The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Wisconsin
No. 13 Softball cruises past Wisconsin, 15-1
02.17.2011 | Softball
Feb. 17, 2011
AUSTIN, Texas - The 15th-ranked Texas Softball team posted its third-straight run-rule victory as it downed Wisconsin, 15-1, Thursday night in opening round action of the Time Warner Cable Texas Invitational. The Horns' offensive outburst marked the third-straight game that UT has posted 14 or more runs. The victory improved the Longhorns to 6-0 on the season and dropped the Badgers to 1-1.
Senior designated player Shelby Savony headlined the offense with a two-hit effort that included a career-best five RBI. Freshman centerfielder Brejae Washington left her mark on the UT record book in the win, becoming the first-ever UT player to record two triples in a single game. Sophomore rightfielder Taylor Hoagland extended her hitting streak to 17 games against the Badgers, a mark that only stands second to her UT-record 21-game streak from 2010.
Sophomore righthander Blaire Luna (4-0) earned the victory in the circle for the Horns, tossing 4.0 innings, allowing one unearned run on two hits, walking none and fanning seven. Sophomore Kim Bruins came on to close out the game, throwing a perfect fifth that included two strikeouts. Wisconsin starter Meghan McIntosh (0-1) suffered the loss for the Badgers, surrendering eight runs on five hits in 1.1 innings of work.
Despite allowing Wisconsin to push one across in the first, Texas bounced back and rolled the rest of the way. The Horns took advantage of two errors in the first to score Hoagland who led off the inning with a double and claimed a 3-1 lead on a two-run single by Savony.
A third UW error started UT's rally in the second and a bunt single by Washington put two runners on base before a pair of illegal pitches allowed one run to come home. A sacrifice fly by junior third baseman Nadia Taylor scored Washington before a throwing error allowed Hoagland and junior first baseman Lexy Bennett to score after reaching on back-to-back walks. Senior catcher Amy Hooks capped the scoring for UT with a solo homer to centerfield that extended the Horns' edge to 8-1.
In the third, Texas sent nine batters to the plate for the second-straight inning, starting the rally with a triple down the leftfield line by Washington. Hoagland singled her home and consecutive walks by Taylor and Hooks loaded the bases. Freshman shortstop Taylor Thom singled to score two runs and Savony added three more with a three-run blast to leftfield that widened the margin to 14-1.
Texas plated one more run in the fourth when Washington connected for her second triple of the day and brought freshman second baseman Karina Scott home after she drew a leadoff walk.
Texas resumes play at the Texas Invitational on Friday, Feb. 18 when it hosts Missouri State. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. Central.
POST-GAME NOTES
- Texas' victory improved its all-time record against Wisconsin to 4-1.
- Brejae Washington's two-triple outing marked the first time in UT history that a player has recorded two triples in a game.
- Taylor Hoagland's double in the first inning extended her current hitting streak to 17 games. The streak ranks as the second-longest in UT history and only trails her 21-game streak from 2010. She carried over an 11-game hitting streak from the end of the 2010 season.
- Against Wisconsin, Texas scored 14 or more runs for the third-straight game. In 2011, UT has scored 63 runs in six games.
POST-GAME QUOTES
Head coach Connie Clark
On in-game adjustments for Blaire Luna: She did a great job making adjustments. We talked about some things in between innings, specifically where the Wisconsin hitters were setting up in the box against her. It's always that game within the game; you want to make the in-game adjustments that you need to. She was able to do that immediately into the second inning and had success because of it.
On everyone contributing to the Longhorns' early season success: Hopefully it continues to look that good. We had some great at-bats early working really deep into counts. When we get to see a lot of pitches that helps us and we're able to feed off the momentum. I was very pleased to get Kim Bruins in for an inning. That has been a work in progress and we built that up for this week. It worked out favorably for her tonight and she went in and did a tremendous job.
Senior designated player Shelby Savony
On her first home run of the season: It felt really good. I've been working through some things the past two weeks and finally hit it solid. I knew as soon as I hit it that it was gone, and it felt really good. It's easy to take momentum off of everybody because everyone is doing really well, so you just step in the box and go. It's really good for everyone.
On maintaining the offensive success throughout the season: I do see it continuing. I'm not saying we're going to put up 15 runs every game. But everybody works hard every day at practice and I feel like there is always going to be somebody that steps up in a game. It's really helpful to be that solid throughout the lineup.
Senior catcher Amy Hooks
On starting the game strong: Today when we started the game, our chant was "start fast" and I think that's a goal we have every game. We want to start fast and we want to jump on them early and not wait until later in the game to score runs.
Freshman centerfielder Brejae Washington
On being the first player in UT history to record two triples in a game: It always feels good to play jackrabbit. My role on the team is to run, so it feels good to get the ball in play and be able to fill that role.
On Texas' powerful early-season offensive production: It gets us really hyped when we all get to be able to be a part of scoring a lot of runs. Right now we have 43 runs in the last three games, so it's really good to know that offensively everyone is on. We just need to be able to keep that up to achieve our goal this year.
