Kavan paints, strikes out 8 as No. 1/1 Softball beats No. 7/5 Tennessee

Friday, April 11

Austin, TX

8 PM CT

University of Texas

39-3, 0

Tennessee

32-9, 0

Tennessee

Texas

Kavan paints, strikes out 8 as No. 1/1 Softball beats No. 7/5 Tennessee

04.11.2025 | Softball

Box Score

Texas moves to 39-3, the best start to a season in program history

By: Chris Allen Brown

AUSTIN, Texas – Off the field, Texas sophomore right-handed pitcher Teagan Kavan is an artist with a pencil in her hand. On the softball diamond at Red & Charline McCombs Field on Friday night, Kavan was an artist with a softball in her hand as the Longhorn ace guided Texas to a 3-0 victory over Tennessee.

Kavan, coming off sharing SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week honors with Tennessee's Karlyn Pickens, limited the Volunteer offense to just two hits – both singles – which were the fewest by the Tennessee offense since Arkansas held the Volunteers to two hits on March 24, 2025. The sophomore went the distance on the night, while striking out eight of the 27 batters faced. And just six days after throwing a five-inning no-hitter, Kavan took a no-hitter into the sixth before surrendering a leadoff single to centerfield.

Kavan (18-2) struck out at least two Volunteer batters during each of the game's first four innings, before turning to her defense to record outs, including an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play in the top of the sixth, over the last three frames.

Friday night's outing in the circle marked the first time Kavan has thrown a seven-inning complete game shutout against a SEC opponent and just the second time she's done so this season after blanking Baylor over seven frames on March 5, 2025. The performance was the eighth career seven-inning complete game shutout, and the highest-ranked opponent Kavan has shutout over seven innings.

As Kavan limited the Tennessee offense, the Texas offense strung together four consecutive base hits in the bottom of the third to take a 3-0 lead and that's all the Longhorn artist needed to complete her latest painting.

FROM HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE

"Tonight wasn't a game where she was masterful, but she was tenacious and didn't give in during big moments when (Tennessee) had big hitters up at the plate. She stuck to what she believes in and was able to get the big outs in big moments and, of course, the defense was able to turn the a key double play there in the sixth

FROM SOPHOMORE TEAGAN KAVAN

"Obviously, not the prettiest (outing), I feel like I wasn't in control, but I was able to rely on my defense behind me when I needed them the most. But, for the most part, it worked. In my head, I'm probably making it worse than it actually was, but I was able to make big pitches when I needed to and that's what helped me."

GAME NOTES

Ashton Maloney's hit by pitch during the bottom of the third to spark the Longhorns' three-run inning was the first time throughout her collegiate career that Maloney was hit by a pitch.
By drawing a six-pitch walk with two away in the bottom of the first, Mia Scott earned her 96th career base on balls, which broke a three-way tie with Janae Jefferson (2018-22) and Lexy Bennett (2009-12) for fifth on the program's career walk list.
With her run-scoring single in the bottom of the third, Reese Atwood extended her streak on consecutive games played successfully reaching base to 23 in a row, tying Joley Mitchell for the longest on-base streak by a Longhorn softball student-athlete this season.
With the win over Tennessee, Texas softball head coach Mike White moves to 5-4 all time against Tennessee between his time on the Forty Acres and at Oregon.
As a result of the victory on Friday night, Texas has now won back-to-back games against Tennessee for just the second time series history.
- A win on Saturday would give the Longhorns their first-ever three-game winning streak over the Volunteers.

UP NEXT

Texas (39-3, 11-2) will look for its fifth consecutive SEC series victory on Saturday, April 12, when the Longhorns and Volunteers square off at 5 p.m. CT for the middle of a three-game contest.

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.