In a Women’s College World Series edition of the Red River Rivalry, No. 6-seeded Texas softball pulled off a historic 4-2 victory on Saturday against No. 2-seeded Oklahoma to put itself into the semifinals.
The Longhorns have struggled against the Sooners in the postseason, with a record of 0-7 against them, but for the first time in program history, the Longhorns have defeated the Sooners in the NCAA tournament.
“It’s so exciting to finally beat the Sooners in Oklahoma for the first time since I’ve been with the program,” head coach Mike White said. “They’re such a tough team year in and year out, and they didn’t go away this time either. We scored two, they scored two.”
Sophomore pitcher Teagan Kavan was in control for the entire ballgame. In the full game outing, Kavan surrendered seven hits but gave up just two earned runs and struck out eight batters. None were bigger than the final two, when she struck out back-to-back batters to seal the Texas victory with two runners on base.
“Fortunately, we had a tough pitcher in Teagan Kavan,” White said. “We didn’t help her early on, but she battled through and kept her mind in the game and really was a warrior for us throughout the game.”
Texas managed to throw the first blow in the game in the first inning, with runners senior infielder Mia Scott and sophomore outfielder Kayden Henry creating disruption on the base path. While Henry stole home to score, Scott advanced to third base. Junior catcher Reese Atwood followed that up with a sacrifice fly to bring in Scott from third and put the Longhorns up two early.
Oklahoma responded quickly with an RBI single and a run coming in on a fielder’s choice to tie up the game in the second inning.
The game was at a standstill until the fifth inning, when Henry hit a hard line drive over the wall and gave Texas back the lead late in the ballgame. Then, graduate infielder Joley Mitchell added an insurance run, hitting her third home run in two games to extend the score to 4-2 for the Longhorns in the sixth.
Kavan stepped into the circle in the seventh to close out the game, and the sophomore managed to slam the door shut.
After beginning the inning with a strikeout, Kavan fell into a jam, hitting a batter and giving up a base knock. Settling back in, Kavan struck out the next two batters in succession.
“I would pick this team in every single lifetime,” Mitchell said. “I’m proud of the way we came out today … We went up there and were being selective and disciplined at the plate and just making things happen. And I just want to keep doing that for the rest of the week; the job is not done.
The Longhorns will return to the field on June 2 for the semifinal round of the Women’s College World Series.
