Texas State entered Wednesday’s evening battle with IH-35 rival Texas hoping to copy last week’s outcome. The Bobcats stylishly beat the Longhorns 9-7 on March 24th off of a Leah Boatright walk-off home run. Winning yesterday would have completed the season sweep over Texas, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished by Texas State since 2000. However, with the 17th-ranked Longhorns beating the Bobcats 8-0 yesterday in a run rule blowout, Texas State will have to try the sweep again in 2011.
Game 2 of the season series, played on Wednesday, March 31st, needed only 6 innings before a victor was decided. The game was concluded in the bottom of the 6th when Courtney Craig of Texas hit her second home run of the game, a two-run shot over the left field wall. The bomb pushed the Longhorn lead to 8 and forced the run-rule to come into play, ending the game.
The story of the evening came from the pitching of freshman phenom and Bowie (Austin) High School standout, Blaire Luna. The home crowd of 826 watched Luna, who entered the game with a 1.12 era and 196 K’s, strike out 12 Bobcat hitters, including a span of 6 in a row coming in the early innings. The freshman pitcher had a no-hitter through 5 innings, before Kristina Tello and Allyce Rother managed Texas State’s only hits of the night in the top of the 6th. Tello, the senior center fielder, along with first baseman Leah Boatright and second baseman Anna Hernandez, combined for 5 hits and 6 RBI’s in the walk-off victory against Texas a week ago in San Marcos. Yesterday, the trio struggled against Luna, hitting a combined .125 and striking out 3 times.
Courtney Craig carried the offensive load for the Longhorns, as she managed 5 RBI’s off of two home runs. Catcher Amy Hooks added 2 hits and an RBI.
The Bobcats faltered early, committing 2 crucial errors in the first inning. Both occurred in the infield and both directly affected the scoreboard, as the Longhorns took a quick 2-0 lead without even getting a hit. It also seemed to affect the Bobcats' confidence, as both errors shattered any chance of them starting the game with some momentum. From there, sophomore pitcher Chandler Hall simply could not find her rhythm. The squad in burnt orange rocked Chandler for 5 hits and 5 earned runs and soon found themselves up 6-0 after 4 innings of play. Anne Marie Taylor relieved Hall on the Circle, and retired 4 consecutive Longhorns, before giving up the game-sealing 2-run home run in the bottom of the 6th.
As Blaire Luna retired Bobcat after Bobcat, Coach Woodard could only watch on as her club give everything they could. However, last night is now behind Coach Woodard and her proud Bobcat squad. The most important thing to do now is to look ahead. Next up is a feasible 3-game road series against Central Arkansas this weekend. Central Arkansas sits in 8th place in the Southland and sports a 3-8 conference record. Texas State is 12-3 in the conference and has seemed to shine its brightest when playing Southland squads. A double header on Friday in Conway, Arkansas will start the series, with game 3 rounding out on Saturday. All stats and information from all the games can be found online at www.ucasports.com
Andrew Vizzone, KTSW Sports Staff Writer
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