In the two games played against Hofstra, No. 2 Texas softball scored a total of 17 runs, bringing their season record up to 17-1.

The first game started out with a bang: first up to bat, freshman outfielder Kayden Henry hit a 254-foot solo home run to center field. 

The home run got the Longhorn’s offense fired up. In the first inning, the Longhorns scored seven runs. Then, in the third, the Longhorns scored another six runs, enacting the mercy rule for the third consecutive game at the Longhorn Invitational. 

The Texas offense has now scored six or more runs in a single inning on nine separate occasions this season, tying the program’s single-season record made in 2012, according to an email from Chris Brown, director of communications for Texas athletics. 

“First batter home run, that’s a great way to start the game and break it open,” head coach Mike White said. “And you know, just consistent throughout the day so it was a good job by the offense.”

With a 13-run dominant offensive performance on Saturday, the Longhorn offense scored 10 or more runs in three consecutive games for the second time this season, Brown said in the email. 

However, Sunday’s game started out slower offensively. The game remained scoreless all the way through the fifth inning.

“That was a tough matchup,” White said. “(Hofstra pitcher Julia Apsel) was a really good pitcher and kept us off balance most of the game.”

Senior outfielder Bella Dayton went three-for-three through bunting, putting her on second base at the bottom of the fifth inning after a flyout by Kayden Henry. 

Then, junior utility Mia Scott broke open the game with a ball hit over the glove of an outfielder, bringing Dayton in to score. Texas built off the momentum and scored two more runs in the inning, winning the game 4-0.

In both games, the Longhorn’s pitching and defense was impressive. 

Freshman pitcher Teagan Kavan extended her consecutive scoreless inning streak to 25, only seven innings away from reaching the program’s record of 31.2 innings set by current pitcher Mac Morgan, according to Brown’s email. Kavan and junior pitcher Sophia Simpson both threw four strikeouts on Saturday.

In the second game, sophomore pitcher Citlaly Gutierrez threw seven strikeouts in seven innings. 

“(Gutierrez) did a great job of managing the strike zone today, using offspeed was really good,” White said. “She continues to get better in those areas.”

Hofstra may have gotten four hits off of Gutierrez, but the Longhorn defense was ready to stop them in their tracks. 

At the top of the seventh inning, sophomore shortstop Viviana Martinez went in for Scott, and then proceeded to make two solid plays on grounders hit to her. 

“There were some plays there that could have gone either way, especially with Martinez who hadn’t been feeling well most of the weekend,” White said. “That was huge for us at the time.”

In the two games against Hofstra, Texas’s defense did not make any errors or allow any runs. 

“We put up zero errors on the board and that’s what we need to do at this stage of the year,” White said.