The Texas State softball team will try to avoid being the first team in 13 years under Coach Ricci Woodard not to finish more than .500 at home when it faces Louisiana Tech University this weekend.

The Bobcats (7-27) are currently 2-12 this year in San Marcos with 11 games left at home this season. The team’s two wins at home this year came in March against Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Troy University 7-1 and 5-0, respectively.

“We don’t really talk about whether we are home or away,” Woodard said. “It shouldn’t matter. We should play the same ball.”

The Bobcats dropped their first home WAC series to the University of Texas-San Antonio, getting swept by the Roadrunners for the first time since the 2004 season.
The team has been outscored 68-38 by its opponents in 14 games at home this year, averaging 2.7 runs per contest.

The Texas State softball team turned its tide in a big way over the weekend after freshman catcher Katie Doerre’s game-winning home run allowed the Bobcats to end a seven-game losing streak.

The Bobcats did not stop there, taking game three against Seattle University. This was the team’s first victory in a three-game series.

Texas State won on consecutive days against Seattle this past weekend for the first time since defeating Mississippi Valley State University Feb. 16-17.

“Now, it’s just a matter of fighting,” said Coach Ricci Woodard. “I feel like we did a better job of that in Seattle. We just kept fighting. We didn’t die and just roll over and let (Seattle) beat us.”

The softball team will look to avoid giving Coach Ricci Woodard her worst record in 13 years of coaching at Texas State when it travels to Seattle University this weekend.

The team currently sits with a 5-26 record of the 2013 campaign. The 26 losses for the Bobcats this season are tied for second highest under Woodard’s tenure at Texas State. The most losses she has had in a season were in 2005 when the team lost 27 but managed to finish second in the Southland. Woodard has never finished out of the top three in any conference standings while coaching for the Bobcats.

“We just have to keep getting better,” Woodard said. “If we would keep getting better, we’d be OK. It’s just we keep going in an up-and-down, up-and-down streak. We just haven’t gotten over the hump. We are still looking for that edge that is going to put us over the hump. This weekend would be a great time to do it.”

Texas A&M’s Amber Garza had two home runs, including a grand slam in the third inning, to propel the No. 9 Aggies to a 9-1 victory over Texas State.

The Texas State softball team falls to 5-26 on the season and extends its losing streak to seven in the loss. The last time the Bobcats lost 26 games in a season was the 2010 campaign. The team finished a game under .500 but was able to still finish first in the Southland Conference. The ball club will focus on the little things to find success moving forward.

“At this point we are just trying to make sure we give our best effort,” said Coach Ricci Woodard. “I think actually for us we had some better at-bats offensively. The thing with us is that our pitching staff gave up two earned runs but we gave nine. That can’t happen to us right now.”

Texas State softball dropped to 5-25, getting swept by the University of Texas-San Antonio over the weekend, and for the first time since 2005 will be unable to finish the season above .500.
Texas State was selected by the WAC coaches to win the conference before the season started. Suspensions at the beginning of the season and the injury of All-WAC senior pitcher Anne Marie Taylor have made it difficult for the Bobcats to be successful this year.

“Unfortunately for us, the beginning of the season was not about winning and losing,” said Coach Ricci Woodard. “It was about drama. Anytime you have to deal with drama and try to push through things, getting girls to focus again is tough. It’s not like we started the season in a great spot and have fell, we just haven’t been able to get to a good spot.”

The Texas State softball team has posted a winning record in 11 of the past 12 years, but this season they will have to win all 19 remaining games to keep the streak alive.

Senior first baseman Haley Lemons understands actions speak louder than words.

“We need to stop talking, and start playing,” Lemons said. “At this point, we just want to shut up and play.”

The Bobcats (5-22) will look to end their three-game losing streak this weekend when they open up WAC play against Interstate 35 rival University of Texas-San Antonio.

UTSA (15-12) got swept by the Bobcats last season, when the two teams were foes in the Southland Conference, getting defeated 10-5 in their matchups.

Texas State softball will travel north on Interstate-35 to face No. 5 University of Texas-Austin (20-3) in a three game series.

The Longhorns have posted as many losses as the Bobcats (3-17) have wins this season. UT has beaten teams such as the University of North Texas, the University of Houston and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. These are all teams Texas State has lost to this year.

“They are a great ball club,” said Coach Ricci Woodard. “If our pitching staff doesn’t hit their spots, their team is going to put up a lot of numbers. We have to make sure we do our part offensively and just make sure our pitching staff is hitting their spot and ahead in the count.”

The Bobcats played UT two times last year and dropped both contests. Texas State was unable to produce a run in any of the games and the ball club was outscored, 12-0.

The Texas State football team practiced in full pads for the first time at Bobcat Stadium Monday afternoon, its third overall practice of the spring.

The issue of leadership will be a key question as the football team enters its second year of FBS play. The team finished with a 4-8 record last season (2-4 in the WAC), and will be facing new conference opponents heading to the Sun Belt Conference in July 2013.

There will be 29 seniors competing in 2013 for Texas State, including wide receiver and punt returner Andy Erickson. Erickson said the team is in need of leaders for the next season.

“Leadership doesn’t come in one day,” Erickson said. “We’ve got to get respect and keep going by leading by example and words. I’m working on it and it’s coming. I can see it coming with me and a couple of other guys. Hopefully it will be here when the time is right.”

Jamel James, three-star running back according to Rivals, committed to Texas State Jan. 27 and comes from Cinco Ranch High School in Katy, Texas.

OE: You committed to the University of Notre Dame and the University of Arkansas before. Why’d you choose to play football for the Bobcats?

JJ: It’s just that Texas State is really close to home. It’s way closer than Arkansas (and) Notre Dame. I really wanted my mom, family and friends to be able to watch me play. I think all in all it just worked out best for me.

OE: Which coach at Texas State recruited you?

JJ: Coach (Craig) Naiver. He really didn’t try to sell me on anything. The only thing he really told me was that I should go to campus and see what’s up. It really helped too.

OE: Do you think the offense fits your running back style and personality?

The softball team lost four more games this weekend, bringing their loss total to 16—just one less game than they lost all of last year when they went 39-17 and won the Southland Conference Tournament.

The Bobcats (3-16) achieved their 16th win of the season more than two months earlier than last year on their way to losing four of five this weekend at the CenturyLink Classic in San Marcos.

Texas State has lost 10 of its last 11 contests but broke an eight-game losing streak at the classic with a 7-1 victory over ex-Southland foe Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Islanders went winless in the tournament, finishing fifth and leaving San Marcos with a 5-15 overall record.

“We’ve only won three games this year, and at this point it doesn’t matter if we are at home or away,” Coach Ricci Woodard said. “It is one of those deals that everyone just has to do a better job, especially at the point that we are at now in the season.”