Bobcats stun South Alabama on walk off homer to win twice in one day

Texas State had the envious task of needing to win two games in the same day in order to play for the Sun Belt Championship on Saturaday. Needless to say, the Bobcats hit it out of the park. Literally. 

The Bobcats defeated the Marshall Thundering Herd 8-2 in the Sun Belt Quarterfinals before pulling off a 4-3 comeback win over the South Alabama Jaguars in the Sun Belt Semifinals when second baseman Katarina Zarate hit a walkoff home run in the bottom of the eighth inning. 

“It’s a senior led team but everyone does their job and that is what makes it fun,” Head Coach Ricci Woodard said. “Everyone buys into the fact the next pitch is the most important pitch. As long as you do that no matter if you are the pitcher, hitter, senior or freshman, you are giving yourself a chance to win the game. That is what I love about this group.”

The Bobcats found themselves down to the Jaguars in the fourth inning. A solo home run from Jaguar first baseman Gabby Stagner gave South Alabama a 1-0 lead. South Alabama followed up the homer with a two-run RBI double by second baseman Odalys Cordova, extending the lead to 3-0. 

After the Jaguars at-bat, the team met up to regroup and refocus. 

“We knew it was going to be a fight from the first pitch to the last,” pitcher Jessica Mullins said. “We would have to keep battling each pitch and after the three up, we had to figure it out. … I knew I needed to do some work and I did my best. I didn’t perform well enough to keep a good calibar team like [South Alabama] off the board. But I knew my team was going to have my back either way.”

With the offense having some early game struggles, Zarate and the Bobcats knew they had to keep fighting through the struggle and continue to battle. 

“We all came together after that inning and collectively as a team, took a deep breath,” Zarate said. “We told each other to stick to the plan and it will come. We just kept working as a team and we never had a doubt in our minds.”

The Bobcat offense finally broke through the tough South Alabama defense in the bottom of the sixth inning. 

Texas State loaded up the bases but were also down to their final out. Left fielder Sidney Harvey broke the scoreless drought with a RBI single into left field to make it 3-1. In the next at-bat, shortstop Hannah Earls tied the game up at 3-3 with a two-run RBI single before South Alabama could get the final out. 

After giving up a run in the fourth inning, Mullins responded in the only way possible. Striking out batters. 

The senior pitcher struck out nine batters while giving up no hits through the fifth inning onwards with her only blemish being a HBP. 

“I was reminded by my teammates to take it one pitch at a time,” Mullins said. “Just trusting your stuff, plan and practice and it will all fall through. This is the best I have pitched all season honestly. I’ve never felt better.”

Going into the bottom of the eighth inning, both the Jaguars and the Bobcats found themselves tied at 3-3. 

Facing one out, Zarate sent the home crowd happy with one swing of the bat, blasting the home run over the right field wall right next to the train tracks. 

“Coach Woodard has been telling me all season that I have to swing at the first pitch,” Zarate said. “I really trusted her at that moment. But I could not have been there without my teammates getting us back in the game. Hats off to them. We have worked all season for this moment.”

Earlier in the day, the Bobcats took on the Marshall Thundering Herd in the Sun Belt Quarterfinals that was pushed back due to the recent storms. 

Texas State jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the 1st inning en route to a 8-2 win over the Thundering Herd. 

Despite being in a tough spot with playing two elimination games in one day, difficult obstacles are nothing new for the Bobcats. 

“If anyone is going to embrace adversity it is going to be us,” Mulllins said. “We have played through that and injuries. I can not tell how many times we have gotten back up from an injury whenever we falter. We knew it was going to be tough but we trusted each other and knew we were going to get after it.”

Texas State returns to play Saturday at 1 p.m. to battle Louisiana for the Sun Belt Tournament Championship.