The Texas State Bobcats (13-7) set the tone for the San Marcos Showdown with a dominant 7-0 victory over the St. Francis Red Flash (0-20).

Despite a strong showing from the offense, the biggest story of the night was undoubtedly senior pitcher Emma Strood.

Strood had a perfect game through six innings before a walk in the seventh ended the bid for perfection. Still, Strood finished out the seventh and finished off the Bobcats 21st no-hitter in program history.

Along with her no hitter, Strood struck out 12, over 50% of her total outs.

“I was just feeling really good today,” Strood said. “We weren’t expecting to play today, so we got a little bit more rest and we were supposed to have practice, but we came out, I felt really good today and my stuff was working.”

Texas State took a 1-0 lead early on in the second inning when junior infielder Kate Bubela singled to left field and was brought in by a Harley Vestal double.

Timely hits by the Bobcats and errors on the infield and outfield from St. Francis quickly extended the ‘Cats lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Bats for the Bobcats stayed hot in the fifth inning as back-to-back doubles from Bubela and sophomore Mel Reeves drove in another run.

Yet another double from senior Sami Hood scored Reeves making the score 7-0. The fifth inning ended with the Bobcats just one run short of a run-rule victory.

Defense for Texas State was consistently strong throughout all seven innings. The Bobcats had six back-to-back three up three down innings with no errors.

Offensively the rest of the game was quiet, but Strood’s performance in the circle spoke for itself.

“I thought she was lights out. I thought it was a total team effort to help her,” Texas State head coach Ricci Woodard said. “You don’t ask for anything better than that to start the weekend with.”

The Bobcats will be back at it to face the Tarleton State Texans (14-7) at 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 4, at Bobcat Softball Stadium.