Longhorn softball wasn’t playing around after giving up a season-high 12 runs in a loss to Houston the day before. 

Senior second baseman Alyssa Washington had an afternoon, homering twice in a 9-2 victory over Houston. The two homers in one game were the second time she’s done that this season. Washington contributed to five RBIs in the first and seventh innings and now has six home runs on the season.

Freshman pitcher Teagan Kavan had her second consecutive complete game, striking out five batters and hurling 105 total pitches. With just two runs given up against Houston, her ERA on the season improved to 1.27 and she leads all Texas pitchers with 49.2 total innings pitched. 

Leading off for the Longhorns in the first, freshman center fielder Kayden Henry doubled to left field. Henry, a former track star at Dickinson (TX) High School, stole third. In the play, Houston junior catcher Turiya Coleman overthrew the third baseman, and Henry ran home. In the blink of an eye, Texas had a 1-0 lead, a lead they would hold down for the rest of the game.

That wasn’t all the action in the first for the Longhorns. Junior first baseman Katie Cimusz singled, driving in junior third baseman Mia Scott, and Washington homered, driving in Cimusz and senior infielder and third baseman Joley Mitchell in the process. After the first three outs of the game could even be recorded, Texas led 5-0. 

Houston answered back in the third. With the bases loaded, Kavan hit Coleman, allowing Houston to get on the board, and then on the next at bat, graduate student and pitcher Shelby Smith singled to center field, driving in fellow graduate student and center fielder Kennedy Thomas. Those were all the runs the Cougars were able to score, however, on the next at bat, Houston’s junior left fielder Ja’Naiya Thomas grounded into a double play, allowing for Kavan and the Longhorns to get out of the inning. The two runs would be the only runs Houston would score all game. 

Texas put up four more runs across the game, with action coming from the fourth and seventh innings. In the fourth, Henry homered to right field, driving in sophomore outfielder Ashton Maloney, and in the seventh, Washington homered once more with freshman OF Adeyah Wallace on first, extending the lead to 9-2.

Texas grabbed their 20th win of the season, and Houston fell to 17–6. The opening conference series for both schools will conclude on March 10 at the Cougar Softball Stadium.