SAN MARCOS, Texas—McNeese softball used the long ball to score all its runs in a 4-3 loss to Texas State Wednesday night. The Cowgirls will remain on the road and will travel to Abilene Christian for a three-game Southland Conference series this weekend.
"We are better than we showed tonight," said head coach
Joanna Hardin. "This part of the season is a grind and the teams that can keep taking steps forward and keep getting better will see the rewards of their work at the end of the season," said Hardin.
McNeese (23-11) left the tying run stranded on second in the top of the seventh after
Marisa Taunton led the inning off with a single to short, beating the throw. Taunton moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by
Dakota Matiko. Taunton would remain on second after a pinch hit fly out to left by
Morgan Catron gave the Cowgirls two outs.
Lauren Langner grounded out to third to end the game.
McNeese used three pitchers in the game. Starting pitcher senior
Bianca Lilly got off to a rough start and never recovered. Lilly hit the first batter then walked the second. Lilly lasted one inning and was chased from the circle in the second after giving up two runs. She fell to 1-1 on the year with the loss.
Freshman reliever
Jolie Trahan replaced Lilly in the second inning and gave up six hits, and struck out tow in four innings.
Texas State (20-13) added three more runs in the second inning to extend their lead to 4-0. After Trahan gave up a double in the fourth, she allowed only one base runner to reach third.
Junior
Jamie Allred took over the pitching duties in the sixth and faced five batters. Allred gave up one hit, one walk and struck out one.
Freshman
Erika Piancastelli got the Cowgirls on the board with her 10
th home run of the season, a solo shot to left center in the fourth to cut the Bobcat lead to 4-1.
A two-run pinch-hit home run over the left field wall by
Tori Yanitor in the sixth cut the Texas State Bobcat lead to 4-3. The home run is Yanitor's second of the season.
McNeese collected seven hits in the game and left four base runners stranded. Piancastelli was 2 for 3 with one RBI and Yanitor was 1 for 1 with two RBI.
"We need to learn from today and bounce back this weekend against a tough opponent in ACU. Our team must keep digging deep within to compete and fight for every game," Hardin said.
Texas State picked up seven hits also and left eight runners stranded. Braegan Hamilton led the Bobcats with a 2 for 3 plate appearance and Ariel Ortiz knocked in three of the four Bobcat runs. Randi Rupp picked up the win to improve to 14-8 on the year.
