The Texas State softball team split a Friday afternoon doubleheader at Bobcat Softball Stadium, falling flat against Wichita State in a 10-3 defeat, but returning the favor against BYU with a 10-2 victory in six innings.
“I didn’t think that we had anything really going for us all day, until the last inning,” Texas State head coach Ricci Woodard said. “But again, it’s a sign of a good team that can come out and figure out a way to win a ballgame when things aren’t going our way. It was good to get one today, but we have to play better ball tomorrow.”
Game One: Wichita St. 10, TXST 3
The first game of the afternoon pitted the Bobcats against the Wichita State Shockers.
An eventful first inning saw both starting pitchers load the bases, but each of Wichita State’s Ryley Nihart and Texas State’s Emma Strood escaped the inning without giving up a run.
The second inning is when the game began to unravel for Texas State. Strood managed to retire two batters in the second, but was pulled with a runner on third and two outs. Senior Analisa Soliz took over in the circle for Texas State.
The Shockers greeted Soliz with a walk and back-to-back RBI singles to take a 2-0 lead. With two on and two out, the Shockers Ausha Moore belted a three run shot to dead center, Wichita St. ahead 5-0, with all five runs scored with two outs.
The Bobcats scratched two back in the home half of the fourth, but the Shockers quickly answered in the top of the fifth.
Back-to-back-to-back home runs off the bats sophomore Brookelyn Livanec and seniors Jodie Epperson and Chloe Rhine ran the Shockers lead to 9-2
The Bobcats added a run in the bottom of the inning before Shockers added another in the sixth to run the score to its final tally of 10-3, as neither side scored in the seventh.
Game two: BYU 2, TXST 10
Game two of the afternoon was a much different story for the Bobcats, although it took a majority of the game for the Bobcat offense to get rolling.
Both sides were scoreless through the first two innings of the contest before BYU broke the stalemate in the top half of the third thanks to an RBI double off the bat of sophomore catcher Ilove’a Brittingham.
The Bobcats tied the game an inning later in the home half of the fourth when junior infielder Kate Bubela hit her second long ball of the year to knot the game at 1-1. Texas State took the lead in the fifth on an RBI triple from senior catcher Karmyn Bass, giving the Bobcats a 2-1 advantage.
BYU wasted no time erasing the Texas State lead, however, as sophomore infielder Bre Townsend hit a solo blast to center field to knot the game again at 2-2.
The bottom of the sixth inning is when everything clicked for the Bobcat offense. Freshman outfielder Harley Vestal gave the Bobcats the lead back with an RBI single. Immediately after Vestal, sophomore outfielder Bailee Slack singled, driving in another run to make it 4-2.
Following Slack, senior outfielder Keely Williams hit a third straight single, scoring two. Senior first baseman Aiyana Coleman drove in two more to make it 8-2 before junior infielder Kat Zarate put the exclamation on the game with a two-run home run to put the run-rule in effect at 10-2.
Texas State will return to the diamond for another top-25 battle with the Arkansas Razorbacks at 1:15 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026 at Bobcat Softball Stadium.
