🥎 Jayhawks Go 1-1 on Opening Day of Texas State Classic
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Kansas Jayhawks split their first two games at the Texas State Classic at Bobcat Softball Stadium on Friday.
Kansas picked up a run-rule victory over Texas-Arlington in the opener, before falling to host Texas State in a low-scoring affair.
Coach Jennifer McFalls’ team is now 7-5 on the season with three games still to play in San Marcos. Kansas will play a doubleheader on Saturday, facing UTSA in the opener at 11 a.m., before playing Colorado State at 1:30 p.m.
Game 1: Kansas 14, Texas-Arlington 0 (6)
The Jayhawks scored in four of six innings and capped it off with a seven-run sixth inning to pick up a win in their first game of the day.
Kansas scored three in the first, two in the fourth and two in the fifth before its seven-run explosion in the sixth. The Jayhawks pounded out 13 hits to the Mavericks’ one.
Olivia Bruno got Kansas on the scoreboard with a two-out, two-run double to center to score Ashlyn Anderson and Shayna Espy to make it 2-0 in the first. Savanna DesRochers followed Bruno with a double down the left field line to score Bruno and make it 3-0.
That stood up to be the score until the fourth when Kansas struck for two more. An Espy sacrifice fly brought in one run and then a Presley Limbaugh single scored another to make it 5-0.
In the fifth, DesRochers doubled again, this time to right, to score Lyric Moore. DesRochers also came around to score on an error.
In the seven-run sixth, Moore, Bruno, Limbaugh, DesRochers, Espy and Haleigh Harper all drove in runs.
The 14 runs were more than enough for Kansas starter Addison Purvis, who tossed five shutout innings, before giving way to DesRochers.
Limbaugh and DesRochers both had three-hit games, while Bruno, Moore and Espy all had two hits apiece. All five players drove in multiple runs in the win.
Game 2: Texas State 2, Kansas 1
Despite a strong outing from starter Kasey Hamilton, the Jayhawks weren’t able to earn a win in the nightcap.
Hamilton went six strong innings, allowing one run on five hits, while striking out four.
The Jayhawks got her a run in the fourth inning when Moore doubled home Limbaugh to give Kansas an early 1-0 lead.
But Texas State responded with its only run off Hamilton in the fourth courtesy of an RBI single.
The game entered the final inning knotted up at one, but the Bobcats loaded the bases with no outs, before scoring the winning run on a fielding error to earn the victory.
