No. 9/12 Softball battles past Texas State, 5-4

Wednesday, April 21

Austin, Texas

6 p.m. CT

University of Texas

32-6

Texas State

27-9

Texas State

Texas

04.21.2021 | Softball

Box Score

Jordyn Whitaker, JJ Smith and Mary Iakopo all blasted solo HR’s during the victory

AUSTIN, Texas – On Wednesday night at Red & Charline McCombs Field, solo HR's from freshman right fielder Jordyn Whitaker, freshman catcher JJ Smith and junior designated player Mary Iakopo helped No. 9/12 Texas softball (32-6) climb back into the win column as the Longhorns fought off a late Texas State (27-9) rally to prevail, 5-4.

Important Notes

Whitaker and Smith's back-to-back HR's in the fourth inning marked the third time that the Longhorns have registered consecutive HR's this season. The previous instances came against Mississippi State (Shannon Rhodes & Mary Iakopo) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Janae Jefferson & Shannon Rhodes).
Iakopo's HR was her 12th of the year, keeping her on a pace of a HR every 7.8 AB's this season. Back during the 2012 season, former Longhorns standout Taylor Hoagland established the school single-season record of 18 HR's by hitting a big fly every 9.9 AB's.
With three more HR's on Wednesday, Texas has now recorded multiple HR's in a game on 19 separate occasions in 2021.
Texas is now 19-1 this season, and 45-5 since the start of the 2019 campaign, when scoring in the first inning after plating a pair during the opening frame on Wednesday.
Texas now has 64 HR's after its first 38 games of the season. The single-season record-holding 2010 Longhorns (88 HR's) owned 55 HR's after their initial 38 contests.
The Longhorns improved to 2-0 against Texas State this season and 41-14 in the all-time series, including 26-7 in match-ups at McCombs Field.

Major Players

Junior designated player Mary Iakopo (2-for-3, run, HR, RBI); freshman catcher JJ Smith (2-for-3, run, HR, RBI); freshman right fielder Jordyn Whitaker (1-for-2, run, HR, RBI); sophomore first baseman Colleen Sullivan (1-for-2, walk, double, RBI)

In the Circle

Freshman Courtney Day (3-0) earned the win after allowing four earned runs on 10 hits with seven strikeouts over 6.2 innings of work. Sophomore Shea O'Leary recorded her third save of the season by getting the final out with runners at the corners in the top of the seventh.

The Details

Two Texas State errors helped the Longhorns strike for two runs in the bottom of the first. With senior center fielder Shannon Rhodes aboard on a one-out walk, junior left fielder Lauren Burke bounced a ball right between the legs of TXST first baseman Hailey MacKay to plate the first run of the game. An Iakopo single and another Bobcat fielding miscue loaded the bases with two outs. Sullivan then battled Texas State starter Jessica Mullins for a walk to force home another run to make it 2-0.

In the circle for the Longhorns, Day was strong from the start, allowing just two base runners over her first five innings of work.

The Burnt Orange & White got the long ball going in the bottom of the fourth as Whitaker and Smith blasted back-to-back solo HR's to left center and center, respectively, to double the Longhorns advantage to 4-0.

Iakopo soon made it 5-0 by launching her 12th HR of the season down the line to left with one out in the fifth.

Texas State finally began to chip away at its deficit in the top of the sixth as second baseman Sara Vanderford drove a run-scoring double just over the first-base bag and down the line to cut the gap to 5-1.

Things got dicey for Day and the Horns in the top of the seventh as the Bobcats loaded the bases with two outs on a single through the left side by third baseman Baylee Lemons and consecutive infield hits from right fielder Kylie George and left fielder Hannah Earls. Center fielder Piper Randolph followed with a run-scoring single to left, and shortstop Tara Oltmann soon added a two-RBI single up the middle to make it 5-4.

With the tying run just 60 feet away, the decision was made to summon in O'Leary out of the bullpen. The 6-2 right hander wasted no time earning her third save of the season by inducing a Vanderford groundout to second to complete the Longhorns victory.