No. 1/2 Texas softball opened up the first day of the Longhorn Invitational with a come-from-behind victory against the South Florida Bulls and a mercy-rule win against the Abilene Christian Wildcats. With the two wins, Texas improved its record to 17–1 and remained undefeated at home.
Texas found themselves down early in their first game of the night against South Florida. The Bulls jumped out in front in the third inning, scoring four runs to take a 4–1 lead. Texas senior Citlaly Gutierrez was brought into the circle mid-inning to calm things down.
After coming into the game in the third, Gutierrez steered the ship and controlled the game through to the end. She didn’t give up a run, striking out five batters and giving up just two hits.
“My approach is just to go in there and take care of business,” Gutierrez said. “I’ve found myself more comfortable in the relief position, just coming in being able to do my job. … I was able to settle down.”
Texas wasn’t down for too long though. Texas turned up its bats in the bottom of the third, adding three runs to cut into South Florida’s lead. Texas’ sophomore catcher Katie Stewart ripped a single down the third baseline, bringing home sophomore outfielder Kayden Henry and junior outfielder Ashton Maloney. Graduate infielder Joley Mitchell brought home junior catcher Reese Atwood from second base with a hit fired toward third base.
After two scoreless innings from both sides, Texas battled its way back to take the game’s first lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. Senior infielder Mia Scott was walked early in the inning, which allowed junior infielder Kaydee Bennett to tie up the game at five. One batter later, Atwood would power a single down toward third base and bring home Henry and Maloney. The scoring continued in the inning as Stewart and Mitchell both brought in a run each.
Capitalizing off of the five-run inning, Gutierrez shut down the Bulls in the top of the seventh and the Longhorns escaped the upset with a 9–5 win.
“I don’t think we panicked at all,” head coach Mike White said. “You know it was tough. … We were able to be patient with the bats and (did) a much better job of getting some hits.”
A game against Abilene Christian University was the second game of the night, just the fourth time both teams have met.
After a couple of base hits from both sides in the second inning, both teams moved the scoreboard early with a tied score of 1–1. Two back-to-back scoreless innings ensued for both sides after.
After the cold two-inning stretch of scoreless action, Texas was able to wake up its bats and drive in some runs.
Breaking the deadlock was Texas, as it put together a five-run inning in the fifth to take the lead against the Wildcats. Stewart brought home Atwood, Scott and Henry with a double hit deep into center field. A sacrifice fly from Goode and an RBI groundout from Bennett made the score 6–1.
With three more runs, the final score was 9–1, with a mercy rule ending that wrapped up the day for the Longhorns.
Texas returns for the second day of the Longhorn Invitational on Saturday against the New Mexico State Aggies at 1:30 p.m. CT.
