The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
33-6, 0
Baylor
22-15, 0
No. 2/1 Softball earns 12th road win with dominating performance
04.12.2024 | Softball
A nine-run top of the sixth inning blows open Texas’ series-opening contest against Baylor
WACO, Texas – With Baylor's offense attempting to rally from a four-run deficit, The University of Texas responded with a nine-run, six-hit, six-walk top of the sixth to go on to close the door on the Bears, 14-1, and earn the Longhorns' largest margin of victory in the series' history.
Just moments after Baylor scored its lone run in the game on a two-out, bases-loaded walk by Shaylon Govan that brought the game-tying run to the plate in the bottom of the fifth, the Bears opted to insert a new relief pitcher into the circle at the beginning of the top of the sixth. And the first four Longhorn batters greeted Kaci West by reaching base and extending Texas' lead back to five runs.
Singles off the bat of Ashton Maloney and Viviana Martinez sandwiched the inning's first out — a fly out off the bat of Mia Scott — but did lay the foundation for a two-run single from Reese Atwood that really got the ball rolling on the inning. Following a ground out by Katie Stewart, Joley Mitchell, who had two RBI earlier in the week against Texas State, added to her season total with a two-out, infield single to score Adayah Wallace and Viviana Martinez.
Back-to-back two-out walks to Katie Cimusz and Alyssa Washington re-loaded the bases and proceeded three consecutive two-out, bases-loaded walks to Bella Dayton, Leighann Goode and Victoria Hunter. The inning finally came to an end when Ryan Brown — Texas' 15th batter in the inning — popped up a 2-2 pitch to Baylor's Sydney Collazos at second base, but not before the Longhorns turned a 5-1 lead into a 14-1 advantage on the scoreboard.
FROM HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE
"I think Ashton Maloney's single up the middle on the first pitch of the game really set the tone for us tonight and then Mia (Scott) with a two-run home run. It was good to see us get off to a good start tonight, because (Baylor's starting pitcher RyLee Crandall) shut us down pretty good last season, so it was great to get that cushion there in the first inning. And then Teagan (Kavan) came out and pretty much controlled the game up until the bottom of the fifth, but I was really proud of everyone tonight."
FROM FRESHMAN PITCHER TEAGAN KAVAN
"Yeah, we definitely talked about what happened in the past (with regards to the series history) and just respecting what (Baylor) can do as a team and not taking anyone lightly. So, I just wanted to go out there and attack the strike zone and play our game and just take care of business."
GAME NOTES
- Friday night's result marked the third run-rule victory for Texas in a conference game this season and first since beating BYU, 10-0, in five innings during the second game of a doubleheader against the Cougars on Friday, March 15.
- With her three-hit performance against Baylor pitching, Texas redshirt-sophomore Ashton Maloney was credited with just her second career three-game game and the first since March 8, 2023, when Texas beat UTA in Arlington.
- Mia Scott concluded Friday night's game just a triple away from completing the cycle after the junior recorded a first-inning home run, a third-inning single and a fourth-inning double.
- She had an opportunity for the cycle when she stepped to the plate and runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the sixth but fly out to left field on the first pitch of the at bat.
- By being credited with 16 hits on the night, the Texas offense finished Friday night's game with the most hits (16) against a Big 12 opponent under sixth-year head coach Mike White.
- The 16 hits were the most by a Texas offense against a Big 12 foe since being credited with 17 at Texas Tech in an 11-3 victory on April 15, 2017.
- Prior to Friday night's 13-run margin of victory, the previous largest margin of victory over Baylor for Texas was 11 when the Longhorns knocked off the Bears, 11-0, in five innings on April 25, 1998, which was the first-ever meeting between the two softball programs.
- As a result of Reese Atwood's sixth-inning, two-run single, the sophomore catcher now has 55 runs batted in (RBI) on the season, which is tied with Shannon Rhodes' 2021 total (55) for fifth on the program's single-season RBI list.
UP NEXT
- Texas (33-6, 12-4) will look to maintain its position near the top of the Big 12 Conference standings on Saturday, April 13, when the Longhorns look to take the season series against Baylor (22-15, 5-11) when the two programs meet at 1:30 p.m. at Red & Charline McCombs Field with the game set to be broadcast to a nation-wide audience on ESPN2.
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.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Kavan, Teagan (12-2)
L: RyLee Crandall (11-6)
Batting:
2B: Scott, Mia 1 ; Martinez, Viviana 1
HR: Scott, Mia 1
RBI: Maloney, Ashton 1 ; Goode, Leighann 1 ; Scott, Mia 3 ; Hunter, Victoria 1 ; Atwood, Reese 2 ; Stewart, Katie 1 ; Mitchell, Joley 2 ; Dayton, Bella 2
SH: Dayton, Bella 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Maloney, Ashton 2 ; Scott, Mia 2 ; Martinez, Viviana 1 ; Wallace, Adayah 1 ; Mitchell, Joley 1 ; Henry, Kayden 3 ; Washington, Alyssa 3 ; Dayton, Bella 1
SB: Henry, Kayden 1 ; Washington, Alyssa 1
Batting:
3B: Emily Hott 1
RBI: Shaylon Govan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kaci West 1
