No. 2/2 Softball preview: No. 23/RV Auburn

AUSTIN, Texas – A week after winning its first-ever SEC series at then-No. 3 Florida, the No. 2-ranked Texas Longhorn softball program will play its first-ever home SEC series this weekend when No. 23 Auburn visits Red & Charline McCombs Field for a three-game weekend series.

TELEVISION: All three games of the weekend series will be available to stream on SEC Network+. Lincoln Rose and Cat Osterman will call the game's action on Friday and Saturday, before Andrew Haynes will have Sunday's contest.

RADIO: Andrew Haynes can be heard with the radio call of all three games this weekend at https://texas.leanplayer.com/.

WEEKEND SCHEDULE:

Friday, March 21 – 4 PM CT (SEC Network+)
Saturday, March 22 – 2 PM CT (SEC Network+)
Sunday, March 23 – 12 PM CT (SEC Network+)

SERIES HISTORY:

When Texas and Auburn take the diamond to begin this weekend's three-game conference series, it'll mark just the third time the two softball programs have played against each other and first since the 2022 season.
Mia Scott, Katie Cimusz and Sophia Simpson are the only active Longhorn student-athletes to have played a softball game against the Tigers after the trio appeared in Texas' 6-2 loss to Auburn on Feb. 18, 2022 in Clearwater, Fla.
- Scott went 0-for-3 with a strikeout, while Cimusz finished the game 0-for-2 with a RBI on a sacrifice fly.
- Simpson tossed 1.2 scoreless innings with four strikeouts and one walk issued without surrendering a hit.
Texas won the first-ever meeting between the two programs on May 19, 2012, when the Longhorns bested the Tigers, 6-1, in a potential season-ending game on May 19, 2012 in the NCAA Austin Regional.

LEADING OFF

Texas will enter this weekend's series against Auburn with a 5-0 record in the first home conference game of a season under seventh-year head coach Mike White.
- The 2020 season was ended before the Longhorns began Big 12 play.
- The Longhorns have won their last six consecutive home conference-opening contests.
  - UT last loss a home conference opener on April 7, 2018, when then-No. 11 Oklahoma won 3-2.
- Overall, Texas is 21-6 is home conference-opening softball games throughout its program history.
- As a collegiate softball head coach, Mike White is 12-2 all time in home-opening conference affairs when including his time at Oregon with his ongoing coaching career on the Forty Acres.
Texas is 0-1 in the first conference game after joining a new conference.
- The Longhorns dropped a 5-1 contest to Nebraska in Austin on March 29, 1997, when UT played its first-ever Big 12 game.
With two more RBI, Reese Atwood (2023-P) will pass Taylor Thom (2011-14) for the top spot on Texas' career RBI list.
- 178, Thom
- 177, Atwood
With three more total bases, Mia Scott (397) will join Baylor's Shaylon Govan (447), Liberty's Rachel Roupe (402) and Virginia Tech's Cori McMillan (400) as the only active Division I softball student-athletes to surpass 400 career total bases.
With six hits over the weekend, Katie Stewart (94) will join Mia Scott (265), Reese Atwood (165), Ashton Maloney (163), Leighann Goode (115) and Katie Cimusz (103) as active Longhorn softball student-athletes with 100-or-more career hits during their time on the Forty Acres.
If Texas wins two of the three games over the weekend, it'll mark the 16th consecutive completed* season that the Longhorns have won 30-or-more games in a season.
- UT was on pace to reach the mark in 2020 after winning 24 of its first 27 games before the season was halted following its Mar. 8 contest against New Mexico due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Since its first season as a varsity sport in 1997, Texas softball has won 30-or-more games in a single season in 24 of its 27 completed seasons.

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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.

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Players Mentioned

Reese Atwood

Katie Cimusz

Leighann Goode

Ashton Maloney

Mia Scott

Sophia Simpson

Katie Stewart

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics