After giving up five hits and four runs in the first two innings, sophomore pitcher Madison Azua knew it was time to refocus and regroup with Texas State trailing 4-1 to the App State Mountaineers.
“[I was] just trying to stay calm and know that I can get the job done,” Azua said. ”After that second inning, even during the second inning, I was doubting myself. After that I just came back in, knowing what I'm capable of knowing that [App State is] not better than me.”
Azua then pitched five scoreless innings, allowing no hits while striking out a career high 13 batters as Texas State scored six unanswered runs to defeat App State 7-4 to win the series.
Head Coach Ricci Woodard was proud of her team for not only caqpturing the win and the series not being able to battle through adversity.
“That's one of those gutted outs games where we could have just folded up and not compete,” Woodard said. “I thought in all areas we did a really good job of continuing to compete.”
Taking a 1-0 lead after a sacrifice fly from junior first baseman Aiyana Coleman, App State retook the lead in the top of the second inning, scoring four runs off three hits and a Bobcat fielding error.
Despite the rough outing, Woodard had full confidence in Azua.
“It doesn't surprise me, just because she's a competitor,” Woodard said of Azua's performance. “Sometimes when things don't go her way, she finds a way to dig a little bit deeper because she does like to compete.”
As Azua and the Bobcat defense went to work on shutting out App State, the Texas State bats got to rolling.
Texas State took advantage of an App State throwing error in the bottom of the second, scoring one run and cutting the lead down to 4-2.
In the bottom of the fifth, Texas State continued their offensive attack. Facing a 2-0 count, junior third baseman Kate Bubela connected with a leadoff home run over the wall in right field, making it a 4-3 score.
Later in the inning, the Bobcats faced two outs with a runner on first. Outdettered by the two outs, Texas State struck again as Coleman blasted a two-run homer deep into center field, giving the Bobcats lead back at 5-4.
While Texas State took the lead, the offense wasn’t done yet.
Bubela struck again, hitting an RBI single through the left side before freshman left fielder Bailee Slack hit an RBI single of her own. Going into the seventh, Texas State led 7-4.
I thought we did a good job of just continuing to play the game one pitch at a time,” Woodard said. “When you give up [four runs] in the second inning, you have a lot of ball game left and I thought we did a good job of handling the rest of the game.”
Working with a three run lead, Azua was able to close out the side, including getting her career 13th strikeout to seal the win.
“It's huge,” Azua said. “Knowing that I gave up four runs and then they had to fight their way back for me, it meant a lot knowing that they had my bag just as much as I have theirs.”
Texas State returns to play Sunday for the conclusion of three-game series with App State. First pitch is set for 11 a.m.
