The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
UTSA
Osterman fires two-hit, 18-strikeout performance to lead Softball over UTSA
05.19.2006 | Softball
AUSTIN, Texas -- All-America senior lefthander Cat Osterman fired a two-hitter and struck out 18 of the 24 batters she faced as the No. 3 seeded Texas Longhorns posted a 4-0 victory over Texas-San Antonio Friday evening in the first round of the NCAA Softball Austin Regional tourney at Red and Charline McCombs Field.
Texas was led at the plate by freshman designated hitter Kacie Gaskin, who went three-for-three while belting her second home run of the season, and junior catcher Megan Willis, who had two singles and two RBI.
The Longhorns improve to 50-7 and advance to Saturday's (May 20) 1 p.m. (Central) game against Indiana in the winner's bracket of the four-team, double-elimination Austin Regional. UTSA, now 37-13, will square off against Utah (38-20) in an elimination game at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. Indiana defeated Utah, 3-0, in Friday's other game at McCombs Field. The third game on Saturday will be another elimination game, scheduled for 6 p.m. at McCombs.
It was Texas' 30th shutout of the season, and Osterman has now accounted for 24 of those scoreless games.
The victory for Texas was the 400th win in program's history, and all 400 wins have come under the direction of Longhorns head coach Connie Clark. Clark and Texas are now 400-180-1 since the program's varsity inception in 1997. Additionally, Texas ties the school's single season record for wins, and now shares that mark with the 2002 Longhorns squad which went 50-13.
Osterman moved to 33-2 with the victory. Of the two hits she yielded, one was a leadoff double to left center by catcher Jessica Els in the fourth, and the other was a leadoff single to left center by shortstop Aimee Murray in the top of the seventh.
Els and Murray were two of the three Roadrunner batters who reached base against Osterman (the other was a leadoff walk in the third). In all three innings with a leadoff runner, Osterman reared back and struck out seven of the nine batters she then faced to retire UTSA in those innings.
Of the 112 pitches that Osterman threw, 78 were for strikes.
Sophomore righty Amanda Nickolenko absorbed the loss, dropping to 23-6. She pitched the full game for UTSA. Two of the four runs she yielded were unearned. Nicolenko gave up nine hits, walked none and fanned two.
Texas struck for two runs in the third and single runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
In the third, UT scored its two runs on two hits, one UTSA error and a stolen base. Shortstop Desiree Williams lined a one-out single to to left. After an infield out, Williams moved into scoring position by stealing second. She then scored when UTSA's Murray had a throwing error on a ground ball by Chez Sievers, with Sievers moving to second on the error. Willis then ripped a two-out RBI single to right, scoring Sievers for the 2-0 lead.
In the fourth, Gaskin led off with a 210-foot blast over the left field fence which pushed UT's lead to 3-0.
Texas closed out its scoring in the fifth on another two-out RBI single by Willis. That RBI hit scored centerfielder Tina Boutelle, who had reached on a bunt single and stole second before being plated by Willis.
POSTGAME QUOTES
UTSA Head Coach Lori Cook
Her general statement on the game...
"I am very proud of our team. I think we came out tonight and made some adjustments from the first time we played Texas in February. Our first priority was to cut down on our strikeouts and obviously try to stay off the drop ball. I am happy with our at-bats even though we had strikeouts. We took our hacks up there and I don't think we have anything to be disappointed about. Anytime you face (Cat) Osterman, getting two hits was a great improvement for us and putting the ball in play like we did is a good thing. I was proud of the way we swung the bat tonight. The most important thing for our team is that we go into tomorrow thinking about getting to Sunday's championship game."
UTSA senior catcher Jessica Els
On what is different to when facing Cat Osterman...
"I have been facing her since high school, when we were both in Houston together. She is obviously an amazing pitcher. There is no doubt about that, you have to tip your hat to her. Her movement is unbelievable and it is unlike anything we have seen in our Southland Conference games. I think that every time we play her we adjust and get better. We can take that away from tonight's game."
Texas Head Coach Connie Clark
Her general assessment of the game...
"All I really have to say is that it feels like forever since we have played! To get back out after the Big 12 Conference tournament and come back out her to play, it seriously feels like it has been about a month. After practicing all week, it's great to get a game under our belt.
I think we had some good things happen tonight. Cat absolutely settled into a rhythm out there. I think the hitters came out and attacked very well and we put the scouting notes to use. We also got some solid defense when we needed that as well. We had good communication on defense, so all in all, it was a pretty well-rounded game for us.
After the Big 12 tournament, we needed to come back and tweak our offense. We needed to take some pressure off ourselves, offensively. Like (Megan) Willis said, mentally, it's a new season now for us."
Texas senior pitcher Cat Osterman
On her pitching tonight...
"Once I settled in, I did well in the first three innings and felt like that set the tone for me. They had a game plan and I think they were attacking my down-pitch. After two strikes, we finally realized what they were doing and we kind of went away from that towards the end; that is when we got a few more strike-outs than normal. I felt good, it just took me a while to get in the groove. Part of that is not ending so well in the Big 12's and having a long layoff since last Thursday without throwing in-game situations that often. I was ready to go, but I was almost too ready to go."
On having a chip on her shoulder after Texas' 0-2 exit from the Big 12 Championship...
"Oh, absolutely not. It's behind us. It is a new ballgame, a new time of season. It is now or never right now for us. I am just coming out to play my game. Everything else is behind us, like I said. We all feel that way."
Texas junior catcher Megan Willis
On Texas making hitting adjustments this past week in preparation for the NCAAs...
"We have really focused on hitting this past week. We obviously were a little off at the plate the previous weeks. We practiced a lot and we came out here and put what we did at practice into the game. We relaxed a little bit and took off a lot of the pressure we had put upon ourselves. We just came out here to have fun. Like everyone says, we like to think of it as a whole new season. Everyone is 0-0."
Texas freshman designated player Kacie Gaskin
On how the extra hitting practices helped her have a strong offensive game...
"The extra practice has been huge for me. One thing that helps me get going is a lot of quality cuts and repetition, and that is what I got this week. So it was great to be able to do that."
