No. 6 UL Monroe Advances Thanks to Coyne's Two Hit Shutout
SAN MARCOS, TEXAS - No. 6 UL Monroe defeated No. 3 Texas State 3-0 behind a two-hit shutout from Melanie Coyne to advance to the double elimination round of the 2015 Sun Belt Softball Championship.
Coyne picked up her fourth shutout of the year as she struck out two and only allowed two hits and six walks. The sophomore moves to 13-13 on the season picking up two wins on the first day of the conference tournament.
Randi Rupp finished the season with a 24-14 overall record and a conference-high 293 strikeouts after fanning nine Wednesday evening. She allowed just four hits and two walks in the defeat.
Senior Molly Mackey led the offense going 1-for-1 with a sacrifice fly to plate the only RBI for the Warhawks. ULM’s additional runs were scored on a wild pitch and a Texas State error in the seventh inning.
Coyne and Rupp traded shutout innings for the first three frames until the Warhawks got on the board. Sophomore Vanessa Garcia led off the fourth inning with a double to left center field. Junior Faith Bohack followed with a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt to move Garcia into scoring position. Mackey knocked a sacrifice fly into center field that allowed Garcia to score and give the Warhawks a 1-0 lead.
Rupp and Coyne exchanged two more scoreless innings until the Warhawks added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh. Mackey led off the seventh with a single through the left side. Junior Kaitlyn Dupuis entered the game as a pinch runner for Mackey. After swiping second base, Dupuis moved to third with two outs on a sacrifice bunt from sophomore Sidney Coy.
Freshman Cheyanne Lyon drew a two-out walk in a pinch-hit appearance to place runners on the corners for the Warhawks. Dupuis scored on a wild pitch from Rupp. Roberts reached on an error by the Texas State third baseman to score a second run in the inning to extend the ULM lead to 3-0.
Texas State's Kimberlin Naivar led off the bottom of the seventh with a double, but the Warhawk defense held on to eliminate the Bobcats. The victory marked the 30th win on the season for the program, the first time since 2001 that the Warhawks have won 30 or more games in a season.
Taylor Webb recorded the first Bobcat hit of the day in the bottom of the second with a single to center. Naivar then made her way on by way of a walk to put runners on first and second, but a fly out to end the inning halted the Bobcats chances at getting on the board in the second.
The 2015 Bobcats finished the season with a 32-21 record as they tied the program-record of 59 home runs set back in 2003. The Texas State lineup also set a program-high in batting average with a mark of .290.
UL Monroe advances to the double-elimination portion of the bracket where they will face No. 2 seed South Alabama on Thursday, May 7 at 5 p.m.