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No. 10/7 Softball preview: 2023 Phillips 66 Big 12 Softball Championship
05.10.2023 | Softball
Texas returns to Oklahoma City for the second time this season with sights set on its first conference championship since 2005
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – For the first time since the 2013 season, the No. 10/7 Texas Longhorns will enter the 2023 Phillips 66 Big 12 Softball Championship as the outright number two seed when the program takes the field at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium on Thursday, May 11.
Texas (40-12-1, 11-7) will open play against the seventh-seeded Texas Tech Red Raiders (31-21, 5-13) on Thursday with first pitch now scheduled for 12:30 PM CT after the Big 12 Conference announced Wednesday afternoon time changes for all three of Thursday's games due to forecasted inclement weather in Oklahoma City.
Earlier this season, Texas swept a three-game series (3-2, 4-3 and 8-3) against Texas Tech in Austin that featured the Longhorns rallying to score two runs in the bottom of the seventh of the first game. Saturday's game saw the Longhorns score two runs in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings to respond to a three-run top of the first by the Red Raiders. Sunday's action featured Texas getting out to a five-run lead after four innings.
Thursday afternoon's action between the two softball programs is set to be broadcasted on ESPN+ with Eric Frede (play by play) and Madison Shipman (analyst). Andrew Haynes will bring the game to the Austin airwaves on 105.3 FM.
LEADING OFF
- Texas will enter this season's postseason conference tournament with five (Reese Atwood, Leighann Goode, Citlaly Gutierrez, Ashton Maloney and Viviana Martinez) All-Big 12 Freshman selections, the most by any program in a single season since the inception of the team in 2015.
- Texas and Texas Tech met in the first round of last season's postseason conference tournament with the Longhorns winning, 9-1, in five innings.
- In last season's matchup, Hailey Dolcini, who is now a graduate assistant on the Longhorns' coaching staff, tossed four innings of one-run softball before giving way to Sophia Simpson, who threw the fifth frame.
- Offensively, Katie Cimusz busted the game open with a three-run home run during a seven-run, five-hit, two-error bottom of the third.
- Texas will enter Thursday's game as the only team in the conference with two of the top three ranked student-athletes in the league in total hits: Mia Scott (68) and Leighann Goode (63).
- Only Oklahoma State's Rachel Becker has more hits (71) than Scott.
- When Texas takes the field for Thursday's game, it will mark the Longhorns' 20th all-time appearance in the Big 12 Conference Championship.
- In those 20 appearances, Texas will have played Texas Tech nine times, including five times over the last six seasons, in the tournament.
- Texas has a 6-2 all-time record against the Red Raiders during the conference's postseason tournament.
- Viviana Martinez, who has already set a new Texas freshman single-season RBI mark, will enter the conference tournament needing just three RBI to become the first freshman in program history to drive in 50-or-more runs in a single season.
- If Martinez drives in three RBI during Texas' stay in Oklahoma City, the freshman will tie Loryn Johnson (2009) for sixth on the program's single-season RBI list.
- Mia Scott will travel up I-35 to Oklahoma City on the verge of joining several UT single-season lists:
- Needs three hits to tie Taylor Thom (2013, 71) for 10th on the program's single season hit list.
- Needs four runs to tie Shannon Rhodes (2021, 53) and Lexy Bennett (2012, 53) for ninth on the program's single season runs scored list.
- Needs six stolen bases to tie Taylor Thom (2014, 24), Nikki Cockrell (1997, 24) and Taylor Hoagland (2011, 24) for 10th on the program's single season stolen base list.
- Reese Atwood needs only one home run to tie Tallie Thrasher (2007, 12) for the program's single-season freshman record.
- Two more home runs for Atwood would tie the freshman with Lexy Bennett (2012, 13), Amy Hooks (2011, 13) and Courtney Craig (2010, 13) for 10th on the program's single-season home run list.
- The 22 home runs by a trio of Texas freshman — Reese Atwood (11), Leighann Goode (7), Viviana Martinez (4) — are the most by any set of first-year softball student-athletes in program history.
- The 2023 set of first-year student-athletes are the only set to have hit 20-or-more home runs in a single season as the next most was 15 during the 2009 season.
- Of the seven sets of first-year Texas softball student-athletes to combine to hit 10-or-more home runs during a single season, three have occurred under fifth-year head coach Mike White: 2023 (22), 2021 (14), 2022 (13).
- The 2020 set had hit six before the season was halted after only 27 regular season games.
FOLLOW US
- For the latest information on the team, follow @TexasSoftball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at @TexasLonghorns on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
