The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Stanford
No. 1/1 Softball preview: Women’s College World Series
05.29.2024 | Softball
Texas set to open the 2024 Women’s College World Series with third meeting against Stanford in 2024
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – This weekend will mark the seventh all-time appearance for The University of Texas' softball program in the Women's College World Series (WCWS) and the Longhorns will begin its latest stint in Oklahoma City, Okla., against a familiar opponent: Stanford.
The two top-10 programs, which have split two regular-season meetings during the 2024 season, will meet on the softball diamond for the first time since Saturday, Feb. 24, when the Cardinal outlasted the Longhorns, 4-3, in eight innings in Austin. The game less than a week after Texas beat Stanford, 9-2, in Clearwater, Fla., on Friday, Feb. 16.
The third meeting between the Longhorn and Cardinal is slated to take place at 6 p.m. CT on Thursday, May 30 at OGE Field at Devon Park — formally the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex — in Oklahoma City, Okla.
TELEVISION: Kevin Brown (play by play) and Amanda Scarborough (analyst) will serve as the television talent for the Longhorns' tournament-opening game against Stanford that is set to be broadcast on ESPN2.
RADIO: Andrew Haynes can be heard with the Texas radio call at https://texas.leanplayer.com/. Chris Plank and Leah Amico will have the national radio call on Sirius Channel 84, XM Channel 84, the Official NCAA Women's College World Series App, Varsity Network app, the Tune-In app as well as WestwoodOneSports.com/NCAAPlayer.
LEADING OFF
- The 2024 Texas Longhorn softball program features seven student-athletes who were on the 2022 roster when UT advanced to the best-of-three national championship series: Mia Scott, Bella Dayton, Alyssa Washington, Katie Cimusz, Jordyn Whitaker, Estelle Czech and Sophia Simpson.
- Czech is the only active Longhorn student-athlete to be credited with a win in the pitching circle in a WCWS game as the senior left-handed pitcher has a 2-1 record across 17.1 innings tossed in four appearances.
- Scott is the top offensive threat with a .435 (10 hits in 23 plate appearances) in seven all-time WCWS games.
- Entering Thursday night's game against Stanford, eight different Longhorn student-athletes have hit at least one home run throughout Texas' six NCAA Tournament games so far this season.
- The University of Texas softball program has won at least one WCWS game in each of their last five consecutive WCWS appearances.
- Of those five appearances, four included multiple wins with the 2022 setting the program's single-season record for most wins at the WCWS with four.
- Thursday's contest against Stanford will mark the first time in program history that Texas has played the tournament's eighth-seeded team.
- The Longhorns have played WCWS games against seeds 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 12 and one unseeded team.
- Over the last two WCWS-opening games for Texas, a freshman student-athlete has recorded a multi-hit game:
- June 2, 2022: Mia Scott turned in a 4-for-4, 2 RBI performance in Texas' 7-2 win over then-fifth seed UCLA.
- May 30, 2013: Stephanie Ceo went 2-for-3 with a RBI in then-fourth-seeded Texas' 6-3 win over then-fifth seed Arizona State.
- Reese Atwood will enter Thursday's action against Stanford not only two RBI back of tying Tiare Jennings' Big 12 Conference single-season RBI of 92 set throughout the 2021 season, but the sophomore is also tied for 13th on the NCAA's single-season RBI list.
- Jennings is the last Division I softball student-athlete to reach the 90-RBI mark in a single season.
- Only four have ever driven in 100-or-more runs in a single season with Louisiana's Christi Oregeron being the last to accomplish the feat in 2011.
- Jennings is the last Division I softball student-athlete to reach the 90-RBI mark in a single season.
FOLLOW US
- For the latest information on the team, follow @TexasSoftball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at @TexasLonghorns on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
