No. 4/5 Softball falls to Sooners in series opener

Friday, April 5

Austin, TX

5:30 PM CT

University of Texas

29-6, 0

Oklahoma

35-1, 0

Oklahoma

Texas

No. 4/5 Softball falls to Sooners in series opener

04.05.2024 | Softball

Box Score

Texas scored two in the seventh, but rally halted on ricochet play to end the game

By: Chris Allen Brown

AUSTIN, Texas – In one of the most anticipated weekends of softball this season, it was the top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners who drew first blood to start this weekend's three-game Big 12 Conference series as Texas' seventh-inning rally came up short as the Longhorns fell, 5-2, on Friday night.

In a game that featured two of the best pitchers in the Big 12 in Oklahoma's Kelly Maxwell (11-0) and Texas' Mac Morgan (8-1), neither team's offense found the right combination to unlock the run column until the top of the third inning when Jayda Coleman sent an 0-1 pitch into left field for a one-out single to score Maya Bland, who pinch ran for Cydney Sanders following a five-pitch walk to begin the frame, rom third. As a result of the play, Rylie Boone went from first to third and was in prime position to score on an Alyssa Brito sacrifice fly to give Oklahoma a two-run advantage on the scoreboard.

The Sooners went on to add three more runs to their total when Coleman connected on a 2-2 pitch for a three-run home run just four batters into the top of the fifth.

Through the game's first six innings, the Texas offense only had two base runners: Viviana Martinez in the bottom of the second after drawing a two-out walk and Ashton Maloney in the bottom of the fifth with a two-out single.

And then the bottom of the seventh began.

Joley Mitchell sent the second pitch of the inning back up the middle for a single. She advanced to second on a wild pitch before scoring on a double down the left-field line off the bat of Reese Atwood. Adayah Wallace entered as a pinch runner for Atwood. She advanced to third two batters later on a Martinez fielder's choice that erased Leighann Goode, who drew a five-pitch walk following Atwood's at bat, at second.

After earning the Longhorns' first hit of the game during her previous plate appearance, Maloney returned to the dish in the seventh and added to Texas' run total by scoring Wallace from third with a sacrifice fly. Victoria Hunter kept the momentum in the home team's dugout by earning a five-pitch walk and advancing Martinez to second.

Representing the game-tying run, Katie Stewart, who entered the game as a pinch hitter for Bella Dayton, walked to the plate. After an alternating ball-strike-ball-foul-ball sequence during her at bat, the freshman sent the sixth pitch of her at bat towards Brito at the hot corner with such a high exit velocity, the ball ricocheted off Brito's glove and found its way to Tiare Jennings at shortstop. The senior picked up the loose softball and fire across the diamond to Sanders at first to beat a sliding Stewart to the base and ending the game.

FROM HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE

"Obviously, there was a nice crowd out there tonight. It was a good day to play softball with two good teams going at it. We got behind early and (Oklahoma's Kelly) Maxwell was pitching very, very well but I was proud of how we fought back at the end and made them sweat a little bit, I think, with those opportunities. But we made a couple of mistakes early on with pitching and they capitalized like good teams do. I'm looking forward to a really good series continuing on into Saturday and Sunday. They're an excellent team. They're very tough and they always bring it, so we need to be prepared to get it going right from get go and not wait like we did tonight. We need to be more aggressive early on."

GAME NOTES

With her two-out single to left field in the bottom of the fifth inning, Ashton Maloney extended her active hitting and on-base streak to nine consecutive games, which is the longest active streak by any Texas softball student-athlete by seven games.
Dating back to her 3.1 innings of relief work in Baton Rouge against LSU on Tuesday, March 12, Estelle Czech has retired 30 of her last 37 batters faced, including an active streak of her last 14 consecutive batters, over her last 9.0 innings in the pitching circle.
As a result of her run-scoring double down the left-field line in the bottom of the seventh, Reese Atwood has now driven in 53 runs on the season, which moves the sophomore catcher ahead of Viviana Martinez' 2023 season RBI total (52) and into sole possession of sixth place on the program's single-season RBI list.
- Atwood will enter Saturday's game against Oklahoma two RBIs from tying Shannon Rhodes' 2021 total (55) for fifth place.
Ashton Maloney's seventh inning sacrifice fly was the fourth of her two-year Longhorn career and first second being credited with one in the bottom of the first of Texas' 17-0 win over Tarleton State on March 1, 2024.

UP NEXT

Texas (29-6, 9-4) will look to bounce back into the win column on Saturday, April 6, when the Longhorns square off against the top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners (35-1, 13-0) at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN.

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