No. 8/8 Softball wins NCAA Austin Regional

Sunday, May 21

Austin, TX

1 PM

University of Texas

45-13-1

Texas A&M

35-21

Texas

Texas A&M

Photo by: Texas Athletics

05.21.2023 | Softball

Box Score Photo Gallery

The Longhorns advance to the NCAA Super Regionals for school-record third consecutive completed season.

By: Chris Allen Brown

AUSTIN, TX – As gloomy, gray clouds released a light drizzle over Red & Charline McCombs Field when Shaylee Ackerman delivered the first pitch of the Longhorns' 11-5 win over Texas A&M, Texas head coach Mike White wanted to set the tone early.

It took his team two batters to accomplish that.

After Leighann Goode fought back from a 1-2 count to draw a full-count walk, Mia Scott sent a 1-1 pitch into centerfield for a single. After the ball briefly rolled on the moist grass, it hopped over Texas A&M's Allie Enright's glove and went to the deepest part of the park, allowing Goode to score from first and Scott to race around to third.

Ten pitches into Sunday's championship game and the thirteenth-seeded Longhorns already had a one-run lead. Thirteen pitches later, the lead was 3-0 following a two-run double to the right field corner off the bat of Courtney Day.

Following the first of three first-inning pitching changes for the Aggies, Ashton Maloney made it 4-0, Longhorns, by scoring Camille Corona, who pinch ran for Day, from third on a grounder to shortstop. The following inning, Maloney responded to a single run by the Aggies with the first of two second inning runs for the Longhorns.

As Texas was looking to put away Texas A&M in the top of the fifth, Day, again, left her mark on the result with a bases-clearing, one-out double to the left-centerfield gap to balloon the Longhorn lead to 10-2. The Aggies were down to their final out in the bottom of the fifth when a three-run home run extended the game.

Viviana Martinez added a seventh-inning insurance run for Texas when she singled home Bella Dayton from second.

FROM HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE

"First off, what a great performance by our team. Obviously, we knew that (Texas) A&M was going to bring it today. We knew they'd be a tough, tough opponent. They had plenty of pitching to throw at us. Fortunately, we were able to get off to a great start, and then we were able to escape some jams throughout the game with our pitching. We had an opportunity to end the game early, but that was certainly a well-deserved home run: that ball went a long way. But (I'm) really proud of my team and the way they kept fighting today. Obviously, Courtney Day had a day — no pun intended — getting five RBIs and really setting up the tone. I'm glad I moved her up to four. The players can make you look good and bad at times. Today, they made me look good. But again, A&M, they fought hard and it's going to be an interesting series once we move to the SEC in a couple of years."

FROM JUNIOR COURTNEY DAY

"I've been out in and out of the fourth spot pretty much all season, so I felt comfortable. It's just another game. So yeah, I would say I was pretty comfortable going into this game. I thought we had a pretty good gameplan for (Emiley) Kennedy and some of the other pitchers as well. So yeah, I was very comfortable at the plate."

GAME NOTES

Sunday's win marked the first time Texas has gone 3-0 in a NCAA Regional since the 2013 season.
- In 2013, the Longhorns knocked off Army (5-0) and South Carolina (11-2, 6-0) to advance to the NCAA Austin Super Regional.
Texas will enter next weekend's NCAA Super Regional as the 13th seed, marking the lowest seed the Longhorns have been in advancing out of a NCAA Regional in program history.
- Prior to this weekend, Texas traveled to Stillwater, Okla., as the No. 12 seed in 2021.
- Last season, the Longhorns advanced to the NCAA Fayetteville Super Regional as an unseeded team.
With her three walks against the Texas A&M pitching staff, Bella Dayton became the first Longhorn softball student-athlete to draw three walks in a single game in 2023.
- Dayton is the first Texas softball student-athlete to draw three walks in a NCAA Regional game since McKenzie Parker accomplished the feat against St. Francis on May 21, 2021.
- Dayton is just the third student-athlete in program history to draw three walks in a single NCAA Regional game.
Courtney Day's five RBI on the afternoon was one shy of tying Taylor Thom for the most RBI in a NCAA Regional game in the program's history.
- Thom drove in six runs with a 2-for-3 performance in a 6-0 Texas victory over South Carolina on May 19, 2013.
With the win, Mike White has now advanced to NCAA Super Regionals for the fourth time in four completed seasons as the head coach of the Texas softball program.
Additionally, Longhorn head coach Mike White, who is in his 14th year as a collegiate softball head coach, has advanced to NCAA Super Regionals in all 13 possible opportunities.
- The lone exception occurred in 2020, when the season was halted due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

UP NEXT

Texas (45-13-1) will advance to next weekend's NCAA Super Regional, where the Longhorns will play the winner of the Knoxville Regional.
- Dates, times and television designation will be announced at a later time once all of Sunday's regional action has been completed.

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