No. 1/1 Softball maintains course with Friday victory

Friday, April 19

Lawrence, KS

5 PM CT

University of Texas

36-6, 15-4

Kansas

27-15-1, 11-8

Texas

Kansas

No. 1/1 Softball maintains course with Friday victory

04.19.2024 | Softball

Box Score

Texas earns 13th true road win on the season

By: Chris Allen Brown

LAWRENCE, Kan. – With its sights set on big postseason aspirations, The University of Texas softball program picked up its 36th win on the season and 15th in Big 12 Conference play with a 4-2 victory over the Kansas Jayhawks on Friday evening. The win was the Longhorns' seventh in a row and eighth in their last 10 contests.

After Teagan Kavan (13-2) and Kansas' Lizzy Ludwig (0-1) traded scoreless first innings, the top-ranked Longhorns used small ball in the top of the second to take a two-run lead over the homestanding Jayhawks. Alyssa Washington and Joley Mitchell opened the frame by drawing back-to-back five-pitch walks, before Katie Stewart's single to right field scored Washington from second and advanced Mitchell to third. Following a Stewart stolen base and a Kayden Henry strikeout, Mitchell was able to touch home plate as the first-year Longhorn scored on a Bella Dayton ground out, before Ashton Maloney capped the frame with a grounder to Ludwig.

Kavan went on to toss three more scoreless innings and surrendering three hits — all singles — heading into the game's fifth inning, where Mia Scott extended the Texas lead with a one-out two-run home run that also scored Ashton Maloney who reached on a fielder's choice. The Longhorns looked in position to add on two more insurance runs late in the inning with Adayah Wallace and Alyssa Washington in scoring position with two outs, but a strikeout halted those aspirations.

Kansas answered back in its half of the inning courtesy of a two-out, two-run home run off the bat of Olivia Bruno to cut the Texas lead in half. Kavan responded by inducing a fly out for the inning's third out just four pitches later. Morgan (S, 2) took that momentum and went on to retire six of the next seven batters over the game's final two innings with the lone base runner coming via a one-out infield single in the bottom of the seventh.

FROM HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE

"Obviously, (Kansas) threw a different pitcher at us than we were expecting and that took a little bit of getting used to, but we scored two runs there in the second inning. Viviana Martinez had a solid day. Mia Scott, of course, with that big two-run home run, which ended up being the difference maker. I thought Mac Morgan came in and pitched very well in that situation. She got the ground balls we needed. And the defensive played solid. We just have to come out with a little bit more energy tomorrow. I think we were a little flat today."

FROM FRESHMAN KATIE STEWART

"I think we expected to come out with a little more energy and to pick up some more runs towards the end of the game, but we were told from the beginning that (Kansas) was going to be scrappy. So, I'm proud of this team for sticking with it and not letting up after they scored two (runs) in the (bottom of the) fifth."

GAME NOTES

With the win, Texas has now earned 13 victories in true road games this season, tied for the second most in the program's single season history behind 2022's 16.
- The 2015 Texas Longhorn softball program also won 13 true road games throughout the 2015 season.
Texas' 15 conference wins so far this season are the most victories in Big 12 play since the Longhorns won 16 during the 2012 season.
- UT's single-season program record for most conference wins is 17, which were earned during the 2002 campaign.
The Texas pitching duo of Teagan Kavan and Mac Morgan combined to hold Kansas to a .077 batting average (1-13) with runners on base.
- Additionally, Kavan and Morgan did not allow a Kansas batter to record a hit in seven at bats with a Jayhawk in scoring position.
With Morgan's two-inning save to seal Friday's outcome, the quintet of Texas pitchers has combined for seven saves on the season, which is tied with the 1998 Longhorn team for the fourth most saves in a single season.
- The 2019 program, the first Longhorn team under current head coach Mike White, holds the program's single-season record for saves with nine.
By earning the win in the pitching circle on Friday night, Teagan Kavan not only picked up her team-leading 13th win on the season, but the freshman right-handed pitcher also tied Estelle Czech's 2022 winning percentage (.867) for the fourth-highest percentage by a pitcher with a minimum of 10 decisions in a single season.
Texas now moves to 29-0 on the season when scoring first after taking a two-run lead in the top of the second and never surrendering it.

UP NEXT

Texas (36-6, 15-4) will look for its third consecutive Big 12 series win when the Longhorns and Jayhawks (27-15-1, 11-8) meet, again, at Arrocha Ballpark at 2 p.m. CT on Saturday, April 20.

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