SAN MARCOS, Texas. – Despite seeing six hits, including three straight in the fourth inning, the App State Softball team surrendered a four-run first inning and a three-run sixth inning to the Texas State Bobcats, which helped the Bobcats pull off the 8-2 win on their home field on Friday to open Sun Belt play. The Bobcats saw each of their first six hitters reach base after tallying a clean inning on defense, which was all they needed to win the game.
After seeing four Texas State (16-6, 1-0 SBC) runs cross in the first inning, App State (9-16, 0-1 SBC) made a bit of a run in the middle innings, trimming its deficit to two with nobody out in the fourth.
Madison McIntyre ripped an RBI single with the bases loaded, but the Bobcats made a pitching change to bring in the Sun Belt's preseason Pitcher of the Year, Madison Azua, and it proved vital as she tossed 3.1 innings of hitless softball to get the win.
Grace Barrett led the team with two hits in game 1 of the three-game series with the Bobcats, while
Makayla McClain,
Macy Hamby,
Marti Henkel and McIntyre also tallied base knocks. Barrett's two-hit outing marked her team-leading ninth multi-hit game of the season. McIntyre tallied the Mountaineers' lone RBI in the game, scorching a bases-loaded hit to right field in the fourth inning in her conference debut.
After coming on in the first inning in relief,
Ava Beamesderfer pitched six solid innings against Texas State, allowing just three earned runs and striking out two. Beamesderfer kept the Bobcats scoreless in three of her innings pitched and retired nine straight at one point. It was the second time this season that the sophomore has pitched six innings in a game.
How it Happened
In the team's first Sun Belt game of the
Whitney Jones era, the Bobcats put up a scoreless frame on defense to open the game. On offense, Texas State scored four first-inning runs on four hits to take the early lead. Beamesderfer came into the game with two on and nobody out and did well to quell the flame as she retired three batters in a row to end the first.
App State saw its first baserunner reach to lead off the second as
Taylor Chumbley got on first via an error. The first hit of the game fell through in front of the left fielder thanks to Barrett to put two runners on with nobody out.
Julia Girk hit the ball hard, but her liner was snagged by the third baseman for the first out and Henkel's flyball in foul territory was caught at the wall to record the second out. Texas State stranded both runners after a flyout to keep its four-run advantage.
The Bobcats recorded another baserunner to lead off the bottom of the inning, but
Makayla McClain caught a hard line drive and flicked the ball to McIntyre to double off the runner and end the inning. App State tallied two straight hits in the third inning with one out and scored its first run of the game to trim its deficit to three.
McClain stroked a single to center field after the Bobcats tallied an out and Hamby dropped a ball in front of the left fielder to put two on.
Leah Gore reached base and stole second base to put two runners in scoring position and McClain scored on a wild pitch to plate App State's first run of Sun Belt play.
Beamesderfer responded to the run by posting a scoreless frame in the third and the Mountaineers scored again in the fourth inning to make it a two-run game. Barrett led off the inning with a single and she was followed by a walk to Girk and a Henkel base hit to right, which loaded the bases with nobody out.
McIntyre scored the Mountaineers' second run of the game by blasting a liner over the second baseman's head which plated Barrett to make the score 4-2. The Bobcats made a pitching change to put in Azua and that immediately paid off as Texas State turned a 1-2-3 double play to mark two outs and then a foulout ended the threat.
The Bobcats immediately answered the Mountaineers' run with a homer to lead off the fourth inning to put them back up three. Beamesderfer did well to keep Texas State to one run in the inning as she worked around a single and a hit-by-pitch to strand two.
Both teams posted dueling scoreless frames in the fifth inning to send action to the sixth inning with the Bobcats still up three. After another clean inning posted by its defense, Texas State added to its lead with three sixth-inning runs. Two crucial errors helped the Bobcats plate those runs and then Azua closed it down to notch her eighth win of the season.
Friday Notes
Home runs
App: N/A
TXST: Garrett (2)
WP: Madison Azua (8-2): 3.1 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts
SV: N/A
LP:
Sejal Neas (3-5): 0.0 IP, 3 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts
Up Next
App State's series with Texas State is set to continue on Saturday with the second game of the three-game set. First pitch from Bobcat Softball Stadium is slated for 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT) and the game can be streamed on ESPN+.
