Record-breaking, dominant and growing.
These are some words used to describe Texas softball’s program after its 2024 season.
The Longhorns started the season with a bang, going on an 11-game win streak before experiencing its first loss against Stanford. Overall, the Longhorns only lost 10 of the 65 games played.
After dropping a series to Oklahoma State, Texas came back the following week and won against Oklahoma, who hadn’t conceded a series since 2009. Then, for the first time in program history, the Longhorns opened a Women’s College World Series appearance with three straight wins.
While their dominance on the field was a team effort, a few individuals stood out and received multiple accolades.
Junior utility Mia Scott, freshman pitcher Teagan Kavan and freshman catcher Katie Stewart were all selected to the WCWS All-Tournament Team, tying the program’s record for the most WCWS All-Tournament Team selections in a single season.
Kavan became the first freshman pitcher to throw a shutout game in the WCWS. After the second WCWS Stanford game, Kavan became Texas’ first freshman student-athlete to win 20 or more games in a single season since 2010.
Sophomore catcher Reese Atwood was one of five unanimous NFCA All-American First-Team selections and became the sixth student-athlete in program history to earn the honor.
The coaching staff was also recognized for their development of the program, becoming the ATEC/NFCA Division 1 Central Coaching Staff of the Year.
However, the Longhorns were unable to come away from this season with the program’s first World Series championship win.
One struggle the team faced this season was finding a way to focus in a hostile environment. The Sooner crowd at the 2024 WCWS championship series in Oklahoma City created a big distraction for the Longhorns.
“I think one of the big things is finding a way to play in this environment,” head coach Mike White said about the loss. “As much as we’ve played in front of 8,000, this is completely different.”
The transition into the SEC may help the Longhorns practice. Although the SEC conference games next season will not be able to bring in around 12,000 people for a game like the WCWS because of stadium capacity, it will still require a shift in away game mentality.
The players know what they need to do.
“Staying within ourselves, reminding ourselves that it’s just a game that we’re playing and listening to the fans is only going to hurt us,” freshman catcher Katie Stewart said after the first game in the championship series. “Just remembering that is going to be important for the next games to come.”
Getting back to the championship series next year will also require working on specific skills in practice.
“Physically, we’ve got some things to work on,” White said. “The pitching and the hitting under pressure. I just think they started to push too much. But, again, we’re a really young team. The future looks bright, but we know we got to get better.”
After a dominant season, the young team will look to improve throughout the off-season and hopefully make their way back to Oklahoma City.
