Even with a 15 run victory, Longhorn coach Connie Clark focused on the little things following Thursday night’s victory against Blinn College.

“Our goal tonight was to cut the plate in half,” Clark said. “I wanted them to stay patient at the plate and focus on driving the ball rather than playing small ball.”

Texas certainly had no problem with Clark’s limitations on their at-bats. Fourteen hits and 19 runs later, the Longhorns had a tremendous time at the plate. However, there was another quirk in this fall game.

Clark and Blinn head coach Rick Church agreed to have runners start on various bases at the start of each half inning. Each team wanted to see how its defense reacted to situations such as 1st and 3rd, or a runner on 2nd, prior to any batters appearing in the box.

“We wanted to up the stakes tonight. Rick and I agreed to throw some different things at them throughout the game,” Clark said. “We had an offensive plan of attack and I thought we did a great job executing it.”

Part of that attack was focusing on baserunning and being aggressive on the base paths. Texas averaged more than a steal an inning and constantly forced the issue in the run game.

“One of the things we’ve really been working hard on is baserunning,” Clark said. “It’s about getting those instincts. When you’re relying on a coach to tell you where to go, it’s too late.”

Junior pitcher Tiarra Davis was noticeably sharp in her two innings of work to close out the game.

“Man, did she look great or what?” Clark said smiling. “That’s as hard as I’ve seen her throw in a long time. With her and the rest of the pitchers really coming together, we’re going to be a strong pitching staff come spring.”