Texas State softball pulled off their fifth consecutive fall season win off the bats of junior infielder Hailey MacKay and freshman catcher Sara Vanderford with a 10-5 win at home over Vernon College on Friday.
The game started in Vernon’s favor, putting in a home run and two other runs under junior pitcher Dalilah Barrera’s pitching in the third inning.
The ‘Cats quickly came back, with junior infielder Eliza Eberhard bringing in junior outfielder Christiana McDowell for their first run in the bottom of the third.
Vanderford then came in for her first scoring hit, bringing an RBI single up center to put the ‘Cats at 3-2 before MacKay’s sacrifice fly tied the game.
The game faced its first lead switch off of a grounder from Tara Oltmann, but Vernon quickly took it back with three singles against freshman pitcher Tori McCann.
Vanderford sent in another run to start the comeback, scoring Eberhard with an RBI double. The hit started a fire under the ‘Cats. Sophomore infielder ArieAnn Bell hit a single and then stole a base in the bottom of the fifth, followed by two singles from McDowell and freshman infielder Samara Lagway.
After the fifth inning brought the ‘Cats to an 8-5 advantage, MacKay hit Texas State’s sole home run of the game to finalize the 10-5 victory in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Mackay and Vanderford led the comeback win with five of the 10 runs, with Mackay hitting a home run, single and sacrifice fly ball and Vanderford putting in two hits with a single and a double.
Next up for the ‘Cats is a doubleheader against Navarro College and UTSA at home on Saturday. Texas State will finish its fall season with the team’s biggest challenge yet in a road match up I-45 against the University of Texas on Friday, November 8.