No. 8 Texas softball got off to a poor start in this weekend series by losing to unranked Kansas on Friday in its first game back in Austin in three weeks.

“I like the way our girls fought, but we couldn’t really even get our foot in the door,” head coach Mike White said after the game.

It appeared the Longhorns’ nerves were high coming out of the top of first, with Kansas hitting a home run that scored three runs. 

The Jayhawks then started off the third inning with another home run followed by an error by Texas and a last single hit that resulted in a third run for the inning, putting the Jayhawks at a 6-0 advantage.

Texas was able to score two runs in the fourth inning when sophomore infielder Mia Scott hit a double. Freshman infielder Viviana Martinez went to second on fielder’s choice, then freshman catcher Reese Atwood hit a double, allowing both Scott and Martinez to score.

Kansas quickly built up its lead, scoring two additional runs in the fifth inning. 

Texas was able to obtain one more run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Scott ran home after sophomore catcher and first baseman Katie Cimusz hit a fly up and took an out.

In the seventh inning, the Jayhawks hit its second home run of the night, scoring another run pushing their score to nine. Texas was unable to come back in the bottom of the seventh finishing out the first night of the series 9-3. 

Sophomore utility player Olivia Bruno played exceptionally for Kansas with two hits, two runs, four RBI and two home runs. Kansas pitcher Kasey Hamilton also defended very well with 99 pitches thrown, five strikeouts and only giving up five hits.

On Texas’ side, junior pitcher Estelle Czech and sophomore pitcher Sophia Simpson had a tougher time limiting the Jayhawks. Czech threw 58 pitches to the 13 batters she faced, had an ERA of 12, allowed two hits and two homeruns in roughly two innings she pitched. Simpson finished out the remainder of the game with 70 pitches, allowing three hits, one homerun and an ERA of 4.5.

Texas had a total of five errors that were partial contributors to its loss. Scott finished with two runs and two hits, Atwood had two hits and two RBIs and Martinez had one run as team highs for the day.

“I think we got to own what happened out there,” White said. “You can’t beat anyone having five errors.” 

The Longhorns hope to redeem themselves tomorrow when they take on Kansas again at home at 4:30 p.m.

“We’re going to come back tomorrow and show a little more fight,” White said.