No. 9 Softball knocks off Texas Southern, 6-2

Saturday, March 9

Austin, Texas

Noon CT

University of Texas

20-4

Texas Southern

2-16

Texas Southern

Texas

03.09.2019 | Softball

Box Score

Freshman pitcher Shealyn O’Leary becomes the first Texas freshman pitcher to ever start her career 7-0

AUSTIN, Texas – On Saturday afternoon in Longhorn Invitational action at Red & Charline McCombs Field, No. 9/10 Texas softball (20-4) scored in five of six offensive innings to back another solid Shealyn O'Leary pitching performance as the Longhorns knocked off Texas Southern, 6-2.

Important Notes

O'Leary stretched her streak of consecutive innings without allowing an earned run to a staggering 42.1 (dating back to the second inning of her collegiate debut against Boston College on Feb. 10) before allowing two earned runs to Texas Southern with two outs in the top of the seventh.
With her victory, O'Leary became the first Texas freshman pitcher to ever start her career at 7-0 and is the first Longhorns hurler since Tiarra Davis in 2016 to begin a season at 7-0.
Redshirt junior center fielder Reagan Hathaway added to her Big 12 Conference lead in doubles by blasting her 12th during the victory over the Lady Tigers.
Texas' offense continued its remarkable doubles production as a team with three more against TSU. UT now has 49 doubles over 24 games, good for a 2.04 doubles-per-game average. The school single-season record is 86 established by the 2012 Longhorns.

Major Players

Sophomore second baseman Janae Jefferson (2-for-3), sophomore designated player Mary Iakopo (2-for-2), junior first baseman Kaitlyn Washington (2-for-3, run, two doubles), junior left fielder Tuesday DerMargosian (1-for-2, run), sophomore catcher Lauren Burke and freshman shortstop McKenzie Parker all registered single RBIs in the triumph. Hathaway added a 2-for-3 effort with her 12th double of the season, a walk and a run scored.

In the Circle

O'Leary improved to 7-0 overall after allowing two earned runs on four hits with a walk and six strikeouts over a complete 7.0 innings of work.

The Details

A leadoff single from Hathaway got the Longhorns off-and-running starting their first at-bat as the Lenexa, Kan., native was soon advanced into scoring position on a Jefferson sac bunt. With two down, Iakopo stepped into the box and drove a RBI single deep to right, plating Hathaway easily for a 1-0 advantage.

Texas Southern attempted to answer right back in the top of the second, putting two aboard via single with two down. O'Leary responded to the threat by catching TSU second baseman Sierra Cothern looking at called strike three to leave the pair stranded.

The Longhorns got right back to work in the bottom of the second, adding two to nab a 3-0 lead. Washington kicked the outburst off with a double to left, moving to third on a Miranda Elish fly ball that was dropped in left. Parker followed with a RBI groundout and DerMargosian bounced a RBI single up the middle as UT plated two. Hathaway later added her Big 12 Conference-leading 12th double of the season, but was left stranded on a groundout.

With O'Leary rolling along in the circle, Texas added a run in the Texas Southern on a Burke RBI groundout, and another in the fifth, as a Washington pop-up to left was lost in the sun by TSU for a RBI double to make it 5-0.

Walks to Parker and Hathaway, a fielder's choice, a Hathaway steal and a Jefferson RBI base knock to left extended UT's advantage in the bottom of the sixth to 6-0.

Texas Southern finally managed to string something together against O'Leary in the top of the seventh. A leadoff walk to first baseman Danielle Sonnier, a one-out Aubri Ford base knock and a UT throwing error on a TSU steal attempt combined to score one and trim the deficit to 6-1. Cothern soon added a two-out RBI base knock up the middle to help Texas Southern claw back within 6-2. That was as close as the Lady Tigers could get, however, as O'Leary struck out her sixth batter to end things.