MOBILE, Ala. – Both coaches, Texas State’s Ricci Woodard and Appalachian State’s Shelly Hoerner, agreed on one thing after their Wednesday opening-round game in the Sun Belt Conference Softball Championships.
Jessica Mullins was named the league’s Pitcher of the Year for a reason.
The Bobcat sophomore twirled a two-hit shutout, striking out four and stranding five baserunners, in pacing Texas State to a 2-0 victory over App State their opening game of the tournament’s double-elimination section.
“My theory is if the other team doesn’t score, we can’t lose,” Woodard said. “We kind of survived that game, just like we have been the last few games with Mullins on the mound. I thought she threw a heck of a ball game. She struggled a little bit early with her control factor but ended up finding it, and kind of dominating the game in my opinion.”
“Kudos to Jessica Mullins,” Hoerner said. “She definitely had our hitters off balance. When we played them at Texas State, she didn’t have her change-up on against us. She definitely had her change-up on today, mixing different speeds in there, and she’s a competitor.”
Third-seeded Texas State (36-17) scored single runs in the second and sixth innings to advance to Thursday’s winner’s bracket semifinals, where they will face the winner of Wednesday’s late game between South Alabama and Georgia State at 1 p.m. Appalachian State (29-25) faces Coastal Carolina in an elimination game at 4 p.m. Thursday.
Anna Jones led off the Bobcat second inning with a single up the middle, moved up on a walk to Caitlyn Rogers and advanced to third on Cat Crenek’s sacrifice bunt. Claire Ginder then lifted a fly ball to center field that scored Jones for the early 1-0 lead.
“That was huge,” Woodard said of scoring early. “I think it helped everybody, I think you just get to breathe a little bit better when you get that run.”
That was all that App State pitcher Delani Buckner (13-11) allowed until the sixth inning. She recorded two outs in that frame before Rogers and Crenek had back-to-back singles, Ginder drew a walk and freshman Kaitlyn Dutton – in her first plate appearance of the season – pinch-hit and drew a walk to force Rogers home with an insurance run.
“I just felt like Tori (McCall) hadn’t done a real good job with runners in scoring position lately,” Woodward said of pinch-hitting with the freshman. “Dutton looked good yesterday during practice, she’d swung the bat well during the entire time, with off speeds and in and out of the zone. I think she’s just a kid that’s been working at it the last month or two, and I felt like she would handle the situation probably a little bit better in that spot.”
Buckner scattered six hits while fanning four.
“I thought Delani pitched a really good game against them, because they’ve got very good hitters,” Hoerner said. “We kept them off balance as well, so I’m proud of the team for competing. We just have to execute better.”
Mullins (26-11) retired 10 in a row at one point after App State stranded runners at second and third in the second inning. The only other Mountaineers to reach base were Kayt Houston with a two-out single in the first, Emma Jones with a leadoff walk in the sixth and McKenzie McCullen’s one-out single in the seventh before Mullins got two game-ending ground balls.
“She attacks the zone,” Woodard said. “Her job is to go throw strikes, and so long as she’s throwing strikes she’s going to be hard to beat. She can throw the ball in, she can throw the ball out, she can throw it up, she can throw it down, and she can change speeds. If all that’s working for her, she’s going to be hard to hit.”