Softball preview: vs. Kansas [March 23-25, 2018]

Friday, March 23

Austin, Texas

4:30 p.m.

University of Texas

Kansas

Buy Tickets

Softball preview: vs. Kansas [March 23-25, 2018]

03.22.2018 | Softball

The Longhorns welcome in the Jayhawks to kick-off the Big 12 season

Texas Game Notes vs. Kansas

Kansas (23-7) at TEXAS (13-13) | March 23-25 | Red & Charline McCombs Field, Austin, Texas

Schedule:

Friday, March 23

4:30 p.m. Kansas at TEXAS – LONGHORN NETWORK – LINK

Saturday, March 24

12 p.m. Kansas at TEXAS – LONGHORN NETWORK – LINK

Sunday, March 25

11 a.m. Kansas at TEXAS – LONGHORN NETWORK – LINK

TEXAS CLEAR BAG POLICY: Please note that there is a new Clear Bag Policy in effect for fans when attending Texas Athletic events. For more details, please visit this LINK

Location: Austin, Texas (Red & Charline McCombs Field)

Promotions: For Saturday's game - the first 200 fans get a FREE Kristen Clark Senior Poster; Texas Camo Hat giveaway

Ticket Information: LINK

Parking: Purchase in advance for the East Campus Parking Garage through CLICK & PARK - LINK

Live Stats: Available here for all games: LINK

Television: All three games are slated for live broadcast on Longhorn Network with Alex Loeb (play-by-play) and Megan Willis (color) on the call.

Radio: Texas' games are slated for radio broadcast via FREE web stream with Andrew Haynes on the call through this LINK. The Texas broadcasts can also be heard locally in Austin on 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 enters Friday with a 14-7 all-time mark in Big 12 openers and has won eight of its last 10 (dropped its last two in a row - lost at Baylor in 2016 and at Oklahoma State in 2017). UT has faced Kansas to start the league season on five previous occasions (2000, 2001, 2005, 2011, 2015) and owns a 4-1 record (won the last three) against the Jayhawks.
Texas senior pitcher Paige von Sprecken is currently riding a career-long 14-inning scoreless streak dating back to March 17 at College of Charleston. Over her last 21 innings of work, the Yorba Linda, Calif., native has allowed just one earned run (at #18/17 South Carolina) while striking out 13 (0.33 ERA).
After starting off the 2018 season on fire at the plate and then cooling off, freshman second baseman Janae Jefferson has started heating back up over the last six contests, leading the squad with a .444 average (8-for-18) over that stretch while posting a six-game hitting streak.
Texas' pitching has been very strong over the last eight contests, posting a combined 1.38 ERA (Paige von Sprecken - 0.33 ERA in 21 IP, Brooke Bolinger - 1.37 ERA in 15.1 IP) with a K-BB ratio of 46 to 14. Unfortunately, UT's offense has been struggling to score runs (15 tallies total) over that stretch as the team is 5-3 overall with two 1-0 defeats.
With the first release of the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) on Monday, Texas came in at No. 37 overall but discovered that it has played the TOUGHEST NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE IN NCAA DIVISION I (out of 296 teams) so far this season. UT's overall schedule strength is ranked No. 4.
Janae Jefferson is Texas' most dependable hitter with runners in scoring position at a remarkable .435 (10-for-23) overall. That's even more impressive considering the Longhorns as a team are batting just .206 with RISP in 2018.
Texas' schedule has been absolutely brutal so far in 2018 with 15 of its first 26 games coming against teams ranked or receiving votes in the national polls. UT is just 6-9 in those contests, but posted wins over No. 9/8 Arizona, No. 20 Michigan and No. 25 Texas State and lost to No. 1 Washington (2-1) and No. 18/17 South Carolina (1-0, 8 inn.) by a run.
Longhorns freshman second baseman Janae Jefferson seems to be averse to the strikeout as the Humble, Texas, native has yet to K this season over 93 total plate appearances and currently ranks in the tie with five other players as the "toughest player to strikeout in all of NCAA Division I softball."
Texas has had much of its success this season hitting with two outs in an inning. In all, the Longhorns have scored 37 of their 68 total runs (54%) and registered 32 of their 59 total RBIs (54%) with two outs in a frame.
Texas sophomore infielder Malory Schattle is turning into quite the dependable threat off the bench in 2018 as the Salado, Texas, native is 3-for-6 (.500) in pinch-hit appearances thus far this season with pinch hits against No. 15/18 Ole Miss, Houston (double) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. She owns nearly half of UT's seven overall pinch hits in 2018.
Out-hitting the opposition has proven to be a predictor of success thus far for the Longhorns in 2018 as Texas is 9-2 when tallying more hits, 1-9 when out-hit by an opponent and 3-2 when the hits are tied.
Three appears to be the magic number relating to wins for Texas this season as the Longhorns are 11-4 when holding opponents to fewer than three runs and 2-9 when the opposition scores three or more runs.
Texas will look to have more success this season in one-run games than it did during 2017 as the Longhorns went just 4-12 last year in contests decided by a single tally. In all, Texas finished the year by dropping 12 of its last 13 one-run contests with the only win over that stretch coming in a 2-1 (8 inn.) victory over Houston (April 2). With a 2-1 loss to No. 1 Washington (Feb. 21), a 3-2 win over Virginia Tech (Feb. 24), a 1-0 triumph at UTSA (March 7), a 1-0 (8 inn.) loss at #18/17 South Carolina, a 1-0 win at College of Charleston (March 17) and a 1-0 loss to Georgetown (March 18), Texas is 3-3 in such contests this year but has now lost 15 of its last 19 one-run games dating back to 2017.