No. 6 Texas softball is back in the Women’s College World Series championship series for the second year in a row after beating No. 7 Tennessee 2–0 in a true pitchers’ duel.
One key to Texas’ success was limiting Tennessee’s ace, junior Karlyn Pickens, one of the country’s best, from stifling the Longhorn offense as she did in the regular season series loss.
Despite the win, the Longhorns’ offense struggled to put runs together against Pickens’ explosive and fast rise ball, as she struck out nine batters and allowed just five hits.
Some offensive efficiency from the Longhorns finally came in the bottom of the fourth when sophomore infielder Katie Stewart hit a leadoff solo home run, carrying so much height that the wind was able to sweep the ball just over the wall.
“We had just enough wind to help that home run go over,” head coach Mike White said. “So that was fortunate, therefore someone was looking down on us. I think maybe Teagan (Kavan’s) grandma.”
Texas added another insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Graduate first baseman Joley Mitchell was able to reach home plate from second base off a throwing error from Tennessee’s third baseman.
Senior pitcher Mac Morgan, in one of the biggest starts of her career, was integral in the win today by keeping the Tennessee offense at bay. She allowed three hits, zero runs, threw six groundouts and tied her season high with four strikes through four innings.
“I have nothing to lose because it’s my last year,” Morgan said. “It’s my last time out here, and I’m going to enjoy it, just being out there and doing my job and competing.”
Morgan’s stint in the circle wasn’t without a little drama, as Tennessee’s hitting coach, Craig Snider, was ejected from the game after charging out of the dugout to argue balls and strikes with the home-plate umpire.
While the Lady Vols started to adjust to Morgan’s drop ball, head coach Mike White waited until the Longhorns got the lead to put in sophomore star pitcher Teagan Kavan in relief to finish off the semi-finals in one game. With the pressure to close out the game and help send Texas to the WCWS championship days after the death of her grandmother, Kavan came out of the bullpen and delivered the shutout. She didn’t allow a single hit from the Lady Vols in the last three innings and struck out the final batter to seal the victory.
“Obviously, when I go up there with a one-run lead, I was trying to just tell myself I don’t have to be perfect, because I think in that moment it’s kind of what you feel like you need to be,” Kavan said. “But just trusting my defense, they came up big for me, and so it doesn’t have to all be on my shoulders.”
In the championship series, best out of the three, the Longhorns will face the winner of the semifinal between No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 11 Texas Tech.
“I think our biggest challenge is focusing on ourselves in this big three-game series and just relying on each other and what we have done all year,” Morgan said.
