When “The Eyes of Texas” didn’t immediately ring from the speakers after Texas softball secured the series against Texas A&M, fans knew something was up. Just a few minutes later, two star players were celebrating a guaranteed professional career.
Senior infielder Leighann Goode and senior catcher Reese Atwood were both honored with the AUSL Golden Ticket after Texas softball clinched the series win against the Texas A&M Aggies. The ticket is a promise of the future — both players already being recognized and selected to play on one of the six professional teams in the league.
“We’re trying to build softball fastpitch, and (Athletes Unlimited Softball League) has been doing a great job, along with the backing from Major League Baseball,” head coach Mike White said. “It’s an opportunity for these young women to take the game to another level, and to have two of our athletes get golden tickets, it’s just special for our program and for softball.”
Goode, who’s batting .447 through nearly three conference series, has been rock steady offensively and defensively. She’s claimed the second spot in the batting order all year and has registered 38 put-outs on 78 catches. Atwood, who hit her 13th home run against the Aggies today, has had a remarkable senior season.
The Longhorns claimed victory against rivals Texas A&M in a narrow 3-2 win on day two of the Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown. Texas’ victory wouldn’t have been possible without Atwood, who displayed dominance on both sides of the ball.
The roar of the crowd when Atwood was announced as a starter Saturday afternoon was well deserved. In her second at-bat in the third inning, Atwood sent a ball high into the air, coming down past the outfield wall and nearly onto a parked red Jeep. Separately, Atwood also picked up two RBIs. While it was her shot that secured the game-winning run for the Longhorns, her performance as catcher was what defined the game.
Atwood put away three outs for the Longhorns — one was a no-look pickoff at third base to end the Aggies’ second inning scoreless. She then caught a pair of base runners attempting to steal second base.
“That’s why very few people steal against us,” White said. “It keeps singles as singles, and that’s a big part of this game.”
Freshman pitcher and utility Hannah Wells pitched 5.2 innings, hitting two batters and walking four. Still, she held the Aggies to just two earned runs until junior pitcher Teagan Kavan got the last four outs in just 15 pitches, allowing no hits and picking up one strikeout.
Atwood is involved in almost every part of the game. She maintains a close relationship with the pitchers to be a voice of confidence in the circle and helps out when the team seems to have a disconnect with each other on defense.
“If there’s one thing to be picky about, I think it’d be more of our communication,” Atwood said earlier this month. “We’ve been working on that in practice, talked about it as a team.”
After two days of tight victories, Texas aims to sweep Texas A&M in the final game of the Lone Star Showdown at Red & Charline McCombs Field Sunday at 1 p.m.
