No. 9/11 Softball pitching staff allows one run, extends winning streak

Saturday, March 4

Austin, Texas

12 p.m.

University of Texas

15-2-1

McNeese State

13-7

McNeese

Texas

Photo by: Texas Athletics

No. 9/11 Softball pitching staff allows one run, extends winning streak

03.04.2023 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Estelle Czech, Sophia Simpson and Mac Morgan combine to allow one run in 14 innings as Texas beats McNeese, Princeton

By: Chris Allen Brown

AUSTIN, TX – The pitching guru who is Mike White was at it, again, Saturday when the trio of Estelle Czech, Sophia Simpson and Mac Morgan limited McNeese and Princeton's offenses to only six hits and one run as Texas knocked off the Cowgirls, 4-0, and Tigers, 2-1.

Against McNeese (13-7), Czech (5-1) tossed her second seven-inning complete game shutout on the season after the junior left-handed pitcher limited the Cowgirls to just two baserunners — a third inning single and a fourth inning double — on 80 pitches. She struck out three batters and did not issue a walk to any of the 22 batters faced on the afternoon.

In the Longhorns' second game of the afternoon, Sophia Simpson struck out six in 3.1 innings of work before giving way to Mac Morgan (5-0) to go the final 3.2 while not surrendering an extra base hit the rest of the way. It was the third consecutive pitching appearance for Simpson with six-or-more strikeouts.

FROM HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE

"I thought we were a little fatigued today, to be honest. I believe we've played four games in around 24 hours, so today was a pretty tough day. But we hung in there and made the plays we had to. There was good pitching when we needed it, so overall it was a pretty good performance. I'm pleased where we are at right now, but we still have a really tough game tomorrow against a Louisiana."

GAME NOTES

Texas' sophomore third baseman Mia Scott extended her on-base streak to 20 consecutive games Saturday afternoon after drawing a walk and being credited with a triple throughout the day.
- Scott's active on-base streak is the 16th different one in program history to reach 20-or-more consecutive games.
  - She's the first Longhorn to do so since Janae Jefferson successfully reached base in 24 straight games from March 26 to May 21, 2022.
Texas' 4-0 win over McNeese was the fourth shutout by the Longhorns at Red & Charline McCombs Field this season.
- Overall, it was the Longhorns' fifth shutout after blanking Illinois, 7-0, on Sunday, Feb. 12 in Clearwater, Fla.
Baylea Brandon, a first-year Longhorn after transferring from LSU during the offseason, connected of her first home run when she sent a 1-2 pitch 223 feet over the left field fence for a solo home run.
- The hit sparked a two-run, four-hit bottom of the third for the Longhorns.
- Brandon's home run was one of five for Texas through four games of this season's Longhorn Invitational.
  - Katie Cimusz sent a 3-2 pitch 224 feet to centerfield during the bottom of the sixth inning in Texas' win over the Cowgirls.
Texas will enter Sunday afternoon's Longhorn Invitational finale against Louisiana with three student-athletes batting over .500 with at least 10 plate apeearnaces for the round-robin tournament: Viviana Martinez (.583), Ashton Maloney (.545) and Courtney Day (.500).

UP NEXT

Texas (16-2-1) will conclude the Longhorn Invitational on Sunday, March 5, when the Longhorns play RV/No. 24 Louisiana at 12:30 PM CT.
- The two teams previously met on Friday, March 3, when Texas won, 6-2, in seven innings behind a two home run performance from Courtney Day.

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