No. 2 Texas softball concluded their series with No. 8/10 Oklahoma State with a 3-0 loss in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
“They play really well at home,” head coach Mike White said. “They’re tough to beat here.”
Texas started slow in the bottom of the first inning. With runners on first and second, Cowgirl catcher Caroline Wang homered to left field and helped jump Oklahoma State out to an early three run lead. With only one out gone in the bottom of the first, Oklahoma State had a lead in Stillwater that they would hold for the rest of the game.
For the Longhorns, Oklahoma State had their number as Texas softball was shut out for just the second time this season. The last time: two days prior on March 28 in the first game of this series.
“As it remains, you look at the facts,” White said. “14 innings and we didn’t score a run against their number one pitcher, so it gives us a lot to work on for this week.”
White is referring to graduate student Cowgirl Lexi Kilfoyl, who pitched her second seven-inning complete game in three days. In the first game of the series, Kilfoyl gave up seven hits. Today, she gave up just two.
The hurler had 11 strikeouts in the two outings and improved her ERA to 0.80 as well, which is now eighth best in all of D1 college softball.
“Just unfortunate that we weren’t able to claw back into the game,” White said. “But kudos to them. They played great defense all weekend and also had good pitching.”
Texas now looks ahead to next week, where they will take on the best team in the country: No. 1 Oklahoma.
“They’re always tough, I mean, they’re going to bring it,” White said. “They’re national champions three years in a row for a reason. They’re doing a lot of things right, they have done a lot of things right. They never seem to miss a beat.”
Oklahoma is, in fact, doing a lot of things right. They are 34–1 on the season and are undefeated in Big 12 play at 12–0. They’re one loss, back on March 3 to Louisiana, snapped an NCAA softball win streak record of 71 that carried over from the previous season to this one.
“But that’s the challenge in front of us. We’ve got to be up for it,” White said. “They have great pitching, good defense and good hitting. (It has) all the recipes (for) a great match (from) a great team. So it’s going to test us, and we need to be ready for it.”
Texas is put in a tough spot as the Longhorns lost a series for the first time this season and now have to face the best team in all of college softball.
But White is staying positive, and is ready for next week.
“There’s no losing here if we learn from what happened,” White said. (The Oklahoma State series) shows off a weakness we have, and we need to work and attack that this week and give us an opportunity to get better heading into a really tough series against Oklahoma.”
No. 2 Texas is set to play No. 1 Oklahoma in Austin on April 5-7. A series like no other, the Longhorns will look to seek revenge after being swept by the Sooners just last year.
