No. 2/1 Softball’s Atwood continues to climb program’s single-season leaderboards

Sunday, April 14

Austin, TX

1 PM CT

University of Texas

35-6, 0

Baylor

22-17, 0

Baylor

Texas

No. 2/1 Softball’s Atwood continues to climb program’s single-season leaderboards

04.14.2024 | Softball

Box Score

Reese Atwood has second consecutive 3-for-4 outing as Texas sweeps Baylor

By: Chris Allen Brown

AUSTIN, Texas – Big time student-athletes make big time plays in critical moments and every moment Reese Atwood was at the plate during Texas' 9-5 win over Baylor on Sunday felt like it was big time.

The first moment came during the bottom of the first when Atwood doubled a 3-2 pitch off the 10-foot, left-center field wall — 212 feet from home plate — to score Ashton Maloney and Mia Scott from third and second, respectively, and give Texas a quick 2-0 out of the gates. An inning after Baylor took a 3-2 lead courtesy of three two-out runs, Atwood capped a four-run bottom of the second by scoring Scott, again, on a two-out single to left field. The play gave the Longhorns a three-run lead at 6-3 as Mac Morgan (9-1) took the pitching circle to begin the top of the third.

Two innings later, Atwood, again, plated a run as this time she hit a 2-0 pitch 241 feet for a two-out solo home run and extend the Texas lead to five runs at 8-3. It was Atwood's 13th home run on the season, tying the sophomore with Lexy Bennett (2012), Amy Hooks (2011) and Courtney Craig (2010) for 10th on the program's single-season home run list. She will travel to Lawrence next week just five home runs back of tying Taylor Hoagland's single-season record of 18 home runs set throughout the 2012 season.

As Atwood continues her climb up that leaderboard, she'll also have an opportunity to break another program single-season record as after finishing Sunday's game with four RBI — the first 4-RBI game for her since Wednesday, March 20 at Florida State — she now has 61 RBI throughout the season, just five back of tying Lindsey Stephens (2014) and Taylor Thom's (2013) single-season record of 66.

FROM HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE

"Reese Atwood was the big difference today with four RBI and a home run. The top part of the order is doing a good job right now of setting the tone for those behind them by getting on base. I thought Mac did a great job out there today. Obviously, it wasn't Citlaly's (Gutierrez) week, but everyone goes through patches where they aren't perfect and it's all about what you learn from it. We're going to have a solid two days off this week to regroup and rest before heading up to Kansas next weekend."

GAME NOTES

Texas' redshirt sophomore Ashton Maloney finished Sunday afternoon's game with four hits in four trips to the plate, marking the first time in her two-year Longhorn career that the Missouri native was credited with four hits in a single contest.
As a result of Sunday's run total, the Texas offense has now outscored its opponents, 307 to 86, in 1,078 official plate appearances throughout 41 games.
With her one-out save on the afternoon, Texas freshman right-handed pitcher Teagan Kavan was credited with her third save on the season, marking the second consecutive season a Longhorn softball student-athlete has been credited with three saves in a season after Citlaly Gutierrez had three in 2023.
Courtesy of Sunday's outcome, Texas swept a three-game regular season conference series against Baylor for the first time since the 2021 season, when the Longhorns outscored the Bears 19-0 in 20 innings played.

UP NEXT

Following a week that included not only four ranked wins but also four more Quad 1 wins, Texas (35-6, 14-4) will now return to its roadways when the Longhorns, which will likely become a unanimous No. 1 in all four of Division I softball's Top 25 polls this week, travel to Lawrence, Kansas for a three-game Big 12 series against Kansas (26-14-1, 11-7) that will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 19 at Arrocha Ballpark.

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