Texas State Upsets UT Arlington in Southland Tournament
No. 3 Texas State 6, No. 2 UT Arlington 1
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - The No. 3 seed Texas State moved to 2-0 in tournament play in a 6-1 upset win over the No. 2 seed UT Arlington in the 2011 Southland Conference Softball Tournament in Huntsville, Texas.
The Bobcats have given up only one run though 14 innings of tournament play. Prior to giving up their only run of the tournament to the Mavericks, Texas State run-ruled the No. 6 seed Northwestern State 8-0 in six innings in game two.
Texas State struck first in the top of the third inning on an RBI single to center field by junior Chandler Hall scoring junior Megan Parten for a 1-0 lead. After a single by sophomore Haley Lemons, senior first baseman McKenzie Baack drove in the Bobcat's second run of the game on an RBI single to center field scoring Hall. Senior third baseman Jenna Emery was hit by a pitch to load the bases followed by sophomore second baseman Anna Hernandez single to right field scoring Lemons and extending the Bobcat's lead to 3-0 in the top of the third inning.
Texas State put the game out of reach with three more runs in the top of the seventh inning. Baack recorded her second RBI of the game on a single up the middle scoring senior Lindsey Matt pushing the Bobcat lead to 4-0. Emery followed with a single to right field scoring Hall and Hernandez reached on an error and scored Baack giving Texas State a 6-0 lead.
Texas State sophomore Anne Marie Taylor set a new career-high with 12 strikeouts while picking up her 16th win of the season and holding the Mavericks to one run on just three hits.
The Texas State win marks the third consecutive against UT Arlington in the conference tournament. The Bobcats have outscored the Mavericks 20-3 in the three contests between the 2010 and 2011 tournaments.
UT Arlington freshman Callie Collins, the Southland pitcher of the year, moves to 18-10 on the year after allowing 10 hits and giving up five earned runs in seven innings.
Texas State advances to play the defending tournament champion McNeese State in game seven on Friday at 5 p.m. The Bobcats and Cowgirls played in the championship game in the 2009 and 2010 tournaments.
UT Arlington will now play UTSA in game six on Friday at 2:30 p.m. in an elimination game.
After a four hour rain delay after game one, the day two start times have been pushed back by one hour. Game five, the first game of the day on Friday, has moved from an originally scheduled 11 a.m. start time to noon. Game six will follow at 2:30 p.m., game seven will start at 5 p.m. and game eight is scheduled to get underway at 7:30 p.m. Saturday's game times are set for 10:30 a.m. in game nine and a 2 p.m. start in the championship game.
Post Game Quotes
Texas State Coach Ricci Woodard
"Anne Marie Taylor threw a great ball game. She gave up one big hit. It’s (UT Arlington) a good hitting ball club that I thought she did a good job of hitting her spots with. Offensively, I thought we did a great job adjusting and staying off the rise ball and getting pitches to hit. We were able to work up the middle and stick to our game plan. I thought we played well and hard all day long".
Texas State sophomore Anne Marie Taylor
"Today I started off a little rocky, but then I started focusing on hitting my spots. I was working on hitting my locations and not trying to overpower them".