The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Northwestern State
No. 16 Softball preview: Texas Classic [Feb. 8-10, 2019]
02.07.2019 | Softball
The Longhorns begin a new era under head coach Mike White against Northwestern State, Boise State and Boston College
Complete Texas Game Notes - Texas Classic | 2019 Texas Softball Factbook
No. 16 Texas hosts the Texas Classic | Feb. 8-10 | Red & Charline McCombs Field, Austin, Texas
Schedule:
Friday, February 8
11:00am Boise State vs. Boston College – LONGHORN NETWORK
1:30pm Boise State vs. Northwestern State – LONGHORN NETWORK
4:30pm Northwestern State vs. TEXAS – LONGHORN NETWORK
7:00pm Boston College vs. TEXAS – LONGHORN NETWORK
Saturday, February 9
10:00am Northwestern State vs. Boise State – LONGHORN NETWORK
1:00pm Boise State vs. TEXAS – LONGHORN NETWORK
3:30pm Boston College vs. TEXAS – LONGHORN NETWORK
6:00pm Boston College vs. Northwestern State – LONGHORN NETWORK
Sunday, February 10
10:00am Boston College vs. Boise State – LONGHORN NETWORK
12:30pm Northwestern State vs. TEXAS – LONGHORN NETWORK
TEXAS CLEAR BAG POLICY: Please note that there is a Clear Bag Policy in effect for fans when attending Texas Athletic events. For more details, please visit this LINK
PARKING: Fans can purchase parking in the East Campus Garage for $5 here: LINK
Location: Austin, Texas (Red & Charline McCombs Field)
Ticket Information: LINK
Live Stats: Available for every game of the Texas Classic here: LINK
Television: Every game at the Texas Classic is slated for live broadcast on Longhorn Network with two separate crews - Tyler Denning (play-by-play) and Megan Willis (color) & Alex Loeb (play-by-play) and Amanda Scarborough (color) on the call.
Radio: Texas' games are slated for radio broadcast via web stream with Andrew Haynes on the call via this LINK. The Texas broadcasts can also be heard locally this weekend 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 owns an INCREDIBLE season-opening winning streak dating all the way back to the initial varsity season for the program in 1997. The Longhorns have won ALL 22 of their season openers, including high-profile wins over No. 3 UCLA (2007), Florida State (2009), No. 20 DePaul (2010), Louisville (2011) and No. 17 LSU (2014). During that stretch, Texas has registered 14 shutouts and outscored its opponents by a combined 143-11. The streak grew during the 2018 season as UT knocked off Incarnate Word in the Texas Classic, 2-0.
- Texas enters 2019 looking to break a two-game losing streak in its home-hosted Texas Classic. UT went 2-2 in last year's season-opening event with wins over Incarnate Word (2-0) and Wisconsin (5-1) before losing its final two contests to Colorado State (6-2) and Wisconsin (7-3, 8 inn.).
- New publication Softball America had three Longhorns listed in their inaugural Top 100 National Player Rankings on Feb. 7: No. 13 Miranda Elish, No. 17 Janae Jefferson and No. 57 Shannon Rhodes.
- The Longhorns are set to begin #ANewEra this weekend as Mike White takes over as only the second head coach in program history. He spent the last nine seasons at Oregon where he led the Ducks to 435 wins, five Pac-12 titles and five WCWS berths.
- Texas opens 2019 ranked No. 9 in the inaugural Softball America preseason poll and No. 16 in both the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball rankings. The No. 9 nod is the highest for UT in any poll since starting the 2014 season listed at No. 10 in the preseason. This is also the first time the Burnt Orange & White have been ranked in any poll since May 17, 2016 (No. 25 in USA Softball).
- Sophomore second baseman Janae Jefferson hopes to build on an All-American rookie campaign. She reached base safely in 50-of-59 games played, and hit safely in 45-of-59 last year, while posting a career-best 14-game hitting streak and a pair of 16-plus-game reached base streaks. Perhaps most impressive, Jefferson proved to be one of the toughest players to strikeout in all of NCAA Division I softball. She didn't K until her 37th game and 133rd overall plate appearance and struck out just seven times over 218 total plate appearances.
- Texas needs to find a way to win more of the close games to have success in 2019. Over the past two seasons, UT has gone a combined 19-28 in one- or two-run decisions (10-18 in one-run games). Last year, the Longhorns lost a total of 12 games by two-runs-or-less during a 33-26 season, nine of those coming against nationally-ranked teams.
- Texas sophomore second baseman Janae Jefferson and junior transfer pitcher Miranda Elish have each been named to the 50-player watch list for the USA Softball National Player of the Year award that will be presented on May 28. As a sophomore at Oregon in 2018, Elish finished as a top 25 finalist for the honor after going 25-2 overall from the circle.
- Head coach Mike White wasted no time making an impact on the roster by bringing in four former Oregon standouts prior to the 2019 campaign: Miranda Elish (junior pitcher – 2018 NFCA All-American that went 25-2 last season from the circle), Lauren Burke (sophomore utility – 2018 Pac-12 All-Freshman after batting .351), Shannon Rhodes (junior outfielder – 2018 NFCA All-Pacific Region and career .342 hitter) and Mary Iakopo (sophomore catcher – 2018 Pac-12 Second Team and Top 25 finalist for NFCA National Freshman of the Year).
- Junior IF/OF Kaitlyn Washington will look to continue the momentum from a breakout 2018 season into the new year. She ended last year on a six-game hitting streak (all during postseason play), going 11-for-20 over that stretch (.550). Washington finished her NFCA All-Region-level sophomore season second on the team in average (.359), hits (56) and doubles (13).
- Pitcher Brooke Bolinger should provide a huge boost to the Texas pitching staff during her senior campaign. Last year, she ranked in the top five in the Big 12 in strikeouts (123 - fourth), shutouts (four - tied fourth) and opponent batting average (.195 - third) while rating seventh in wins (13).
