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McCormack, Kos Pave Way for Softball Sweep
March 16, 2008 CONWAY, Ark. - For the second straight day Ali McCormack started a Texas State rally with a home run, this time blasting her second grand slam of the season to break a scoreless tie in game one of a doubleheader sweep on Sunday as the Bobcats (17-10, 11-1 SLC) defeated Central Arkansas (2-21, 0-9 SLC) 8-0 and 10-0 on Sunday. McCormack's slam in game one paired with a home run and RBI double off the bat of Ryan Kos in game two to provide more than enough run support for the Texas State pitching duo of Ragan Blake and Katie Garnett, who each pitched complete game shutouts. A walk to Kristina Tello and back-to-back bunt singles by Kos and Alex Newton loaded the bases in the third for McCormack, who sent Kora Behrens' pitch over the center field wall for her second homer of the weekend to give the Bobcats a 4-0 lead. Tello added to the lead in the fourth with an RBI double to score Kelsey Cammarata, and Texas State scored three more runs in the seventh when McKenzie Baack followed a Jenna Emery RBI double with a two-run homer that made it 8-0. Blake held the Sugar Bear bats at bay with a 10 strikeout, four hit shutout to improve to 7-7 on the year. Behrens took the loss for UCA after allowing five earned runs on four hits and six walks in 3.2 innings to fall to 1-7. Texas State's offensive onslaught continued in game two as the Bobcats scored in every inning of a 10-0 five inning win. In the first inning McCormack smacked an RBI single for the game's first run while Kos doubled home Taylor Hall to make it 2-0 in the second.
Back-to-back RBI singles by Jetta Weinheimer and Cammarata extended Texas State's lead to 4-0 through three. Kos hit a solo homer just inside the left field foul pole in the fourth for the first of three more runs as Baack added a two-run double in the inning to make it 7-0. The scoring concluded in the fifth thanks to a costly UCA error. A fielding error with two outs scored Allyce Rother, and Newton added an RBI single. Up 9-0, three straight walks added another run as Baack drew a free pass with the bases loaded. Garnett retired the Sugar Bears in order in the bottom of the fifth, ending the game due to the eight-run rule. She allowed only two UCA hits in five innings, striking out two batters and walking two. The win improved Garnett's record to 8-3 and was Garnet's second shutout of the season. Clair Collom took the loss for the Sugar Bears to fall to 0-4 by allowing six earned runs on 13 hits in 4.2 innings. She also walked five and struck out four. The Bobcats will now step out of Southland Conference play to travel to Austin and a Wednesday game against Texas set to start at 6:30 p.m. |
