Softball shuts out Iowa, 3-0, to win series

Monday, March 17

Austin, Texas

7:00 PM

University of Texas

18-14

Iowa

5-12

Iowa

Texas

03.17.2014 | Softball

Box Score

Davis tosses first career shutout and third one-hitter of the season.

Box Score (PDF) | Twitter

AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Softball shut out the Iowa Hawkeyes, 3-0, to win the three-game series Monday night at Red & Charline McCombs Field.

Freshman pitcher Tiarra Davis dominated Iowa (5-11) from start to finish, going the distance for her 10th complete game of the season and first career shutout. The southpaw threw a one-hitter for the third time this year, adding nine strikeouts.

Texas (18-14) struck first to grab an early 2-0 lead. In the home half of the first, sophomore Lindsey Stephens smashed her team-leading fourth triple of the season off the right field wall. Junior Marlee Gabaldon and Davis walked to load the bases. Sophomore Holly Kern came through in the clutch, singling to left to plate Stephens and Gabaldon, to give the Longhorns the 2-0 edge.

Stephens' four triples lead the Big 12 as the Longhorns head into conference play this weekend.

Texas added an insurance run in the third to grab a 3-0 lead. Senior Mandy Ogle led off with a single to center and sophomore Stephanie Ceo reached on a fielding error by the pitcher. Senior Taylor Thom put runners on the corners with a fielder's choice and then was later caught stealing to leave Ogle at third with two outs. Her classmate Brejae Washington delivered, hitting the gap for her first triple of the year to score Ogle and stretch the margin to 3-0 through two innings.

Davis and the Texas defense shut down the Hawkeyes for the rest of the game, committing zero errors en route to the Longhorns' third shutout win of the season.

Texas continues its homestand Wednesday night and will face Houston in a rematch of earlier this season. The Longhorns defeated the Cougars, 5-1, on March 6 in the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, Calif. The game will be broadcasted nationally on Longhorn Network.

POSTGAME NOTES

- Texas now leads the series over Iowa 3-2. All five contests have been played in Austin.

- The Longhorns have thrown three shutouts this season (Gabby Smith 2, Davis).

- Brejae Washington went 2-for-3 with an RBI, including her first triple of the year.

- Lindsey Stephens hit a first-inning triple, extending her reached-base streak to 33 contests games.

- Holly Kern went 2-for-2 with an RBI and walk.

- Tiarra Davis tossed 7.0 innings, striking out nine, allowing one hit and three walks.

- Davis threw nine strikeouts on the night, to give her five games with 8+ strikeouts this year.

- Kelli Hanzel notched a pinch-hit single in the sixth inning to give her four hits in eight at-bats this season.

SERIES NOTES

- Brejae Washington went 6-for-9, leading the team in hits and stolen bases (2).

- Washington extended her reached-base streak to 23 games.

- Lindsey Stephens extended her reached-base streak 33, including all 32 games this season.

- Holly Kern played in two games, going 4-for-5 with two RBIs.

- Erin Shireman played in two contests, batting 3-for-7 with three RBIs and a run scored

- Tiarra Davis tossed 12.0 innings in her two starts, striking out 15 batters, while allowing six hits and one run.

- Mandy Ogle and Lindsey Stephens each scored a team-high three runs.

QUOTES

Sophomore Holly Kern:

On leaving runners on base and taking advantage of the run score in the first: " I was pretty pleased with my hit, but it was also a team effort because everybody got on base and Tiarra [Davis] had a really good at bat before. Whenever she got issued a walk, she was going to get a hit to pitch if they gave her one, but then she was fouling them off, then she got a walk. So, it was a great at-bat. Then coming in to her good at-bat I was like, 'Alright, she had a really good at bat, so I'm going to get a hit for them', but it felt really good to score some runners."

On scoring all runs on two-out situations and how much emphasis they put on that situation in practice: "We do a lot of situations. We'll have our pitchers pitch bases loaded and two out [situations]. We do that a lot to work on pitchers and on hitters. It puts the pressure on the pitchers and it also puts the pressure on getting the job done hitting."

Freshman Tiarra Davis:

On how her confidence rebounded after her night last night and how she performed tonight: "It does a lot. I would say my team helped me refocus and everybody was really encouraging after the game, because I was down on myself. So they just told me to stay positive and to go get them today."

On how important it is a pitcher to get those runs early on: "It makes me feel good. I feel like I have a little bit of comfort and if I do give up a run, it's not so detrimental, but I mean of course you don't want to give up runs. It's a little cushion you have there. It's like having extra support and I just let my defense work."

Head Coach Connie Clark:

On Tiarra Davis' bounce back from last night: "That's the key with freshman; they keep it exciting every day. The one thing I love is I shot her a text last night and I said, 'Hey, are you ready to get back at it tomorrow?,' and she responded in about point-five seconds and said, 'Yes, absolutely. That will not happen again.' I love that. She wants the ball. She wants the ball in big scenarios and she's got the physical skill set to match up with it. It's just about getting her to be consistent. She's got to deal with experiences like that to get better. I really loved how she turned it around and came back today."

On Tiarra Davis' at-bat showing maturity: 'She's tremendous. She's somebody we felt great about going through the recruiting circuit. We were very excited when she committed. She was kind of an under the radar kid, but we knew how good she was in all aspects of the game. So yes, we'd love to see her in the lineup every day, whether she is pitching or not."