No. 25 Texas State’s 18-game winning streak came to an end this weekend as the Bobcats suffered a series sweep at the hands of South Alabama.
The maroon and gold averaged 5.5 runs per game entering the series, but hit a cold stretch against the Jaguars’ pitching staff, earning just 2.3 runs per game inside Bobcat Softball Stadium.
“I think the biggest thing is that we have to get better,” head coach Ricci Woodard said. “We’ve kind of coasted maybe for a little bit and not really had to get much better and this weekend we learned where some of our weaknesses are and how to compete.”
South Alabama junior outfielder Caroline Nichols led off Friday’s game with a single to the shortstop, then stole second base and reached third on a throwing error. A wild pitch brought her home for the first score of the game.
The Jaguars added another run in the top of the fifth inning with a solo homer to left field from junior second baseman Belle Wolfenden. The hosts finally got on the board in the bottom of the frame, as junior right fielder ArieAnn Bell scored on a fielder’s choice.
But Texas State wouldn’t score again for another 10 innings, losing Friday’s game, 3-1, and getting shut out on Saturday, 1-0.
“As I just told the team, they outplayed us in every category tonight, so they deserve to win the ballgame. It’s pretty simple when you look at it like that,” Woodard said Friday. “I don’t even want to speculate. I just feel like they pitched better than us, they hit better than us and they got the job done in the slapping game, the short game. They did a better job in every aspect of the game tonight.”
The team ended the scoreless stretch in the bottom of the second of Sunday’s game as Bell blasted a two-RBI home run to right centerfield, which tied the game up at 2-2. But the visitors countered with their most productive inning of the weekend, posting five runs in the top of the third.
The Bobcats got two runs back in the next frame as junior centerfielder Marisa Cruz swung for a solo home run to left field and junior shortstop Tara Oltmann drove in an RBI single. But Texas State couldn’t keep the rally going, falling to South Alabama (21-12, 9-4 Sun Belt), 7-4, completing the sweep.
“I thought we did a better job today, we just didn’t get it done with runners in scoring position,” Woodard said Sunday. “And I’d have to go back and look and see if we were pressing. Sometimes we want to pitches out of the zone but for the most part, I thought we did a much better job today, so I don’t have too many complaints about today.”
The maroon and gold are now on their first losing streak of the season. The team’s 18-game winning streak will go down as tied with the 2001 team for longest in program history.
Texas State (25-6, 8-3) will look to bounce back Wednesday when it meets up with Baylor (21-8, 3-0 Big 12) in Waco.
“You wake up tomorrow and you come back and you get to compete again. And I think that’s what they have to remember, is that we get to do this, this is supposed to be fun. The 18 wins were fun. This isn’t really fun, but so what? We still get to come back and do this again tomorrow and we get to compete and we get to still play softball. And at the end of the day, it’s just a game and it’s something we get to do. And that’s what I told them to go home and think about it and approach it and let’s come back and do a better job at it tomorrow.”
