The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Wednesday, April 19
Austin, Texas
5 p.m.
University of Texas
vs
Texas Southern
Softball preview: vs. Texas Southern [April 19, 2017]
04.18.2017 | Softball
The Longhorns look to stretch their win streak to four games by hosting the Lady Tigers at 5 p.m. CT
Texas Game Notes vs. Texas Southern
Texas Southern (17-13) at Texas (23-18) | April 19 | McCombs Field, Austin, Texas
Schedule:
Wednesday, April 19
5 p.m. CT Texas Southern at TEXAS – Longhorn Network – 105.3 FM "The Bat" in Austin
Location: Austin, Texas (Red & Charline McCombs Field)
Ticket Information: LINK
Live Stats: LINK
Television: The game is slated for live broadcast on Longhorn Network with Tyler Denning (play-by-play) and Megan Willis (color) on the call.
Radio: Texas' contest is scheduled for radio broadcast via web stream with Andrew Haynes on the call via this LINK. The Texas broadcast can also be heard locally in Austin on "The Bat" 105.3 FM in the local and surrounding areas, part of the Austin Radio Network supported by the flagship radio station of the Longhorns, 104.9 FM "The Horn."
Base Knocks:
- Texas freshman outfielder Kaitlyn Washington was named the Big 12 Conference's Player of the Week on April 18 following her impressive weekend efforts at Texas Tech. The Humble, Texas, product led the way for the Burnt Orange & White against the Red Raiders by hitting at a .467 clip (7-for-15) with two runs scored, three doubles and four RBIs. The award marks the first league accolade of Washington's career on the Forty Acres and the second weekly honor for the Longhorns in 2017 after senior Tiarra Davis' previous nod as the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week back on February 28.
- Texas holds a perfect 7-0 record in its all-time series against Texas Southern with all seven of those victories having come within the friendly confines of Red & Charline McCombs Field since March 4, 2010. Overall, the Longhorns have outscored the Lady Tigers in the series by a combined total of 48-4 with five shutouts. UT has blanked TSU in each of the last two meetings in the series (March 1, 2015, and April 27, 2016).
- Putting three or more runs on the scoreboard seems to be the magic number for Longhorns success in 2017 as Texas boasts a solid 21-4 mark when its offense totals three runs or more but is just 2-14 when crossing the plate less than three times.
- The injury bug has bitten the Longhorns recently as freshman infielder Jade Gortarez remains week-to-week with a foot injury, while sophomore outfielder Reagan Hathaway has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2017 season with a knee injury suffered in the opener against No. 11/9 Oklahoma (April 7).
- Texas' schedule has been incredibly difficult to this point in 2017 as 16 of UT's 24 opponents played currently possess winning records, seven are currently ranked in the USA Today/NFCA coaches poll and 13 of them own at least 25 wins. Included are four teams with 35 or more victories, No. 3 Arizona (41-3), No. 5 Minnesota (38-3), No. 8 Oklahoma (38-7) and No. 11 Tennessee (39-5). Overall, the Longhorns' opponents (as of April 18) are 616-387-2 (.614) as UT has played the ninth-toughest schedule in NCAA Division I.
- The Burnt Orange & White have played 21 of their 41 contests against teams that were ranked or receiving votes in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) or ESPN.com/USA Softball polls at time of playing, while 11 of those tilts have been against top 15-rated foes.
- One-run games haven't been kind to the Longhorns thus far in 2017 as Texas owns just a 4-9 record in such contests. In fact, the Burnt Orange & White have lost nine of their last 10 one-run games (beat Houston 2-1 in 8 inn. on April 2) while nine of UT's last 13 overall defeats have all come by just a single tally.
- Redshirt sophomore pitcher Erica Wright looks like she's returning to form after missing all of the 2016 season because of injury. Over her last nine appearances in the circle (Loyola Marymount, Cal State Fullerton, McNeese State, Oklahoma State, UTSA, Houston, Texas State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech), the Huntington, Texas, native has allowed just 17 combined hits over 48.0 innings of work (0.35 hits-per-inning), struck out 50, registered three complete-game one-hitters and posted a miniscule ERA of 1.31. She also recently tied her career-high for consecutive scoreless innings by tossing 15.0 straight shutout frames (from March 14 at Loyola Marymount until March 25 at Oklahoma State), hurled a remarkable 12.2 hitless innings from the second frame of the OSU game through the first inning of the Houston DH opener and struck out a season-high 12 over a career-high nine innings of work at Texas Tech (April 13).
- During Texas' series finale at Oklahoma State (March 26), freshman catcher Taylor Ellsworth added her name to the school record book by tying former Longhorns standout Taylor Thom's single-game record for hits (established April 23, 2011 at Texas Tech) by going a perfect 5-for-5 at the plate. Since starting against No. 21/19 Arizona State back on February 25, the Georgetown, Texas, native is hitting .469 (30-for-64) with 14 runs scored, three doubles, her first three collegiate HR's, 15 RBIs and a 1.142 OPS. She's also recently posted a career-long seven-game hitting streak and reached by hit in 15 of her last 20 games.
- Texas has had a load of success with two outs in 2017, hitting .300 (120-for-400) while registering 85 of its 183 total RBIs (46%) with two outs in a inning. In all, 15 different Longhorns batters own two-out RBIs, led by 10 each from freshman infielder Jade Gortarez and senior first baseman Kelli Hanzel.
- It was quite an exhausting late February through March for the Longhorns as far as travel went. From the time the team left for the trip to the Mary Nutter Classic on Feb. 22, Texas was on the road for a stretch 22 of 34 possible days (until returning from Stillwater, Okla., on March 26) and five consecutive weekends. In all, also counting trips to Palm Springs, Calif., Tucson, Ariz., and Los Angeles/Long Beach/Fullerton, Calif., the Burnt Orange & White traveled nearly 9,000 miles.
- Since the beginning of the 2015 season, the nucleus of this year's Longhorns squad has demonstrated a resilience and "never quit" attitude in fighting back from deficits. Texas owns 31 come-from-behind victories (those where UT trailed at ANY point in a game) and 13 total "true" walk-off wins combined, including three walk-offs this year to beat Louisiana Tech during the Texas Invitational on Feb. 17, 6-5, to down Notre Dame at the Mary Nutter Classic on Feb. 23, 4-3, and to beat Houston on April 2, 2-1 (8 inn.).
Players Mentioned
LHP/1B
/ Softball
C/1B
/ Softball
IF/OF
/ Softball
1B/2B
/ Softball
OF/C
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
RHP
/ Softball