The Texas State Bobcats (9-2) played two games on Sunday. They beat the Southern Illinois Salukis (1-10) in game one and lost to the Kansas Jayhawks (6-5) in game two.
Game one
Emma Strood threw a career-high 14 strikeouts and a complete game en route to a 2-1 victory for the Bobcats against the Salukis on a warm Sunday afternoon at Bobcat Softball Stadium.
“[Strood] did just what we expected her to do,” Texas State head coach Ricci Woodard said. “Her command is as good as any pitcher I ever had here.”
Strood moved to 5-0 on the year and lowered her earned run average to 1.67.
All the scoring occurred in the second inning. Salukis second baseman Emily Williams crushed a leadoff home run up the middle. The lead for Southern Illinois did not hold much longer as Bobcats first basemen Aiyana Coleman crushed her fourth home run of the year into right field to tie the game in the bottom half. A single from designated hitter Karmyn Bass and a hard-hit RBI double from catcher Megan Kelnar to left field gave the Bobcats a lead they never relinquished.
Game two
An uncharacteristically short start from Maddy Azua compiled with eight runners left on base spelled doom for the Bobcats as they saw their seven-game winning streak come to an end at the hands of the Jayhawks by a score of 4-2 on Sunday afternoon at Bobcat Softball Stadium.
The Jayhawks opened the scoring early in the first inning, taking a 1-0 lead before fans could blink off the back of two singles and an error by Azua. A sacrifice fly one batter later added a second run to the board, giving Kansas a 2-0 lead after the first.
Kansas added a run in the third on a passed ball, leading to their second unearned run of the game, extending the lead to 3-0. Texas State finally broke through and cut into the deficit in the fourth, thanks to an RBI single from Karmyn Bass.
Kansas immediately got the run back that they gave up in the fourth on an RBI single into left field to pad their lead to 4-1. The home half of the fifth inning got off to a promising start after Erin Peterson doubled to score Bailee Slack and then advanced to third on the play at home.
The inning stalled from there however, as back-to-back groundouts to the Jayhawks third baseman failed to bring Peterson home. With two outs, Aiyana Coleman was intentionally walked, bringing Bass to the plate as the go-ahead run. Up in the count 3-1, Bass popped up to second base, putting an end to the Bobcats scoring threat.
The sixth and seventh innings saw no change in the score as Kansas held on to snap Texas State’s seven-game winning streak. With the loss, Texas State moves to 1-9 all-time versus the Jayhawks.
Azua took the loss for the Bobcats, surrendering three runs on six hits in 3 ⅓ innings of work. Only one of the three runs, however, was earned. In the circle for the Jayhawks, Lizzy Ludwig tossed a complete game, surrendering nine hits but limiting the run-scoring to two.
The Bobcats will return to the diamond at noon on Monday for their final game of the San Marcos Classic, where they will take on Southern Illinois for the second time at Bobcat Softball Stadium.
