The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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Nebraska
Softball preview: Opening weekend at UTSA Invitational
02.05.2026 | Softball
The reigning Women's College World Series Champions open their season at the UTSA Invitational on Feb. 6-8 at Roadrunner field against No. 9 Nebraska, No. 25 Washington and UTSA.
AUSTIN, Texas - No. 1 Texas Softball, the reigning NCAA National Champions, open the 2026 campaign at the UTSA Invitational on Feb. 6-8 at Roadrunner Field in San Antonio. Texas' five-game slate features No. 9 Nebraska, No. 25 Washington and UTSA. All five games will be available to stream on ESPN+ with Alex Loeb (play-by-play) and Longhorn Legend Cat Osterman (analyst) on the call.
Texas kicks off opening weekend at 6:05 p.m. CT on Friday, Feb. 6, against No. 9 Nebraska. Saturday's slate features a top-25 doubleheader for the Longhorns, beginning with a 1:05 p.m. contest vs. No. 25 Washington and then a 3:35 p.m. duel against No. 9 Nebraska. The Longhorns round out opening weekend on Sunday as they take on the Huskies at 12:35 p.m. followed by tournament host UTSA at 3:05 p.m. Former Texas RHP Mac Morgan is now on staff as the pitching coach at UTSA.
Texas is coming off of the program's first Women's College World Series (WCWS) National Championship in 2025. The Longhorns finished the historic season with a program-record 56 victories and a 56-12 overall record.
The Longhorns' 10-2 postseason run in 2025 culminated with a 2-1 Championship Series (third appearance in four years) win over Texas Tech. In the winner-takes-all game three, the Longhorns clinched a 10-4 victory.
Head coach Mike White begins his eighth season at helm of the Texas program and holds a 316-93-2 (.771) overall record during his time on the Forty Acres. In 17 combined seasons between Oregon (nine seasons) and Texas (eight seasons), White sports a 752-204-4 (.785) overall record.
The Longhorn lineup returns a plethora of starters, including senior C Reese Atwood - who won the NFCA''s National Catcher of the Year Award and Johnny Bench Award in 2025, junior RHP Teagan Kavan, junior IF Katie Stewart, junior OF Kayden Henry, senior OF Ashton Maloney, senior IF Leighann Goode and junior IF Viviana Martinez, who missed the entire 2025 campaign due to injury.
Texas added four players via the transfer portal: senior OF Kaiah Altmeyer (Arizona), sophomore UTL Taylor Anderson (Oklahoma State), sophomore LHP Brenlee Gonzales (Texas Tech) and freshman RHP Sophia Bordi (Oklahoma - not eligible to play in 2026).
The Longhorns added seven freshmen to the team in 2026 in IF Caigan Crabtree, IF MaTaia Lawson, OF Alisa Sneed, RHP/UTL Hannah Wells, IF Jaycie Nichols, C/UTL Anne Wallace and UTL Drea Wilson.
Opening Weekend
- Texas is 29-0 all-time in season openers.
- Clashing with No. 9 Nebraska on Friday, it'll be the second-highest season opening game matchup in program history for the Longhorns. Texas opened the 2007 season against No. 3 UCLA on Feb. 9 at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz. Texas defeated the top-three Bruins, 1-0.
- This Friday vs. No. 9 Nebraska will be the fifth ranked season-opening matchup in program history. The Longhorns have opened the season against a ranked team four times and sports a 4-0 record in those contests.
- It'll be Texas' first season opener against a ranked foe since opening the 2022 season against No. 15 Clemson at the FGCU Kickoff Classic in Fort Myers, Fla. Texas defeated the Tigers, 4-0.
- In 2014, Texas opened the season vs. No. 17 LSU in Baton Rouge, La., claiming a 6-1 victory in that game.
- In 2010, UT opened its season with a 3-1 win over No. 20 DePaul at the Time Warner Cable Texas Invitational in Austin.
- The Longhorns have outscored their ranked opponents in season openers, 14-2.
- The Longhorns will be opening their season in the state of Texas for the first time since 2021. The Horns began the 2021 campaign at the Scrap Yard Blizzard challenge in Conroe, Texas, and concluded the weekend 3-0 with wins over Wichita State, North Texas and Texas State.
Series History
- Once old Big 12 Conference rivals, Texas and Nebraska will meet for the 39th time in history on Friday night in San Antonio. The Longhorns lead the all-time series, 20-18, including a 6-3 neutral site mark.
- Texas and Nebraska will play each other for the first time since 2012. The two teams last met on Feb. 26, 2012, in Cathedral City, Calif. The Longhorns won that game, 3-0. Texas has won six-straight games against the Cornhuskers. In those six games, Texas outscored Nebraska, 31-6.
- Texas and Washington will meet for 30th time in history on Saturday. The Huskies lead the all-time series, 19-10. The last time the two programs faced off was at the 2022 Seattle Regional. In the first matchup, Texas downed the Huskies, 8-2. Washington fought back and advanced to the Regional Final, capturing a 2-1 over the Horns to force a second game. Texas went on to win that final game, 3-2, and advance to the Fayetteville Super Regional. The Longhorns have won three of their last four games against Washington.
- The Longhorns and Roadrunners will square off for the 51st time in history on Sunday. Texas holds a 44-5-1 series advantage over UTSA. Despite being right down I-35 from each other, the two teams will duel for the first time since 2022.
- Texas has won 10-consecutive games vs. UTSA. In their last meeting on Feb. 27, 2022, the Longhorns recorded an 8-0 (6 inn.) win over the Roadrunners. The Longhorns will be playing UTSA in San Antonio for the first time since March 7, 2018, when the Horns fought off the Roadrunners with a 1-0 win.
Light the Tower
- The 2025 Texas Softball program made program history - winning the first Women's College World Series National Championship in program history after defeating Texas Tech, 10-4, in game three of the Championship Series on June 6, 2025, in Oklahoma City.
- The Longhorns finished the season 56-12 overall and 16-8 in conference play in their first season as an SEC member.
- Texas' 10-2 postseason run culminated with a 2-1 Championship Series (third appearance in four years) win over Texas Tech. Texas set a single-season program record with 56 victories after securing the winner-take-all game three over Texas Tech and being crowned national champions.
- The Longhorns kicked off the championship series with a 2-1 win on June 4 before the Red Raiders evened the series in a close 4-3 loss on June 5. Texas then claimed the title with a 10-4 triumph in the winner-take-all contest on June 6 to become the second-lowest seed to win the Women's College World Series.
- Recording a program-record 56 wins, Texas surpassed the previous mark (55) set by the 2006 and 2024 squads.
- The Horns were the first Southeastern Conference program to win a title since Florida went back-to-back in 2014 and 2015.
- The Longhorns topped Division I with 630 base hits, finished second with 460 RBI and third with a .352 batting average and 486 runs scored. They also ranked inside the top-15 in win/loss percentage (5th / .824), doubles (9th / 99), home runs (9th / 94), slugging (10th / .583), shutouts (10th / 15), strikeout-to-walk ratio (12th / 3.07), scoring (14th / 7.15), ERA (15th / 2.55) and WHIP (15th / 1.18).
- The Longhorns nabbed three NFCA All-America selections in Reese Atwood, Teagan Kavan and Mia Scott.
- Texas concluded its inaugural SEC season with seven All-SEC nods, with Atwood, Kavan, Scott and Joley Mitchell earning First-Team All-SEC accolades. Texas was the only SEC program this season with four landing on the All-SEC First Team. Kayden Henry, Ashton Maloney and Katie Stewart were named to the All-SEC Second Team.
- The Texas coaching staff of head coach Mike White, associate head coach Steve Singleton, assistant coach Kristen Zaleski and assistant coach Pattie Ruth Taylor earned the NFCA's National Coaching Staff of the Year Award. It was the program's second NFCA National Coaching Staff of the Year honor and the first since 2003.
