The top-seeded Texas State Bobcats (34-19, 16-8 SBC) will not go back-to-back in winning the Sun Belt Conference Tournament title, as the ninth seeded James Madison Dukes (27-25, 11-13 SBC) shut down the Bobcats 2-0 in its second upset victory during the Quarterfinals at Troy Softball Complex in Troy, Ala.
Starting right-handed pitcher Kirsten Fleet kept the momentum going for the Dukes after the previous night’s victory against the Troy Trojans by throwing a complete game shutout, striking out five Bobcats whilst giving up just three hits and two walks. She earned her 12th victory of the season.
James Madison swung the stick well against sophomore ace Maddy Azua, who seemingly struggled in the two recorded innings she pitched. The Dukes landed several singles that would capitalize a lead-off hit by pitch from Payton List early from first baseman Cali Legzdin’s RBI single into right to start the scoring.
In the third inning, the Dukes would extend their lead to 2-0 after List struck an 0-1 pitch into center field off Azua. She was soon pulled thereafter, ending her day early. The sophomore finished with two completed innings while giving up two earned runs on four hits, including a hit by pitch.
Emma Strood took over the chance to limit the damage and gave the Bobcats a fighting chance for the remaining five innings she tossed, giving up three hits while striking out just one Duke.
The offense for Texas State, however, failed to produce a single run, producing only three total hits and two walks (one of them being an intentional walk to Aiyana Coleman in the first inning). Each time a Bobcat got on base, they were promptly stranded soon thereafter.
Karmyn Bass gave the Bobcats several opportunities to score runs. Bass singled up the middle in the bottom of the fifth and eventually reached third base, a prime scoring opportunity that was quickly wasted away with an infield popup.
She got on base once more by producing a two-out walk in the bottom of the seventh. But again, her time on the bases were short-lived as Fleet would generate a swinging strikeout from Mel Reeves to seal the Bobcats fate in the conference tournament and send them home for the time being.
It doesn’t bode well that the offense put up very little resistance against James Madison as they gladly took the advantage of facing the Sun Belt Player of the Year just twice all game.
The loss might even potentially open the door for the Bobcats to miss the NCAA Tournament all together.
Currently, Texas State is ranked 48th in RPI per the NCAA website. It should be noted that softball follows a similar format to basketball and baseball postseasons, in which 64 teams make the NCAA Tournament. Half of the participants are automatic qualifiers who have won their conference tournament while the remaining half are at-large bids.
The regular season conference title should help land them an at-large bid theoretically, but their fate is now up to the selection committee, who will determine the final 32 non-tournament champion teams who are worthy of a bid in their eyes.
The Bobcats can now only eagerly await their fate and cross their fingers to see if their postseason will continue as the countdown for the NCAA Tournament Selection show begins. The Selection Show is slated to start at 6 p.m. Sunday, May 11th on ESPN2.
