The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Kentucky
No. 4 Softball preview: at Kentucky
04.23.2026 | Softball
Texas travels to Kentucky for its penultimate regular season series on April 24-26 at John Cropp Stadium in Lexington, Ky.
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 4 Texas Softball travels to Kentucky for its penultimate SEC series on April 24-26 at John Cropp Stadium in Lexington, Ky. Friday's series opener will begin at 5 p.m. CT on SEC Network with Krista Blunk and Erin Miller in the booth. Game two on Saturday will start at 1 p.m. on SEC Network+, and Sunday's series finale is slated for Noon on SEC Network+.
Fans can also tune into Andrew Haynes on Texas' radio broadcast on https://texas.leanplayer.com/ or the iHeart Radio app.
Notes
- The Longhorns are in the home-stretch of the 2026 regular season with six games remaining: a three-game series at Kentucky and three-game set at home vs. Arkansas on April 30-May 2.
- Friday will be the ninth all-time meeting between Texas and Kentucky. Texas leads the all-time series, 4-3-1. Texas has won three-consecutive games.
- Texas is coming off a 13-game stretch vs. top-17 opponents.
- Texas ranks No. 1 in RPI this week after securing a road series victory at No. 13 Georgia on April 18-20. Texas' SOS ranks third nationally.
- Texas and Oklahoma's 13 wins over Quad 1 RPI teams leads the country. Texas is 13-8 vs. Quad 1 teams, 9-0 vs. Quad 2 teams, 3-0 vs. Quad 3 teams and 7-0 vs. Quad 4 teams.
- Junior first baseman Katie Stewart has homered a career-high 22 times this season and needs one home run to tie Reese Atwood's single-season program home run record (23). Stewart needs two home runs to set a new single-season record.
- Against Oklahoma on April 10, junior RHP Teagan Kavan became the sixth player in program history to eclipse 500 career strikeouts. Kavan, who currently has 519 career strikeouts, joins Cat Osterman (2,265), Blaire Luna (1,428), Meagan Denny (988), Christa Williams (678) and Tiarra Davis (508) as the only players in program history to reach 500 career Ks. Kavan's 519 career strikeouts rank fifth in program history.
- Texas remains in the top-10 across all four major polls this week in ESPN.com/USA Softball, NFCA, D1Softball and Softball America. Texas has been ranked in 70-consecutive NFCA Coaches polls.
- Texas has accumulated 16 run-rule victories this season, including two in league play. Texas set a program record with 23 run-rule wins in 2025.
Series History
- Texas and Kentucky meet for the ninth time in history on Friday night. Texas leads the all-time series, 4-3-1.
- Texas has won three-straight games against the Wildcats after sweeping them last year in Austin.
- It'll be the first meeting between Texas and Kentucky in Lexington.
- Texas' record vs. Kentucky teams: Kentucky (4-3-1), Louisville (3-1) Western Kentucky (2-0).
- It'll be Texas' first time playing in the state of Kentucky.
All He Does Is Win
- Texas head coach Mike White's .787 career win percentage is the fourth-highest amongst NCAA DI active head coaches.
COACH (Current School) WL %
1. Patty Gasso (Oklahoma) .814
2. Kelly Inouye-Perez (UCLA) .801
3. Gerry Glasco (Texas Tech) .790
4. Mike White (Texas) .787
5. Tim Walton (Florida) .786
6. Patrick Murphy (Alabama) .767
7. Karen Weekly (Tennessee) .751
8. Pete D'Amour (Virginia Tech) .745
9. Shanon Hayes (GCU) .744
10. Kirin Kumar (Ohio State) .721
Grueling Gauntlet
- Texas just finished a 13-game slate against top-25 opponents, including 12-consecutive games against opponents ranked inside the top-15.
- Three of Texas' four away series this season have been against ranked competition.
- Texas is 15-8 against ranked competition this season. All eight of its losses are vs. top-17 teams.
In the Rankings
- Texas is No. 4 in the ESPN/USA Softball rankings, and No. 7 in the NFCA's Top 25.
- Texas has been ranked in each of the last 70 NFCA Coaches polls.
- Texas has held onto a top-5 ranking in the ESPN/USA Softball for 44-consecutive weeks.
- Texas has been ranked No. 1 in the NFCA Coaches Poll 19 times in program history.
Up Next
Texas returns to the friendly confines of McCombs Field to close out the 2026 regular season vs. No. 6 Arkansas on April 30-May 2.
