The beginning of the season is the perfect time for college softball teams to try new lineups and expose players to different positions. After all, the most effective way to grow younger players is to actually let them play.
That being said, when No. 1 Texas needed to reestablish dominance heading into their third and final day of the UTSA Invitational, head coach Mike White dispatched his biggest source of expertise to the mound: junior pitcher Teagan Kavan.
“She needed to get some confidence back,” White said. “She looked at yesterday’s game, realized she made some mistakes with locations, got behind, and came up and did a much better job today.”
Texas went 2-0 on Sunday against UTSA and No. 25 Washington, shutting out both opponents and rallying around Kavan’s commanding performance. The National Championship-experienced pitcher set the tone with two strikeouts to open the Longhorns’ matchup against the Huskies, and by the end of the game, she had accumulated six strikeouts and no errors.
“It just felt really good to feel like myself again and make my defense work, but also just overall, feeling really good in my pitches and the movement and everything like that,” Kavan said.
Allowing just three hits on 87 pitches, Kavan showed exactly why Texas relies on her to take care of business against tough opponents. Washington, on the other hand, went through four pitchers in Sunday’s matchup, finding themselves struggling to get into a groove and slow the Longhorns down offensively.
Junior first baseman Katie Stewart’s third inning home run highlighted the Longhorns’ at bat efforts, drilling the ball over left field to bring home junior center fielder Kayden Henry and add two runs for Texas. This helped seal the 5-0 victory and set the Longhorns up for a successful final game of the weekend.
Using the momentum built both at bat and in the field against the Huskies, the Longhorns followed with a strong 10-0 win against the Roadrunners. Texas racked up three home runs in the game, closing it out in five innings due to the eight-run mercy rule.
In this matchup, White saw more of an opportunity to tinker with his lineup and rely more heavily on some of his younger players.
Four freshmen started to help close the weekend against UTSA: pitcher Hannah Wells, second baseman MaTaia Lawson, shortstop Jaycie Nichols and third baseman Alisa Sneed. Freshman Caigan Crabtree also came in as a pinch hitter for Jaycie Nichols and scored Texas’ first home run of the matchup.
“I put a lot of new players in that last game,” White said. “They all performed. Caigan Crabtree with a home run, and a lot of people that didn’t get much of an opportunity in the weekend, but when they did get opportunities today, they were able to come through for us.”
Wells came through during each of the matchup’s five innings as a pitcher, conceding no runs or errors on 63 pitches.
“Hannah has so much potential on both sides of the ball,” Kavan said. “I think she’s gonna have a great career here, and so this is just the start of it.”
If White can find the balance between utilizing his new talent and falling back on his battle-tested veterans, this team could continue building upon this solid foundation throughout the season ahead.
“It’s really great to face this hard competition early because it’s just going to make us better in the long run,” Kavan said. “[We are] taking it one pitch at a time and just staying within ourselves because if we can do that, we’re capable of doing anything.”
