No. 2/2 Softball cages Nittany Lions, sets focus on Mavericks

Monday, March 4

Austin, TX

5 PM CT

University of Texas

18-1

Penn State

15-2

Penn State

Texas

No. 2/2 Softball cages Nittany Lions, sets focus on Mavericks

03.04.2024 | Softball

Box Score

With a potential opportunity to be ranked No. 1 on Tuesday, Texas earns seventh Quad I win on Monday

By: Chris Allen Brown

AUSTIN, Texas – With countless eyeballs around the nation focused on the Forty Acres Monday night, freshman Katie Stewart's 289-foot solo home run in the bottom of the fifth of No. 2 Texas' 7-1 over Penn State changed the narrative from what could happen on Tuesday to what the Longhorns are capable of throughout the rest of the 2024 season.

With a housing project beyond the left field fence at Red & Charline McCombs Field near completion, Stewart became the first softball student-athlete to hit the complex — on the fly, without a bounce — with a home run ball during the 2024 regular season. According to Stewart, fellow Longhorn freshman student-athlete Ryan Brown has hit the complex, too, but in a non-game scenario.

Stewart's home run, which came off the bat with an exit velocity of 81 miles per hour, sparked a two-run bottom of the fifth that Alyssa Washington, who pushed Texas ahead with a two-run double down the left-field line in the bottom of the fourth, capped with her second run-scoring double of the game.

Between Stewart's home run and Mia Scott's two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth, the Longhorn duo accounted for 538 feet worth of home runs against the Nittany Lions.

289' for 2⃣0⃣🤘#HookEm | @KatieStew2242 https://t.co/Ikrk2CctGk pic.twitter.com/DfH1jZ3wHg
— Texas Softball (@TexasSoftball) March 5, 2024

FROM HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE

"I think we had some adversity there in the first inning after allowing that home run and Penn State was fired up as they came into our house looking to upset us. We were a little baffled there in the first few innings, but we stuck to our plan and made the adjustments the second time through and that's what really did it for us tonight."

FROM FRESHMAN KATIE STEWART

"(Penn State pitcher Paige Maynard) was mixing in and out and I felt I was on time, and I wasn't too worried about the off-speed (pitches), so when she brought it inside, I kind of just turned on it and knew I had hit it solid, I hit it hard."

GAME NOTES

With Penn State's one-out, solo home run in the top of the first, it snapped a streak of 25.1 consecutive scoreless innings by Texas freshman pitcher Teagan Kavan.
- Prior to the home run, Kavan last allowed a run on a two-run home run with two outs in the top of the second in Texas' 9-2 win over then-No. 9 Stanford on Friday, Feb. 16 in Clearwater, Fla.
  - The run allowed on Monday afternoon was the first career run allowed by Kavan in a pitching appearance inside Texas' home stadium of Red & Charline McCombs Field.
    - Kavan, in six appearances at home, has allowed just one run throughout 22.2 innings pitched, while holding opponents to a .104 batting average.
After Alyssa Washington pushed Texas ahead, 2-1, in the bottom of the fourth, Victoria Hunter extended the lead to 3-1 when she entered the game as a pinch hitter later in the inning and drove in Washington from third on a single to left field.

UP NEXT

Texas (18-1) will play one more non-conference game — at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 6 against UTA at Red & Charline McCombs Field — before traveling over to the Space City to open the Big 12 portion of its 2024 schedule at Houston.
- The conference series between the Longhorns and Cougars begins at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 8, before playing a pair of 12 p.m. contests on Saturday, March 9 and Sunday, March 10.
Between a combination of No. 1 Oklahoma's loss to Louisiana and Texas' five wins over the last week, the Longhorns are in position to potentially move up to the No. 1 spot in both the NFCA Coaches/ USA Today and USA Softball/ESPN.com Top 25 polls for the first time since April 5, 2006.
- Both polls will be released the morning of Tuesday, March 5.

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.