Hunter powers No. 4/5 Softball back into win column

Thursday, May 1

Austin, TX

6 PM CT

University of Texas

43-9, 0

Kentucky

29-23, 0

Kentucky

Texas

Hunter powers No. 4/5 Softball back into win column

05.01.2025 | Softball

Box Score

Sophomore Victoria Hunter matches career high with four RBI as Longhorns snap three-game skid

By: Chris Allen Brown

AUSTIN, Texas – Mike White and the rest of his coaching staff left Norman, Okla., on Sunday with a few too many questions. Four days later, they were able to erase a few of those question marks during Texas' 9-1 win over Kentucky in five innings on Thursday night.

After Teagan Kavan (21-4) worked around just a single baserunner through her first two innings of work to begin the contest, Victoria Hunter, batting out of the seventh spot in the Longhorn lineup, helped produce the game's first run as she singled an 0-1 pitch into shallow right field that moved Katie Stewart to third base. Unable to gather the loose softball on the outfield grass following the base hit, Stewart was able to run home from third on the fielding error.

Looking to build on its one-run lead as the bottom of the third began, the first three Texas batters successfully reached base, before Ashton Maloney and Kayden Henry scored during back-to-back plate appearances. The big blow, though, came two batters later as Hunter blasted a 3-2 pitch 239 feet and over the left-centerfield fence for her second career grand slam and extend the Longhorns' lead from 3-0 to 7-0.

Following a top of the fourth inning that saw Kentucky cut its seven-run deficit to six following a solo home run, the top of the Texas lineup did what it does best: find a way on base, find a way to score.

Maloney opened the frame with an infield single, before scoring from first on a Henry double over the left fielder's head. She took third on a wild pitch and came home to score on a Mia Scott ground out back to the Kentucky pitch to give the Longhorns an eight-run lead.

A lead large enough to withstand a leadoff single to start the top of the fifth and one large enough to end the game in the fifth on a ground ball to Stewart at shortstop.

FROM HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE

"If she keeps having games like she did tonight, (Victoria Hunter) is definitely going to be the answer in the bottom of the lineup. It was great to see production out of that part of the order tonight. She battled and got a pitch she was able to drive out of the ballpark, it was a good at bat."

FROM SOPHOMORE VICTORIA HUNTER

"The first at bat I had, I swung at a bad pitch and didn't really do what I wanted to do with it, so the second at bat, I was trying to make her throw it in my window so I can put the kind of swing I wanted on it. And that's pretty much what happened."

GAME NOTES

With the win, Texas has now won 20 games at Red & Charline McCombs this season, marking the seventh consecutive completed season the Longhorns have won 20-or-more home games.
When Texas scored its first run of the game, the Longhorns tied a program record for consecutive games played with at least one run scored to 83 in a row.
By finishing the five-inning game with eight RBI, Texas has now been credited with 362 RBI on the season, which is the second most in the program's single-season history behind 470 set last season.
As a result of earning the win in the pitching circle, sophomore Teagan Kavan (2024-P) tied Mac Morgan (2023-P) for seventh on the program's all-time wins list with 41.
With her stolen base during Texas' six-run third inning, Kayden Henry was credited with her 27th stolen base on the season, which ties the sophomore with Brejae Washington (2012) for seventh on the program's single-season stolen base list.

UP NEXT

Texas (43-9, 14-8) will go for its sixth SEC series win on Friday, when the Longhorns and Kentucky Wildcats (29-23, 7-15) tangle at Red & Charline McCombs Field at 11 a.m. CT for the second of the three-game series.

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.