Authors note: Welcome to the first installment of the series “Celebrating 40 years of Texas State Softball.” We will be taking a look back at the history of the Bobcats softball program and highlighting some of the teams of the past that define the program.

1985: Where It All Started.

The Texas State Bobcats, then named Southwest Texas State University, began playing softball in 1985 and the inaugural coach was Dr. Pam Wuestenberg. She coached the team for 10 seasons and ended her time at the helm with an overall record of 161-319-1 for a winning percentage of .336.

For the first three years of their existence, the Bobcats played in the Gulf Star Conference, which was a Division II conference that consisted of six teams. The teams that participated in this conference besides the Bobcats were Nicholls State, Northwestern State, Sam Houston State, Southeastern Louisiana, and Stephen F. Austin State.

In their three years in the Gulf Star Conference, the Bobcats finished with an overall record of 54-78 and had a conference record of 14-40. After the completion of the 1987 season, the Bobcats moved to the Southland Conference, where they played until 2012.

1988: Moving to the Southland Conference.

The Bobcats kicked off their campaign in the Southland Conference with the same number of wins as they had in their last season in the Gulf Star Conference, 21. The Bobcats finished the 88′ season with an overall record of 21 wins and 39 losses, which was good for 5th in the Southland Conference standings. They were 8-10 in conference play.

Shannon Falcone was one of the standout players for the 1988 team and led the team in batting average (.345), hits (59), doubles (11), triples (5, tied with Renee Buckley), home runs (2, also tied with Buckley), RBI’s (20), and total bases (86). Lisa Sekula still holds the all-time record of runs scored in a single season with 60. As a team, the 1988 team still holds the all-time record for most triples in a season with 19.

1989: Southland Conference Tournament Champions!

In the 1989 season the Bobcats won their first conference tournament, winning four games in a row to take the crown. Freshman pitcher Debra Jones was named the tournament MVP. Jones was originally set to be brought along slowly but was thrown into action when a pitcher did not return for the Bobcats. When asked about Jones’ performance in the tournament head coach Wuestenberg had the following to say, “All I know is that she had a lot of composure out there and did a great job. We look forward to the next three years with her.”

By winning the tournament, this set them up to face the Southland Conference regular season champion, University of Texas-Arlington, with an opportunity to win the SLC championship and a bid into the NCAA tournament. UTA would take the series two games to none after winning 2-1 in 11 innings and 6-0 in the second game. Although the Bobcats fell short of their ultimate goal, coach Wuestenberg was still impressed with the team saying, “I was disappointed that we didn’t win, but I’m very proud of how we played. We stayed together as a team, and that is what helped us do so well at the end of the season.”

1990: Coach Wuestenberg Gets 100th Career Win!

While the Bobcats 1990 season was full of trying times, it did produce the 100th career win for Coach Wuestenberg. The Bobcats finished with an overall record of 8-35 and they were 4-8 in Southland Conference play. The Bobcats fought hard, and they were in many of the games they lost, losing 13 games by one run and another seven games by two runs. The Bobcats hosted the Southland Conference post season tournament in San Marcos; however, they were eliminated in two extra-inning games after losing to Northwester State (8 innings) and UT-Arlington (10 innings) by the same score of 3-4.

Speaking after the conclusion of the post season tournament, Coach Wuestenberg had the following to say, “Going into the season, we felt that we would do a lot better than we did. It was really tough finishing the season, but we had the post-season to look forward to. We thought that would be an opportunity to redeem ourselves. We felt snake bit again in the tournament. When you take a game into extra innings you feel you should win it.”

Other highlights of the season included beating the regular season conference champions, Sam Houston State, twice. Renee Buckley led the conference in home runs and finished sixth in doubles while Susan Elza tied for the lead in triples and was named to the all-tournament team for the post-season tournament. Wuestenberg added, “The whole season was a good experience. We got some good play from our juniors and sophomores. They showed some good development during the year. They are both good classes and they will help us in the future.

1991: Showing Progress.

Despite the overall year being another down year for the Bobcats, there were still signs that the team was heading in the right direction. The team finished with an overall record of 17-37 and 10-14 in Southland Conference play. That was good for nine more regular season wins and six more regular season wins than the previous season. The Bobcats finished fourth in the standings, and this would be the highest they ever finished in the Southland Conference under Coach Wuestenberg.

At the conclusion of the season Coach Wuestenberg said “We had a good season which we could build on. I am proud of what this team has done this season. We usually finish last or second to last in the conference, so this is a step in the right direction for our team.”

After a slow start to the season due to injuries, the Bobcats pulled off an upset of the nationally ranked Texas A&M Aggies 3-1. This marked the first time the Bobcats defeated the Aggies. Senior shortstop Renee Buckly set two career records by hitting eight doubles and 13 RBI’s to give her 46 doubles and 46 RBI’s on her career with the Bobcats. Freshman Jessica Woods also set a record of her own by recording 13 steals on the season to capture the single season record at the time. As a team the Bobcats recorded 54 steals, 341 hits, seven home runs, and 53 doubles on the season and were all new team records at the time.

Wuestenberg added, “We have an experienced team and hopefully we can build on to this year.”

1992-1993: Injuries and Inexperience.

The 1992 and 1993 seasons were both filled with injuries for the Bobcats as the team had a combined record of 34-58. While the team did pick up 21 wins in the 92′ season, it was still only good enough for sixth place in the Southland Conference. The Bobcats started the season 8-2 but the injuries and tough conference opponents proved to be too much as the up and down year saw them close out the year 4-10 and included a seven-game losing streak. Keeping the optimism for the 93′ season Coach Wuestenberg said, “We are losing seven seniors, but we still have [third baseman Angela] Keeling, both of our starting pitchers, and a good recruiting class.”

Unfortunately, the 93′ season did not get much better as the injury bug found its way onto the team yet again as the Bobcats only had 10 players available to suit up at times. The Bobcats finished 13-32 on the year and 7-23 in conference play. Still even in the down year there were still highlights in the season as Angela Keeling set a new single season home run record by recording seven home runs and sophomore pitcher Amy Stuart threw back-to-back shutouts in early March.

Coach Wuestenberg looked back on the year and said “This season we just had too many injuries and too many people playing out of position. I think this season will set us up to be a very good team down the road. We were just so young.”

1994: The End of the Wuestenberg Era.

The 1994 season ended up being the second worst season overall and second worst since joining the Southland Conference in the tenure of Coach Wuestenberg. The Bobcats finished with an overall record of 11-42-1 and finished 6-26 in conference play.

The team was freshman-heavy as seven of the 16 team members were first-year collegiate athletes. Junior infielder Olinka Hobbs said, “Since there were a lot of new people on the team, no one really knew each other’s ability. There was a lot of teamwork throughout the season. We worked together the best we knew how.”

Two of the new faces were honored when the season concluded as shortstop Merrideth Curry was named to the All-Southland Conference first team and first baseman Kami Phillips was an honorable mention.

This would prove to be the final year that Wuestenberg coached the team as Lee Ann Jarvis would be named the new head coach for the 1995 season, but it would not be her last at the university. Dr. Pam Wuestenberg spent many more years in various roles within the university impacting many lives over her 37-year career with Southwest Texas/Texas State University.

This concludes part 1 of this series and be on the lookout for part 2 soon! Thank you for reading and if you enjoyed this article, please share it with a friend or family member, and don’t forget to follow us on social media @TXSTInsider on Facebook, Instagram, and X (formally known as Twitter).

Notice: All photos used in this article are owned by and used courtesy of Texas State University unless otherwise noted.