No. 1/1 Softball wins Austin Super Regional, clinches berth in WCWS

Sunday, May 26

Austin, TX

6:30 PM

University of Texas

52-8

Texas A&M

44-15

Texas A&M

Texas

No. 1/1 Softball wins Austin Super Regional, clinches berth in WCWS

05.27.2024 | Softball

Box Score

The Longhorns advance to the Women’s College World Series for the seventh time and first since 2023.

By: Chris Allen Brown

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AUSTIN, Texas – While it may have been the Texas A&M Aggies who touched home plate first during Sunday evening's game, but it was the Texas Longhorns who were holding the NCAA Super Regional championship trophy following their 6-5 win at Red & Charline McCombs Field.

Looking to rally from a 1-0 deficit as the game moved to the bottom of the third, Bella Dayton sent a 1-0 pitch to right field for a one-out double. She advanced to third when Aggie second baseman Rylen Wiggins couldn't cleanly field a grounder off the bat of Ashton Maloney. Minutes later, Dayton found herself sliding across home plate after Texas A&M starting pitcher Shaylee Ackerman (8-2) threw a wild pitch that made its way to the backstop. Maloney, who worked her way to third as a result of Mia Scott's at bat, pushed the Longhorns ahead, 2-1, on a Viviana Martinez two-out double to the left-center field gap.

Texas lead grew to 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth courtesy of a Scott solo home run. But Texas A&M immediately cut it back to a one-run game after plating a single run in the top of the sixth, an inning that featured the Aggies loading the bases with one out before Teagan Kavan (S, 4) entered the pitching circle in relief for Mac Morgan (15-1) and recorded back-to-back swinging strikeouts to end the frame.

The Longhorns capitalized on the momentum with a three-hit, three-run bottom of the sixth that also featured two Aggie errors. The frame featured Leighann Goode scoring from third on a Koko Wooley throwing error, Scott driving in Maloney with a single and then Martinez bringing home Scott on a triple.

Texas entered the top of the seventh with a 6-2 lead and needing just three outs with Kavan still in the circle to advance to the 2024 Women's College World Series. But Texas A&M didn't go down without a fight as the Aggies scored three runs on a one-out, three-run home run by Julia Cottrill before earning back-to-back two-out walks.

With the game-tying and go-ahead runs on base, Kavan did what she's done to 120 batters on the season now and struck out pinch hitter Amari Harper for the game's final out.

FROM HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE

"Yeah, obviously there is never a dull moment at a Texas softball game, but that was pretty exciting stuff. Congratulations to Texas A&M. As I said last night, definitely — in my mind — not a 16 seed. It was a very tough draw. We knew we had a tough go at it ahead of us and it lived up to the bill. I believe we set a record for most combined runs in a Super Regional, so it was two offensive units really going at it. It was tremendous. I'd also like to shout out the military with Memorial Day coming up and thank them for their service and we're blessed to live in America, that's for sure.

GAME NOTES

Texas is now move to 46-0 this season when leading their opponent after the fourth inning.
- The Longhorns took a 2-1 lead over the Aggies into the game's fifth inning on Sunday night.
Reese Atwood tied a program record on Sunday night as the sophomore catcher became the first Longhorn softball student-athlete to be hit by three different pitches in the same game since Jodi Reeves against St. Mary's on March 1, 1997.
- As a result of the three hit by pitches, Reese Atwood is now one hit by pitch shy of tying the program's single-season mark (11) set by Kelli Hanzel throughout the 2015 season.
With her pair of doubles against the Aggies on Sunday, Viviana Martinez now has 18 doubles on the season, which is the fourth most in the program's single-season history.
With both teams scoring a combined 11 runs throughout the game, the 2024 NCAA Austin Super Regional became the highest scoring Super Regional in NCAA history.
As a result of Mia Scott's fifth-inning solo home run, the 2024 Texas Longhorn offense has now connected for a program-best 89 home runs this season, surpassing the previous single-season high (88) set in 2010.
2,214 softball fans packed around the dimensions of Red & Charline McCombs Field to watch Sunday night's contest, setting the stadium's single-game attendance record by surpassing the previous mark of 2,084 set in the Longhorns' 2-1 victory against then-No. 1 Oklahoma on Saturday, April 6, 2024.

UP NEXT

Texas (52-8) advances into the eight-team 2024 Women's College World Series, where the Longhorns will open play in bracket one against the eighth-seeded Stanford Cardinal (48-15) at 6 p.m. CT on Thursday, May 30.
- The two teams met twice during the regular season with Texas knocking off Stanford, 9-2, in Clearwater, Fla., on Friday, Feb. 16, before the Cardinal earned a 4-3 win in eight innings in Austin, Texas on Saturday, Feb. 24.

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