After securing their 3rd consecutive regular season Southland Conference Championship, the Texas State Bobcats headed into the Conference Tournament not completely satisfied. After a late season slip-up forced Stephen F. Austin and Texas State to share the regular season title, Coach Woodard and the Bobcats wanted to prove to the rest of the Conference that there can only be one champion.
Until the Conference Tournament champion is crowned, the Bobcats can only win one game at a time, and they did just that, crushing the #3 seeded Lady Mavericks of UT-Arlington 10-1 in their first game of the SLC tourney Thursday afternoon.
After losing 9 of their final 13 games, the Bobcats entered the Conference Tournament with the same mentality as the team that took home the Championship just last year. In fact it only took one inning for the 505 in attendance to witness how serious this ‘Cats team really is.
In McKenzie Baack’s first at bat of the tourney, she belted a 3-run homerun (4) over the left field wall to put #2 Texas State up 3-0 quickly. Still in the 1st inning, the hungry Bobcats weren’t finished. In last year’s SLC tournament, Allyce Rother posted her first HR of the season with a solo shot that proved to be the winning run. This year, Rother was feeling heroic yet again, as she turned on an inside fastball and crushed it not only over the left field wall, but over the bullpen as well.
Did I mention it scored 4? That’s right. Rother’s first homerun of this season came in “grand” fashion, as she did so with the bases loaded. After 1 inning, the ‘Cats found themselves up 7-0, just like that.
Texas State put up 3 more runs in the second inning, and after Chandler Hall struck out her 4th batter of the night to end the top of the 5th, the run-rule came into effect, ultimately ending the game.
Andrew Vizzone, KTSW Sports Staff Writer
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