While Texas softball didn’t bring the heat in its game, head coach Mike White certainly brought the fire against the umpires in the Longhorns’ final series game against the Texas A&M Aggies.
During the top of the sixth, a questionable call by the umpire was what it took to get White out of the dugout and arguing with the plate umpire. After exchanging some heated words, a pointed finger from the umpire meant White was ejected from the game, igniting the cheers from the fans. However, White wasn’t done — going directly up to the plate and kicking up some dirt before arguing all the way back to the dugout.
“I was trying to protect our players and (let them know) I had their back,” White said. “Obviously, I felt like it wasn’t even.”
While White had intended to pump up and motivate his team, it only seemed to throw an unsteady defense off kilter even more. Following his ejection, Texas gave up three unearned runs on two errors. By the time the sixth inning ended, Texas was down six runs and a head coach.
Texas suffered its second loss of the season against Texas A&M, 7-9. After coming from behind in the first two games of the series, the Longhorns couldn’t complete the comeback and sweep against their Lone Star rival.
The Longhorns’ struggles began early, with junior pitcher Teagan Kavan starting in the circle for the second time this series. White heavily relied on the ace this week, as both a starter and a relief pitcher. Kavan made an appearance in every game, including the midweek matchup against the Texas State Bobcats, with her pitch count totalling 277 pitches.
Kavan surrendered four earned runs in the first two innings, two of which were home runs. Still, even with the early kinks, White was set on keeping Kavan in the circle until freshman Hannah Wells entered during the sixth inning after Kavan gave up another two runs. Still, White wasn’t worried about fatigue from Kavan.
“As long as we keep that pitch count reasonable, we’re not getting up over three (hundred) or four hundred — that would be way too much,” White said.
Junior infielder Vivana Martinez defined the first game of the series on Friday with three runs and four RBIs. Sunday, Martinez’s ball to centerfield landed perfectly between the two Aggie fielders to score junior outfielder Kayden Henry from second and senior infielder Leighann Goode from first, getting Texas back into the fight, trailing 4-3 during the bottom of the fifth inning.
After two scored early in the seventh inning, it seemed like Texas had finally found the momentum that they had been looking for all game. Then the “Smash Sisters” came up to the plate with two outs on the board. Senior catcher Reese Atwood and junior infielder and catcher Katie Stewart hit consecutive home runs, putting Texas within two of A&M.
Even with the loss, Atwood was proud of her team’s push late in the game.
“We have Texas Fight,” Atwood said. “It shows in every game we’ve been able to fight back in multiple games.”
Even with the building momentum, the Aggies garnered too much of a lead and handed Texas its second loss of the season. If it wasn’t for the fielding errors in the sixth inning, the Longhorns would be celebrating a rivalry sweep and an extended win streak. Instead, the Aggies got a victory against the No. 1-ranked team.
