No. 7/9 Softball opens Big 12 play with a 5-0 shutout of Texas Tech

Thursday, April 1

Austin, Texas

6 p.m. CT

University of Texas

25-3, 1-0

Texas Tech

16-14, 0-4

Texas Tech

Texas

No. 7/9 Softball opens Big 12 play with a 5-0 shutout of Texas Tech

04.01.2021 | Softball

Box Score

Sophomore pitcher Shea O’Leary led the Longhorns by firing a three-hit shutout with seven K’s

AUSTIN, Texas – On Thursday night at Red & Charline McCombs Field, sophomore right hander Shea O'Leary fired a three-hit shutout with seven strikeouts as No. 7/9 Texas softball (25-3, 1-0 Big 12 Conference) opened league play with a 5-0 blanking of Texas Tech (16-14, 0-4 Big 12 Conference).

Important Notes

With the victory, Texas won its third-straight Big 12 opener and improved to 17-7 all-time in Big 12 lid-lifters.
Texas is now 25-3 overall, tying the 2011 Longhorns squad for the third-best 28-game start in program history.
Texas improved to 20-1 at McCombs Field in 2021 and is now 63-9 at home under the guidance of head coach Mike White.
Junior catcher Mary Iakopo's second-inning single extended her career-long hitting streak to 14 games and her career-best streak of reaching base safely to 16 games.
Iakopo picked up her 100th RBI in a Texas uniform on a seventh-inning sacrifice fly.
O'Leary improved to a perfect 6-0 this season and raised her career totals to 26-3 overall with a 1.16 ERA.

Major Players

Junior second baseman Janae Jefferson (2-for-4, two RBIs); Iakopo (1-for-2, run, walk, RBI); sophomore shortstop McKenzie Parker (1-for-2, run, double); junior left fielder Lauren Burke (1-for-2, run, RBI)

In the Circle

O'Leary (6-0) earned the win by firing a complete-game, three-hit shutout with two walks and seven strikeouts.

The Details

Texas Tech missed a golden opportunity to break out to an early first-inning lead as the Red Raiders got a walk and a Karli Hamilton single to put two aboard with one out. O'Leary buckled down from the circle, however, escaping the brewing jam on a pop-up and a strikeout of TTU second baseman Arriana Villa.

It was Texas that scored first for the 18th time this season by putting up four runs in the bottom of the second. With two on after an Iakopo leadoff single and a Parker walk, redshirt junior right fielder Taylor Ellsworth lined a single to center. Tech's Hamilton came up throwing, but her toss to the plate was errant allowing Iakopo the chance to score for a 1-0 advantage. Burke stepped to the dish and somehow bunted a ball up near her eyes past the circle into no man's land for a RBI to make it 2-0. Jefferson doubled the lead to 4-0 three batters by chopping a two-RBI single over Tech's first baseman Zoe Jones.

In the third frame, the Red Raiders got a one-out single to center from left fielder Yvonne Whaley, but it would be their last base runner until the sixth as O'Leary settled into the circle.

Texas had chances to blow the game wide open in the middle innings but left two base runners stranded in the third and the bases loaded in the fourth against TTU starter Missy Zoch.

Texas Tech's biggest threat came in the top of the sixth as a Whaley single and two UT fielding errors loaded the bases full with two outs. O'Leary again escaped trouble as the 6-2 hurler got third baseman Breanna Russell to pop-up harmlessly to second.

Iakopo added some valuable insurance for the Horns in the bottom of the sixth as her sacrifice fly to left plated Rhodes to make it 5-0.

Needing three outs to seal a win, Texas' outfield defense flexed its muscle in the seventh. Kaitlyn Washington made a diving catch on a sinking liner to left center to begin the frame. With one Red Raider one via walk, it was Rhodes' turn as she raced over into left center to make an on-the-run grab of pinch hitter Peyton's Blythe's liner. Whaley stepped in as Tech's last chance but flied out harmlessly to left to seal Texas' 5-0 triumph.