Texas State Advances to Fourth Consecutive Championship Game

Texas State Advances to Fourth Consecutive Championship Game

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SAN ANTONIO, Texas –Texas State put together an impressive offensive performance in a 5-2 win against McNeese State to advance to the championship game in the Southland Conference Softball Tournament at Roadrunner Field in San Antonio, Texas.

Texas State put the deciding run on the board in the sixth inning by playing small-ball. Sophomore Coralee Ramirez started the inning with a single and moved all the way to third on a sacrifice bunt followed by a ground out by Texas State. With two outs in the inning, freshman Selena Hernandez lined a single to right field for the game-winning RBI.

Senior Chandler Hall gave the Bobcats all the insurance runs they needed in the seventh with a two-run home run to right field. The blast was Hall’s third homer of the season and gave the Bobcats a 5-2 lead.

McNeese knotted the game at 2-2 in the fifth inning with a solo shot from sophomore Alanna DiVittorio. The Cowgirls’ centerfielder took a full-count pitch over the center field wall for her seventh home run of the season.

Texas State took its first lead in the second inning with two-out rally. With designated player Hall already on base from a walk, Ramirez got the Texas State bats going with a single to left field. Senior Megan Parten tied the game with a single to left before sophomore Jordan Masek gave the Bobcats a 2-1 advantage with a single up the middle.

McNeese opened up the first inning by scoring on a RBI-double by freshman catcher Ashley Modzelewski to right field. After not scoring a run against Texas State’s Anne Marie Taylor in the regular season, McNeese capitalized on a hit by a pitch and a walk to get runners on base before Modzelewski got the first hit of the game for the Cowgirls.

Taylor picked up the win in the circle for the Bobcats to improve to 16-8 on the year. Taylor allowed two runs on four hits while striking out six hitters in a complete-game effort. Tiffany Denham suffered the loss for the Cowgirls to fall to 14-11 on the season.

Texas State (37-15) looks to win its conference-best sixth tournament title tomorrow in the championship game at 11:05 a.m. The championship game will be seen exclusively on ESPN3. McNeese (34-20) will face the winner of the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Sam Houston State game tonight at 9:30 p.m.