Texas State won the final home series of the year as the Bobcats defeated the James Madison Dukes 2-0 on Thursday before an 8-2 win on Friday.
In Game 1, the Bobcats were led by starting pitcher Jessica Mullins who threw a complete game shutout while allowing just one hit and sitting down 17 consecutive batters.
“I was feeling pretty good,” Mullins said. “I told Coach Josh (Trevino) right after the game that I didn’t have my best stuff this game but I was able to execute with what I got and just let my team back me up.”
With a Dukes coming into the series with a high powered offense, Head Coach Ricci Woodard was proud of both Mullins and the Bobcats defense standing tall in the end.
“When Mullins throws like that, we have a great chance to win,” Woodard said. “They (JMU) have hit over 60 home runs this year and she shut them down. When she gives us a chance to win, we usually find a way to win.”
But despite the strength of the defense, the offense had their struggles as the Bobcats could only muster six hits and two runs while leaving seven runners on base.
One of the bright spots was first baseman JJ Smith who finished the game with two hits and two RBIs.
“I was just seeing the ball better than I have been,” Smith said. “I was just trying to keep it simple and not trying to do too much. I really zoned in and tried to do a little bit at a time.”
Even Woodard could see the amount of confidence Smith has gained over the last few games.
“That is exactly what JJ is capable of,” Woodard said. “The last hit that she had is what we ask her to do all year long, which is to stay back and drive the ball the other way. She is finally getting a little more confident at the plate and it’s starting to show.”
Heading into Friday’s game, the Bobcats were able overcome the melting heat as Texas State defeated James Madison 8-2/ “We did a good job of battling the environment today,” Woodard said. “It was brutal and I just had kids trying to survive out there. It was nice to see us continue to play for seven innings.”
It was a complete turnaround for the hitters as the Bobcats brought in nine hits and eight runs.
“I thought we were swinging at some better pitches,” Woodard said. “We set the tone early which is always going to help… that builds confidence which is what we are trying to do next weekend and build that confidence up to carry it from at-bat to at-bat.”
One of the MVPs of the game was second baseman Katrina Zarate who was 2-3 at including hitting a solo home run in the third inning.
For Zarate, being able to see the JMU pitching staff for the second day help the Bobcat offense out.
“I feel like we were stressing everything,” Zarate said. “We had faced those pitchers already so we had a gameplan going up there. We just stuck to it… we knew what they were going to throw to us and we saw everything they could do. They couldn’t do anything to fool us.”
The Bobcats wrap up the final home game of the season against James Madsion before time of press. Texas State will now look towards the Sun Belt Conference Tournament starting on Thursday.
