Texas State Posts Third Straight Shutout
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas State softball team posted its third straight shutout with a 5-0 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Wednesday afternoon. The Bobcats earned their 20th victory of the season with Wednesday's win and they improve to 20-7 overall.
Randi Rupp earned her 14th win of the year to improve to 14-4 after putting in four innings of work with six strikeouts, no walks, and just one hit allowed. Paige Williams came in relief in the fifth for Rupp and put in three scoreless innings of work, allowing just two hits.
After Kendall Wiley registered the first Bobcat hit of the day in the second, Kelli Baker drove in the first run of the day with a single through the right side in the top of the third. Sara Rupp led the inning off with a single down the left field line and made it to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kayleigh Norte.
Alex Cruz came in to pinch run for Rupp and on the next at bat, Baker recorded her fourth RBI of the series to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead.
It was in the bottom of the third when the first Islander made it on base by way of an infield single.
Another run in the top of the fourth, this time after a Kimberlin Naivar single up the middle made it a 2-0 game in favor of the 'Cats. A single to lead-off the inning by Corrina Liscano followed by a sacrifice bunt by Taylor Webb set up Naivar with a runner in scoring position.
Two more came across in the top of the fifth after a bases clearing double by Webb down the left field line. A walk by Ariel Ortiz with two outs started the rally. Liscano was the second run to score as she reached base on an error before Webb's at bat.
Texas State scored an insurance run in the top of the fifth. With the bases loaded, Baker scored on a passed ball by the Islander pitcher.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi threatened in the bottom of the seventh with two on and two out, but a ground out to Liscano at third ended the game.
Six Bobcats recorded hits in the game and Webb led the way with two RBIs. Baker finished the series with a team-high four RBIs and three hits. Liscano scored two runs for the Bobcats on Wednesday.
The Texas State defense and pitching staff has now gone 22 consecutive innings without allowing a run. This was the 10th shutout of the season for Texas State.
The Bobcats will now return to conference play with a road series against Georgia State on Saturday and Sunday. Texas State and Georgia State will compete in two games on Saturday and one on Sunday. First pitch against the Panthers is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. CT.
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App Splits a Pair with Campbell
BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University softball rolled past visiting Campbell 9-0 in five innings for game one before the Camels took the nightcap by a score of 4-3. That game one decision equaled the largest margin of victory for the Mountaineers this season.
"Vanessa (Ciocatto) threw extremely well today and held them scoreless," said head coach Janice Savage. "Our offense exploded in the first game and made adjustments late in the second game. In that second game, we learned a lot about ourselves and we will work on those things in practice tomorrow as we prepare for another conference weekend."
App State is now 6-20 overall and Campbell went back to Buies Creek with a record of 11-12. On the day, Natalie Orcutt led the offense with four hits in her six at-bats to push her team-leading batting average to .348 and Cara Parker had three hits of her own. Jenny Dodd, Pepper Butler, Tiffany Taynor, and Heather Josey each tallied a couple base knocks and Josey pushed her hitting streak to six games.
Savage continued, "To take two out of three from Campbell this year is a big step for our program after we struggled to beat them in the seven seasons prior."
Josey has enjoyed squaring off against the Camels this season. In the three games against them, she is 4-for-11 with eight RBI, two runs scored, one home run, and one walk.
Orcutt hit her first-career home run, a three-run shot to center in game one, while Butler had a solo bomb in each contest. App State has now hit at least one blast in each of the last five games, which hadn't been done since April 12-18 of last season. The Black and Gold have crushed a total of nine over that span to increase their season total to 18.
Game One: App State 9, Campbell 0 (5 Inn.)
Appalachian scored one run in the first, two in the third and six more in the fourth. In the first, Josey singled in Orcutt with a ball right back up the middle and two innings later, Dodd brought in both Taynor and Orcutt with a single to left.
For the big bottom of the fourth, Butler led off with her first home run of the day and that was just the beginning of it. Orcutt hit her three-run bomb and Parker pushed a couple across with a two-run double to left center.
That was plenty of run support for Vanessa Ciocatto (4-9) who went the distance with her first shutout of the year and did so with five innings of one-hit work, one walk and four strikeouts.
Game Two: Campbell 4, App State 3
Campbell struck first this time and put up a two spot in the top of the first. The Mountaineers got one back in the second, but after three innings, the Camels were up on the home team, 4-1. The Black and Gold didn't go away quietly, though.
In the bottom of the sixth with two outs, Butler was looking for her third home run of the day with a towering fly ball to right. However, it looked like an easy play for the right fielder who looked like she had the ball in her glove, but lost it after crashing into the fence. Butler advanced all the way to third and pinch-hitter, Katie Mathewson, singled her in.
In the bottom of the seventh, Josey singled in Taynor to pull the Apps within one and the bases were loaded for Butler. Butler lined in to a 4-6 double play, though, and that would do it.
Annaleise Kennedy (2-6) got the start and went two innings with four earned runs given up. In relief, Ciocatto was brilliant with five shutout innings, four hits surrendered, one free pass and three punchouts.
Next up, Appalachian State hosts Troy for one on Friday (4:30 p.m.) and two on Saturday (1/3 p.m.).
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Georgia State Sweeps Doubleheader Against Western Carolina
ATLANTA – Georgia State’s softball team used 22 hits and 21 runs to sweep Wednesday’s doubleheader against Western Carolina, earning 11-4 and 10-5 victories to improve to 16-12 on the season.
“I challenged the team to bring better energy to the field and I feel like that’s happened” head coach Roger Kincaid said. “We’re seeing more pitches and having better at bats and it’s paying off. We’re getting better every time we go out there and that’s all you can ask for.”
The offense got a jumpstart in Game 1 off the bat of Kensey Caldwell, who belted her second three-run home run in as many days to give GSU a 3-0 lead in the first inning. The Panthers would explode for eight runs in the third inning, including freshman Arden Jobe’s first career home run, a grand slam to left field. The Catamounts got on the board in the fourth inning with a grand slam of their own, but senior Chelsea Stanfield (1-1) came in to pitch and threw 3.2 innings, giving up no runs on just one hit and striking out four.
Game 2 also began with Caldwell giving GSU an early lead. The junior drew a bases-loaded walk to score a run in the first, but the lead wouldn’t hold. Western Carolina took its first lead of the day with a two-run home run in the third inning. The Panthers tied the game in the bottom half, but the Catamounts added another run in the fourth to go up 3-2. Sophomore Brenna Skalski helped fuel GSU to a seven-run fourth to regain the lead for good. The speedster lined a ball to the left-field wall and showed off her wheels, reaching third for a three-RBI, bases-clearing triple. WCU used three pitchers in the inning as GSU pulled ahead 9-3. WCU made things interesting in the top of the seventh, scoring two runs to pull within five, but Stanfield came on to close the door, sealing the 10-5 win.
Over the last three games, Caldwell is 6-for-11 with 10 RBI, two home runs and four runs scored. As a team, GSU has won five games in a row, outscoring opponents 46-12. The Panthers are hitting .364 as a squad over the stretch.
Georgia State will return to the field this weekend to host Sun Belt-foe Texas State at the Bob Heck Softball Complex. The Panthers and Bobcats will play a doubleheader Saturday with the first game set to begin at 1 p.m. The series finale will be Sunday at noon. Both Saturday games will have live audio on GeorgiaStateSports.com and the GSU Mobile Apps.
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Mullins Earns 50th Career Win as Troy Routs Florida A&M
TROY, Alabama – The Troy softball team scored 11 runs on their way to a rout of Florida A&M on Wednesday night at the Troy Softball Complex as head coach Beth Mullins picked up her 50th career win.
Troy's (18-7) bats came alive in the first inning and stayed hot throughout the game. Six Trojans had hits on the night including Kate Benton and Erica Davis who both recorded two.
The Trojans scored four runs in the first inning to get things started and plated an additional three runs in the third inning. Carli Kayler doubled to left center to score Bailey Burk making the score 5-1. Hannah Day contributed to the hits with a single scoring Kate Benton.
The final four runs came in the fourth inning. Becca Hartley and Jordan Gray capitalized on two Rattler errors to get the first two runs of the inning. Davis earned another RBI with a single to right field that scored Kayler. The final run of the game came on a wild pitch that pushed Benton across the plate.
Peyton Glover (3-0) picked up the win in the circle for the Trojans tossing a complete game. She gave up only two runs and recorded three strikeouts.
Florida A&M (8-17) scattered five hits throughout the game but could only push two runs across the plate. The Rattlers started the game with a leadoff home run and the final run came in the fifth inning when Toni Anderson scored on an error by the right fielder.
Veronica Burse (3-7) suffered the loss for the Rattlers giving up 11 runs on nine hits in four innings of work.
Troy is back in action this weekend as the Trojans travel to Boone, N.C. to square off with Appalachian State for more conference play.
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JAGS BAG ROAD WIN AT SOUTHERN MISS ON WEDNESDAY
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – University of South Alabama softball snapped a four-game losing streak on Wednesday when the Jaguars defeated Southern Miss, 5-1, in a non-conference, midweek tilt in Hattiesburg.
USA (11-10, 0-2 SBC) earned its first road win of the season behind Devin Brown's eighth double-digit strikeout performance of the year and an efficient offensive display that saw the Jags outhit the Golden Eagles, 8-4, on the night, despite USM (14-14, 1-2 CUSA) making three pitching changes.
Kaleigh Todd scored two runs on 3-for-4 hitting, and Stephanie Pilkington and Haleigh Lowe drove in two runs apiece. Pilkington's pair came on her second home run of the season, which gave the Jaguars their winning margin in the top of the fifth inning.
"This was a great team win," said USA head coach Becky Clark. "I thought we were aggressive at the plate, we were smarter with our at-bats and we made adjustments when they brought in new pitchers. They kept their foot on the gas the whole game.
"I thought Devin battled through and got better as she went," Clark added. "Overall, this was a huge step forward for us. Now, we just have to lock in to this and build on it this weekend."
South Alabama returns to Sun Belt Conference play this weekend when it hosts Louisiana-Monroe for a three-game league set on Saturday and Sunday. Links to live stats, video and ticket information can be found by accessing the Jaguar softball schedule page.
In-game Twitter updates are provided for each USA contest via the program's official handle, @USAJagsSoftball.
For the fourth game in a row, USA opened scoring, this time hanging a pair on Southern Miss starter Danielle Block in the opening frame when Amanda Minahan singled to right field, scoring Emily Messer and Todd, the latter coming around when Golden Eagle right fielder Samantha Reynolds failed to corral the ball cleanly.
.The hosts cut USA's lead in half, 2-1, in the bottom of the third inning on Tori Dew's RBI double to right center, which plated Morgan McKeever, who reached on a Jaguar fielding error.
After Jaguar shortstop Kristian Foster led of the top of the fourth with a triple just shy of the wall in left field, Haleigh Lane lifted her team-leading second sacrifice fly to right field to score Foster and give USA a 3-1 lead.
Pilkington's sixth career home run scored Todd, who led off the top of the sixth with a base hit, to put USA up, 5-1.
Brown retired eight of the final 11 Southern Miss batters she faced – four by strikeout – to shut the door on the hosts, evening her record on the year to 6-6 and running her season strikeout total to 128 in 79 2/3 innings pitched.
Block (4-4) suffered the loss for Southern Miss after allowing two runs (both earned) on three hits with a walk in 1 2/3 innings. Reliever Samantha Robles gave up three runs (all earned) on four hits with a walk in 3 1/3 innings, and Jillian Johnson threw two innings of shutout relief, giving up one hit, striking one out and walking a pair.
USA improved to 2-0 versus Southern Miss this season and 11-4-1 versus the Golden Eagles all-time, 3-2-1 in Hattiesburg.
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Cajuns Outlast McNeese in Extras, Extend Win Streak
LAFAYETTE - The No. 5-ranked Ragin' Cajuns softball team erased a 4-3 deficit in the seventh inning on a one-out RBI single by Lexie Elkins, forging extra innings, and eventually outlasted visiting McNeese State in nine innings by a 5-4 count in front of 1,981 at Lamson Park on Wednesday evening.
McNeese's Emily Vincent, who logged nine innings and tossed 167 pitches, escaped a bases-loaded jam with Elkins at the plate in the 8th inning to extend the game into the ninth frame.
Louisiana's Kylee Jo Trahan, who relieved Alex Stewart in the seventh inning, retired the Cowgirls (16-6) in order Top 9. Kelsey Vincent, Aleah Craighton and DJ Sanders all drew walks for Louisiana in Bottom 9 to load the bases, then Taylor Terrio slapped a walk-off single off the top of McNeese third baseman Erika Piancastelli's glove to give the Ragin' Cajuns the victory.
With the win Louisiana (20-1) extended its win streak to 14 games, tied with Florida State for the second-longest active win streak in the nation.
The No. 5-ranked Ragin' Cajuns head out on an eight-game road trip which begins Saturday-Sunday, March 19-20 in Arlington, Texas, against UT Arlington. The series with the Mavericks (19-2) marks the first road Sun Belt games of the season.
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ULM Softball Downed 2-1 on Late Scoring from Ole Miss
OXFORD, Miss. – The ULM softball team was downed 2-1 as Ole Miss scratched two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning Wednesday night inside Ole Miss Softball Complex.
Junior Melanie Coyne (9-8) took the loss after scattering four hits during her 11th complete game of the season. Two of the Rebels’ (23-5) four hits came in the sixth including second baseman Grayce Majam’s game-winning two-RBI triple to the right-center field gap.
Coyne’s outing was brilliant nonetheless, as she worked flawlessly around runners reaching third base in the first two innings. Later in the game, she also retired nine straight batters until allowing a single and a walk in the sixth before Majam smacked the aforementioned triple.
ULM (14-11) jumped on Ole Miss early in the opening frame after walks from junior Rochelle Roberts and freshman Sydney McKay allowed senior first baseman Amye Barre to drop a hit right in front of the centerfielder which scored Roberts. That was the only hit in nine opportunities for the Warhawks with runners in scoring position.
The two teams went a combined 2-15 with runners in scoring position as Majam’s triple was the only scoring success the Rebels had with runners on base.
Despite grounding out to third to end the game, McKay also had a productive day at the plate, notching a team-high two hits, both singles.
The Warhawks will end their 22-game roadtrip in Mobile this weekend, facing South Alabama at 1 and 3 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday before returning home to face Southland Conference preseason favorite Northwestern State Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT.