Press Release:
SAN MARCOS, Texas — There’s no rest when you’re try to be the best and that’s where head coach Ricci Woodard wants her Texas State softball team this season.
This weekend, Woodard and the Bobcats will cap an eight-game-in-seven-day stretch when Texas State (2-1) plays host to No. 16 Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Sam Houston State and Lamar. TXST will play the nationally-ranked Bulldogs on Friday beginning at 1 p.m. with a second game to follow 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first. Saturday, the Bobcats will face Ole Miss at 1:30, before playing Sam Houston State at 3:30.
Texas State and Lamar will conclude the weekend against Lamar on Sunday at 12 p.m.
‘This weekend is another great opportunity to play some quality opponents and to get to do that at home is going to be fun,” Woodard said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how this group bounces back after a tough loss at UT Wednesday night. They are anxious to get back on the field.”
Texas State is coming off a heart-breaking loss in Austin at seventh-ranked Texas on Wednesday, Feb. 24 when the Longhorns won, 1-0, on a throwing error in the bottom of the eighth inning.
PLAYER TO WATCH: Baylee Lemons
Yes, all eyes have been on freshman right-handed pitcher Jessica Mullins — rightfully so, too —so far this season, but Baylee Lemons has been doing some impressive things at the hot corner for the Bobcats. Lemons, who hit her first career home run in her first career collegiate game, has earned the start at third base in all three games of the 2021 season for Texas State. She’s also flashed her defensive ability countless times; enough that #LemGems has becoming a trending topic among Bobcat fans on social media.
INSIDE THE SERIES: Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Sam Houston State, Lamar
- Friday’s doubleheader will be the first ever contest between the two teams on either school’s field. Mississippi State, which holds a 4-1 lead in the all-time series, is 1-1 against Texas State inside the state of Texas, though. The Bobcats last beat the Bulldogs, 5-0, on Feb. 11, 2001 in Corpus Christi, Texas.
- Like Mississippi State, Ole Miss is 1-1 against Texas State in games played in the Lonestar State. The Bobcats won the game, 5-0, the last time these two teams met on Feb. 12, 2000 in Arlington, Texas. The all-time series is tied 1-1.
- In one of the longest series in program history, Texas State will be looking for its 60th all-time win over Sam Houston State dating back to the first meeting in 1985. Since April 26, 2008, Texas State 20-3 against the Bearkats.
- Sunday’s meeting will be the 12th all-time meeting between Texas State and Lamar with the Bobcats holding an 8-3 advantage. TXST hasn’t lost to Lamar in San Marcos since the 1986 season. TXST is also currently riding a six-game winning streak in the series.
WHAT A START
While her consecutive no-hit inning streak was snapped at seven straight, Jessica Mullins has yet to allow an earned run in her college career. The true freshman from Barbers Hill High School has tossed 14.2 straight innings without an earned run crossing the plate; that includes a career-long 7.2 innings pitched against the seventh-ranked Texas Longhorns in Austin on Wednesday, Feb. 25. Mullins, and teammate Meagan King, are two of 43 Division I players to have thrown at least 0.1 innings this season and have a 0.00 earned run average.
