Texas State falls to Troy in 12 inning epic

Texas State could not complete the sweep against Troy falling to the Trojans 4-3 in a 12 inning game. 

The Bobcats fall to 32-9 overall with a conference record of 9-3. 

“Hats off to [Troy],” Woodard said. “Their pitcher threw over 200 pitches and they found a way to beat us.”

Troy took their first lead of the series with a sacrifice fly into right field taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. 

The Bobcats responded in the bottom of the fourth inning. First baseman J.J. Smith connected with a solo home run, her third of the series, to tie the game at 1-1. 

Center fielder Piper Randolph broke the tie in the same at-bat with an RBI single through the right side of the field and giving the Bobcats a 2-1 lead. 

Texas State maintained their lead going into the top of the seventh inning. Despite facing two outs, the Trojans had runners on first and second. Troy then connected with a double down the left field line scoring one run to tie the game. 

On the same play, the Bobcats tried to get the ball back to the pitcher, a throwing error led to another run scoring for Troy as the Trojans took the lead in dramatic fashion 3-2. 

Despite the error, Texas State remained undeterred. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Randolph struck again by hitting a RBI double into left center field tying the game at 3-3. 

The Bobcats were unable to bring Randolph home as the game went into extra innings. 

Neither team could score a run throughout the eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh inning. The game also approaches the Drop Dead Time rule due to the conference rules that opposing road teams must be allowed to leave at a reasonable time. 

Going into the 12th inning, Troy broke through hitting a solo home run into left field for a 4-3 lead. 

The run was just enough as the Trojans held off the Bobcat offense for the 4-3 win. 

With both the Bobcat offense and defense having their struggles in key moments, Woodard stressed the importance for taking the game one pitch at a time. 

“I think we just let the pressure of the day get to us,” Woodard said. “We were trying to do too much and chasing pitches that were not good to hit. We have to come up with good at-bats. … We have to play the game one pitch at a time and move on to the next pitch.”

Texas State returns to play Wednesday night in their second meeting with the Texas Longhorns. 

The Bobcats dropped their first meeting with the Longhorns 1-0 in a pitchers duel at Bobcat Softball Stadium. 

First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m. at Red & Charline McCombs Field in Austin.