The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
No. 1/1 Softball claims three individual awards, eight earn All-Big 12 status
05.08.2024 | Softball
Thirty-eight percent of Texas’ softball program honored by Big 12 Conference.
IRVING, Texas – In its final season as a member of the Big 12 Conference, The University of Texas softball program will not only depart the league as the 2024 regular season conference champions, but the Longhorns will also take multiple league honors with them as well.
Following a conference schedule that saw top-ranked Texas win a conference-record 23 games against league foes, Reese Atwood, Teagan Kavan and Mike White were selected as the Big 12's Player, Freshman and Coach of the Year, respectively. The Longhorns also tied Oklahoma with five representatives — Atwood, Citlaly Gutierrez, Kavan, Ashton Maloney and Mia Scott — on the All-Big 12 First Team. Kayden Henry, Viviana Martinez and Katie Stewart were all selected to the All-Big 12 Second Team. Henry, Kavan and Stewart were all unanimous All-Big 12 Freshman Team honorees as well.
Atwood, who is a three-time Big 12 and NFCA Player of the Week this season, becomes just the third student-athlete in program history to be selected as the Big 12 Player of the Year and the first since Taylor Thom in 2014. She is also the first underclassman to win the Big 12's Player of the Year award since Oklahoma's Shay Knighten in 2017.
Kavan joins the likes of Cat Osterman, Blaire Luna, Thom and four additional former student-athletes to earn the Big 12 Freshman of the Year and the first to do so since Tiarra Davis in 2014. White is the program's first Big 12 Coach of the Year since Connie Clark, who was recognized on three separate occasions, was selected in 2010. As a team, UT outscored its opponents, 411-104, in 51 regular season games this year and earned nine victories against USA Today/NFCA Top 25 teams with eight of those coming against top-10 programs.
Additionally, Kavan is the first Texas freshman softball student-athlete to be selected to the All-Big 12 First Team since Erica Wright following the 2015 campaign. 2024 also marks the third consecutive season that the Longhorns have had the most selections (3) to the Big 12's All-Freshman Team after having five honorees in 2023 and three in 2022. UT tied Oklahoma with three all-freshman selections in 2021, too. The five first-team selections for the program this season are the most in a single season since the 2012 team had a program-best five members honored.
With her honor on Wednesday, Scott becomes the only active Texas softball student-athlete to have been selected to the All-Big 12 First Team on multiple occasions after being the program's lone selection a season ago. The junior out of Angleton, Texas is also the only active student-athlete within the program to be appointed to either the league's first or second team in every season on the Forty Acres after picking up second team honors as a freshman in 2022.
Texas will depart the conference with 65 all-time All-Big 12 First and Second Team selections for a total of 130 either All-Big 12 First or Second Team honorees in program history. The Longhorns also had six selections to the Big 12's All-Defensive Team during the team's three-year existence (2013-15). UT also featured 20 honorees to the Big 12's All-Freshman Team since its inception to the league's postseason honors following the 2015 season.
2024 All-Big 12 Award Winners
Player of the Year: Reese Atwood, Texas
Pitcher of the Year: Lexi Kilfoyl, Oklahoma State*
Defensive Player of the Year: Kinzie Hansen, Oklahoma
Freshman of the Year: Teagan Kavan, Texas
Coach of the Year: Mike White, Texas
All-Big 12 First Team
Shaylon Govan, Baylor, INF, Jr.
Ailana Agbayani, BYU, SS/P, So.
Huntyr Ava, BYU, 1B, Sr.
Sarah Willis, UCF, P/OF, Sr.
Alyssa Brito, Oklahoma, UTL, Sr.
Jayda Coleman, Oklahoma, OF, Sr.*
Kinzie Hansen, Oklahoma, C, Gr.*
Tiare Jennings, Oklahoma, INF, Sr.
Kelly Maxwell, Oklahoma, P, Gr.
Karli Godwin, Oklahoma State, INF, Fr.
Lexi Kilfoyl, Oklahoma State, P, Gr.*
Caroline Wang, Oklahoma State, C, Sr.*
Reese Atwood, Texas, C/1B, So.*
Citlaly Gutierrez, Texas, P, So.
Teagan Kavan, Texas, P, Fr.
Ashton Maloney, Texas, OF, RS-So.
Mia Scott, Texas, UTL, Jr.*
Kailey Wyckoff, Texas Tech, C, OF
All-Big 12 Second Team
Aliyah Binford, Baylor, P/INF, Jr.
Emily Hott, Baylor, UTL, Sr.
Shannon Doherty, UCF, 1B, Fifth Year
Chloe Evans, UCF, OF, Sr.
Turiya Coleman, Houston, C, UTL, Jr.
Angelina Allen, Iowa State, OF, Jr.
Lyric Moore, Kansas, C/UTL, Sr.
Rylie Boone, Oklahoma, OF, Sr.
Kierston Deal, Oklahoma, P, So.
Ella Parker, Oklahoma, UTL, Fr.
Alynah Torres, Oklahoma, UTL, Sr.
Ivy Rosenberry, Oklahoma State, P, Sr.
Kayden Henry, Texas, OF, Fr.
Viviana Martinez, Texas, SS/2B, So.
Katie Stewart, Texas, C/IF, Fr.
Abbie Orrick, Texas Tech, INF, Sr.
Riley Love, Texas Tech, INF, Sr.
Arriana Villa, Texas Tech, UTL, Sr.
All-Big 12 Freshman Team
Sierra Humphreys, UCF, INF*
Samantha Rey, UCF, INF*
Bethany Aguilar, Houston, INF*
Ella Parker, Oklahoma, UTL*
Kasidi Pickering, Oklahoma, UTL*
Rosie Davis, Oklahoma State, INF*
Karli Godwin, Oklahoma State, INF*
Kayden Henry, Texas, OF, Fr.*
Teagan Kavan, Texas, P, Fr.*
Katie Stewart, Texas, C/IF, Fr.*
Logan Halleman, Texas Tech, OF, Fr.*
Raegan Jennings, Texas Tech, INF, Fr.*
*Indicates unanimous selection
Players are sorted alphabetically by school.
The honorees were selected by a vote of the league's head coaches.
UP NEXT
- Texas (45-6, 23-4) will enter the 2024 Phillips 66 Big 12 Softball Championship as the number one seed for the four-day tournament at OGE Field at Devon Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., that begins on Wednesday, May 8.
- As a result of being the tournament's top seed, the Longhorns will play their first game at 5 p.m. CT against the winner of the eight-and-nine matchup featuring Texas Tech and Iowa State.
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.
