The No. 5 Longhorns won another Big 12 series this weekend, going 2-1 against the Oklahoma State Cowgirls at home.
Friday night featured a close, low-scoring 3-2 victory while Saturday saw a 3-0 shutout loss. The Longhorns then came out to finish the Cowgirls in a 5-1 win that was characteristic of the Texas offense this season.
The Longhorns are now 37-7 on the season and 11-5 in Big 12 Conference play. Saturday’s game also marked the Longhorn’s second annual Pink at the Plate game to support breast cancer research.
The Cowgirls went up 1-0 early in game one before the Longhorns posted a three run third inning on the bats of sophomore Karina Scott and senior Nadia Taylor. Oklahoma State made a strike in the top of the fifth inning in an attempt to stage a comeback, but it was not enough. The Longhorns held on another two innings to scrape by with the win.
Sophomore Rachel Fox came out with the win Friday night to improve to 10-0 on the season and remains the only Longhorn starting pitcher that is still undefeated on the season.
Junior Kim Bruins took the loss for the Longhorns on Saturday afternoon and is now 7-4 in the circle for the season. Bruins gave up 11 hits in the 3-0 loss. The Oklahoma State defense frustrated the Texas batters all day. The Longhorns managed to get 11 runners on the base on five hits, but couldn’t get anyone across.
In the bottom of the seventh with one out, the Longhorns almost posted a comeback with consecutive hits by sophomore Lexy Bennett and sophomore Brejae Washington but a quick strike out and pop out by the Cowgirl defense quieted the Longhorns and secured the win for Oklahoma State.
On Sunday, Texas was back in familiar form with its 5-1 win. Blaire Luna allowed one unearned run off of two hits. With the win, the Longhorns are only one game behind the Oklahoma Sooners for first place in the conference.
Washington, who went 0-for-2 with one walk and one run, tied the Texas record for career stolen bases. The sophomore earned her 62nd career stolen base and is now tied with Desiree Williams.
The Longhorns used a four-run second inning to put away the Cowgirls on Sunday. Junior designated player Torie Schmidt went 2-for-3 in the win with one run scored.
“Yesterday, we took a blow and reset today. We wanted to come out here and show what we can do,” Taylor said on losing Saturday and coming back to win on Sunday. “We were focused on every pitch and just making sure we win every single inning on offense and defense. [We were] keeping the energy up in the dugout.”
Printed on Monday, April 23, 2012 as: UT takes two from Cowgirls over weekend
