No. 1/2 Softball wins 20th game with back-to-back five-inning contests

Sunday, March 2

Austin, TX

12:30 PM CT

University of Texas

19-1

South Florida

16-6

South Florida

Texas

No. 1/2 Softball wins 20th game with back-to-back five-inning contests

03.02.2025 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Texas outscores South Florida, Alabama A&M a combined 17-1 over 10 innings on Sunday

By: Chris Allen Brown

AUSTIN, Texas – Over the course of nine innings of offense throughout the final day of the Longhorn Invitational, The University of Texas softball program managed to score at least one run in seven different frames during the Longhorns' 9-1 win over South Florida followed by an 8-0 victory against Alabama A&M.

After going down in order in the bottom of the first against South Florida to start Sunday's action, the Texas offense responded by sending at least five Longhorn batters to the plate over the next three offensive innings. In the bottom of the second, UT broke into the run column with two runs on two hits and a Bull error. The lead was doubled an inning later when Reese Atwood connected with an 0-1 pitch for a one-out, two-run home run to push Texas' lead out to four runs.

Texas broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth with a five-run, five-hit frame that was highlighted by run-scoring hits off the bat of Victoria Hunter, Mia Scott and Katie Stewart. Atwood also drove in a run during the inning with a ground out to shortstop.

Against Alabama A&M, Texas wasted little time in taking the lead as the Longhorns held a 1-0 lead just three batters into the bottom of the first, before Atwood sent the first pitch she saw from Bulldog pitching over the left field fence for a two-run home run and push UT's lead out to 3-0.

The offense added a pair of runs in the second and fourth innings, respectively, before Ashton Maloney ended the game in the bottom of the fifth with a run-scoring double to the left-centerfield gap to score Kaydee Bennett from first after just 10 pitches into the inning.

FROM HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE

"I thought the discipline at the plate was really good today. I know we had eight walks in the second game and three in the first, so we were doing a good job of making the opposing pitchers have to make pitches, so it was good to see that. We were also able to score consistently throughout each game, which helped two great pitching performances: Teagan (Kavan) against a good-hitting team (in USF) and limited them to just one run and then of course Mac Morgan with the one-hitter to close out the day."

GAME NOTES

By beating both South Florida and Alabama A&M on Sunday, Texas has now won 20 of its first 21 games to begin a new season for the first time since 2012.
- The 2012 squad won 22 of its first 23 games.
Texas' five-inning win over Alabama A&M on Sunday marked the first time the Longhorns have ever beaten the Bulldogs.
As a result of knocking off both the Bulls and Bulldogs in five-inning contests on Sunday, it marks the third time this season that Texas has won back-to-back mercy-rule games.
- Feb. 7 vs. Longwood (8-0), at Louisiana (8-0)
- Feb. 21 vs. Colorado State (18-2), Feb. 22 vs. UC Davis (12-0)
- Mar. 2 vs. South Florida (9-1), vs. Alabama A&M (8-0)
Reese Atwood's two-run home run in the bottom of the third against South Florida was the 40th of her career, making the Texas junior just the fourth student-athlete in program history to reach the milestone.
- Atwood later added her 41st in the bottom of the first against Alabama A&M to bring her within one home run of tying Mary Iakopo (2019-22) for third on the program's career home run list.
By being credited with a pair of hits against Alabama A&M to conclude Sunday's action, Texas' Mia Scott became just the third student-athlete in program history to surpass 250 career hits.
- Scott will enter her next game with 251 career hits, three shy of tying Brejae Washington (2011-14) for second on the program's career hit list.

UP NEXT

Texas (20-1) will now look for its 11th win of the season at Red & Charline McCombs Field, where the Longhorns will take on Baylor (10-10) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 5.
- The Bears are coming off a split of a two-game tilt against North Texas (W, 5-1) and California Baptist (L, 1-2) on Sunday, March 2nd to conclude the three-day Baylor Invitational.

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