrett and a combined shutout of the Saluki offense. All of these contributed to Texas State softball’s 13-0 run-rule victory over Southern Illinois (1-12) on Monday afternoon at Bobcat Softball Stadium.
“That [offensive] performance is what we’ve been waiting for all year,” Texas State head coach Ricci Woodard said. “This group just needs experience, and we’ll continue to get better.”
Along with Garrett’s home run, fellow freshmen Bailee Slack and Erin Peterson put together multi-hit efforts, as Peterson went 2-for-4 and Slack went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. Woodard said she has been very pleased with her freshman class to start the season.
After a quiet first inning at the plate, the Bobcats’ bats exploded in the second. Five consecutive singles to begin the inning quickly made it 2-0 in favor of Texas State before an out was recorded. A hit by pitch, groundout and an RBI single from Slack turned the game upside down, making it 6-0 in a blink.
Bass then belted a ball clear over the left field wall to put an exclamation mark on the inning and give Texas State an 8-0 lead. Bass struck again the very next inning with a two-RBI single, giving her four total RBIs on the day and running the lead up to 10-0.
“I was looking for pitches I could do damage with,” Bass said. “That has been my whole approach this year, just look for pitches over the plate that I can hit hard.”
An RBI single off the bat of Emilee Baker added another run in the home half of the third to balloon the lead to 11-0. The bottom of the fourth inning rolled around and Garrett put the final exclamation on the game, hitting her first collegiate home run and giving the Bobcats a 13-0 lead.
While the offense was the clear star of the day, Bobcat starter Maddy Azua was just as dominant in the circle. Azua tossed four innings, only allowed one Saluki batter to reach base and punched out five batters. After a rocky start the day before against Kansas, Azua found her form again against SIU.
With the win, Texas State moved to 10-3 on the season and will now get ready to leave home for the first time this year when they travel to College Station this weekend for the Texas A&M invitational.
The Bobcats will play five games in College Station. Opponents include the host school, #6 Texas A&M (15-1), #12 Texas Tech (15-3), Princeton (2-2), George Washington (7-3) and Idaho State (10-3).
Texas State will open the invitational against Texas A&M at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, at Davis Diamond. The game will be streaming on SEC Network+. The Aggies are coming off an undefeated weekend in Tallahassee at the Joan Graf Classic where they beat #8 Florida State twice.
