No. 3 Longhorn softball continued their undefeated start to the season in a 9-2 win over No. 9 Stanford at the Clearwater Invitational on Friday. 

Texas’ defense continued to be dominant, giving up just three hits on zero errors in seven innings. Freshman pitcher Teagan Kavan dominated the mound, pitching four innings with nine strikeouts on two hits for two runs. Junior Sophia Simpson went the next two innings before junior Mac Morgan closed out the game, with the pair just giving up one hit in three innings pitched. 

The Longhorns jumped out from the get-go, grabbing a quick lead in the first inning off catcher Katie Stewart’s three-run home run. The freshman is off to a quick start in her collegiate career with two home runs and nine RBIs in her first seven games of the season. 

The 3-0 lead was chopped down in the top of the second inning, where Emily Jones singled and  Jade Berry hit a home run, cutting the Longhorn lead down to one. In the span of two batters, Stanford was right back in the game.

However, the Longhorns answered back. In the third inning, Texas was able to put up five more runs, growing its lead to six and making the score 8-2. DP Reese Atwood had a two-run shot and outfielder Kayden Henry also homered, bringing in three runs of her own.

After a quiet fourth inning, Henry homered for the second time, this time a solo shot to extend the Longhorn lead to 9-2. 

The Texas defense held its own for the rest of the game, giving up zero hits in the last two innings of action, largely due to the pitching combination of Simpson and Morgan. 

In its first week of the season, Texas softball is a perfect 7-0 and has now beaten No. 10/8 UCLA, No. 2 Tennessee and No. 9 Stanford. 

In her first week, Reese Atwood is hitting an astonishing .619 AVG with 15 RBIs and four home runs. Mia Scott, Ashton Maloney, and Alyssa Washington are all hitting above .400 as well. The Longhorns, in all, have 14 home runs on 75 runs in seven games of action. 

Texas goes into day two of the Shriner’s Children Clearwater Invitational undefeated, facing another doubleheader against North Carolina at 1 p.m. CT and No. 18 Kentucky at 6 p.m. CT. UNC can be viewed on ESPN+ and Kentucky can be watched on LHN.