No. 2/1 Softball wins back-and-forth affair, takes weekend series

Saturday, April 13

Austin, TX

1:30 PM CT

University of Texas

34-6, 0

Baylor

22-16, 0

Baylor

Texas

No. 2/1 Softball wins back-and-forth affair, takes weekend series

04.13.2024 | Softball

Box Score

Texas moves to 10-0 on the season when scoring between 6 and 9 runs in a game

By: Chris Allen Brown

AUSTIN, Texas – With Baylor having aspirations of joining the countless softball programs around the country to upset a top-25 team this weekend, The University of Texas softball program showed its resiliency throughout its seven-inning 9-6 victory over Baylor to clinch the three-game Big 12 Conference series.

Less than 18 hours after the conclusion of Friday night's game, the Baylor offense came out and scored three first inning runs and four hits and a Texas fielding error against Longhorn starting pitcher Citlaly Gutierrez. But UT responded with its own three-run half of the first that was highlighted by run-scoring singles by Reese Atwood and Alyssa Washington.

Two innings later, Kayden Henry started a string of seven consecutive half innings with at least one run scored by both teams throughout the remained of the contest. Henry, a freshman, pushed Texas ahead, 4-3, with a two-out single back up the middle to score Atwood from second.

Baylor tied the game, 4-4, the following inning on a sacrifice fly, but Texas answered right back with a two-run bottom of the fifth to take a 6-4 lead. Despite the Bears plating single runs in the fifth and sixth innings, the Longhorn offense never took their foot off the gas pedal by scoring two in the fifth and one in the sixth to seal the program's 34th on the season.

FROM HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE

"It was a difficult game coming out and being down 3-0 in the bottom of the first, but it could've been worse to be honest. (Baylor) really came out and hit the ball really well and didn't let Citlaly (Gutierrez) settled in. But our response was tremendous by coming out and scoring three runs straight away and basically making it a 0-0 game, again. Then we were able to score in every single inning except the second and just found a way to keep the press on them all afternoon."

FROM SENIOR SECOND BASE ALYSSA WASHINGTON

"The home run … it was just adjusting pitch by pitch. I've been working on having a different approach at the plate and kind of resetting because in the past few games, I haven't been myself. In that home run, I was just looking for my pitch and, in the back of my mind, I knew she throws a change-up and to be aware of that, so I worked on my timing. Then she threw the change-up and that was the pitch I wanted."

GAME NOTES

For the second consecutive game, Texas' sophomore catcher Reese Atwood turned in a 2-RBI outing to push her season total to 57, tying Lexy Bennett's 2012 total for fourth on the program's single-season RBI list.
- For the season, Atwood now has a team-leading 17 multi-RBI games, nine more than the next closest Longhorn softball student-athlete.
As a result of her 3-for-4 outing at the plate against the Bears on Saturday, Texas sophomore shortstop Viviana Martinez is now batting .714 (10-for-14) with a .765 on-base percentage and a 1.000 slugging percentage over her last five games.
By holding the Baylor offense from tying the game over the final two innings, Mac Morgan earned her first save of the season and becomes the fourth different Longhorn softball student-athlete to be credited with a save this season.
Texas senior left-handed pitcher Estelle Czech earned her seventh win on the season, third in her last three appearances in the pitching circle and third in Texas' last four games.
With Saturday afternoon's outcome, Texas is now 34-0 when scoring more runs in a game than its opponents.

UP NEXT

Texas (34-6, 13-4) will look for its sixth consecutive win on Sunday, April 14, when the Longhorns return to Red & Charline McCombs Field for the finale of the weekend's three-game Big 12 series against Baylor (22-16, 5-12) with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. on the Longhorn Network.

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