A surprisingly sharp breeze swept through the Red & Charline McCombs Field, but instead of fleeing the cold, No. 1 Texas softball fans put on their sweatshirts and brought their own heat for the home team as it stared down an 8-8 tie against No. 15 Texas A&M entering the seventh inning.
Luckily for the shivering Friday night crowd, Longhorns head coach Mike White had shifted his typical batting order ahead of this matchup, moving junior infielder Viviana Martinez to third in the lineup.
Martinez accumulated two home runs and a double for four RBI in the first six innings of the game, and she was the first to step up to the plate in the bottom of the seventh. Driving the ball to left center field, she reached second base and helped Texas inch one step closer to a tight rivalry win.
Texas A&M junior pitcher Sidne Peters proceeded to walk senior catcher Reese Atwood and hit junior catcher and infielder Katie Stewart, creating a bases-loaded situation with freshman designated player Hannah Wells up next to bat. The Aggies then made a pitching change, but it didn’t stop Wells from drilling the ball past third base.
Martinez raced toward home plate, sealed a 9-8 victory and threw her arms into the air in celebration.
The crowd roared in excitement, standing to applaud this cinematic finish to a thrilling, back-and-forth game. After the game, White addressed his decision to move Martinez up in the batting order for this game.
“It made me look pretty good, didn’t it?” he said, laughing. “I had a feeling — just the way she was clicking and looking good in the batter’s box.”
This marked Martinez’s best offensive showing of the season, as well as her first Lonestar Showdown matchup since the NCAA Austin Super Regional in 2024. She watched last year’s series against the Aggies from the dugout, nursing the torn ACL that forced her to miss 2025 in its entirety.
“I think that injury really put in perspective to have gratitude because it could be taken at any point,” Martinez said following her two-home run performance. “Being out here any game, honestly, I have so much gratitude for the game and for my teammates.”
Junior pitcher Teagan Kavan, who had been pulled from the game in the third inning and put in again with two to play, also helped the Longhorns in their seventh-inning surge toward victory. She required just four batters to rack up three strikeouts in the top of the inning, sending A&M’s singular base runner back to the dugout scoreless.
Kavan gave up seven hits and five runs her first time in the game, but she provided exactly what Texas needed to send the Aggies home in defeat.
“I think she got the nerves out of the way,” White said. “She’s a great team player, and she came out and did it for us in that moment, and that’s all we really needed. But (senior pitcher Citlaly Gutierrez) did a great job, too, throughout the innings, keeping it close throughout those innings where (Kavan) had to regroup.”
This action-packed victory effort could help give Texas the momentum it needs this weekend, and the Longhorns will take to the diamond again tomorrow to face Texas A&M at 1 p.m. at the Red & Charline McCombs Field.
