Texas softball is still perfect | Bohls

Take a bow, Texas.

You deserve it.

And the rest of this Women’s College World Series field should maybe just bow to the No. 1 Longhorns, who are playing like this.

At least until now.

Coach Mike White isn’t looking too far into the future. Of the seven trips he made to this event as coach of Oregon and now Texas in search of their first national championship, this was the first time his club won its first two games in a Series appearance.

“It feels a lot better to be in this position than the other one,” he said.

Many Oklahoma City teams are envious of the current state of Texas.

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Frankly, the Longhorns look like a team in a hurry with a perfect combination of power, clutch hitting, brilliant defense and stingy pitching. They may enjoy their 2-0 spot in the winners’ bracket, but they sure aren’t wasting any time.

Five of their first six batters of the game scored in the first of two five-run streaks in the game as Texas finished off No. 4 Florida in quick fashion, dominating the Gators 10-0 after just five innings Saturday night. evening. They then scored another five runs in the fourth, marking the 29th and 30th time this season the Horns have scored that many runs or more in a single inning.

This game was over almost before it began.

But there is no end to the versatility of this Texas team, which received hits from seven players and RBIs from five.

Texas knocked out Gators ace Keagan Rothrock, who beat Oklahoma State with a two-hit shutout on Thursday. The freshman right-hander, who has pitched in every game for Florida this postseason, was masterful against the Cowgirls but lasted just 14 pitches against the Longhorns in her brief appearance.

“So many runs that fast,” Florida coach Tim Walton said of his quick hook. “Not really fooling anyone.”

Especially not Katie Stewart because the freshman first baseman had a big-running double in the first inning before Alyssa Washington hit a three-run homer from Devon Park off reliever Ava Brown to complete the stunning explosion in the first at-bat. from Texas. .

Washington’s mother in the stands received the souvenir ball afterward, courtesy of cherished WCWS tradition.

“The ball they gave my mom made my life,” Washington said. “That marked my entire career. “That was just a great moment.”

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The Texas lineup provided all kinds of heroic moments. Everything from Mia Scott’s fancy glove work in the field and solo home run to Stewart’s three-run homer and his four RBIs to a diving catch by right fielder Ashton Maloney.

One brilliant moment after another.

“She could be the unsung hero,” White said of Stewart, who bats fifth in the order behind home run queen Reese Atwood and hits better pitches than her dangerous teammate with 23 home runs. “They would just walk (Atwood) if we didn’t have a productive hitter behind her.”

Oh, she’s productive. Of course, this lineup has productive hitters throughout and they are all hitting .340 or better.

In their second five-run point in the fourth, seven consecutive Texas batters reached base. All after two were eliminated and none were on base. That’s productivity.

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With the win, these Longhorns on a mission advanced to Monday night’s semifinals against the survivor of the UCLA-Stanford game, but they look like a team hell-bent on reaching the best-of-three finals. They start Wednesday night in Oklahoma City.

The only other 2-0 team in the field? Early Oklahoma. If they. Three-time defending national champions.

Those two seem destined to meet again as they did in 2022, when the Sooners beat the Longhorns twice in a row in the championship series.

Four games were split this season. Texas won two of three at home during the regular season to help catapult it to the regular season Big 12 title. OU won in the Big 12 Tournament.

Both have been dominant through two games.

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“We know we have a lot of work ahead of us,” White said. “We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves.”

To be honest, Texas has played as close to perfect softball as a team can and even shaved two innings of work off their pitching staff, which remains one of the deepest in college softball.

In two games so far, the Longhorns have outscored Stanford and Florida by a wide 14-0 margin.

That Texas pitching staff has allowed two hits. Two.

One was a hard-hitting single against the glove of second baseman Alyssa Washington in the final inning Saturday as Mac Morgan threw a hit just two weeks after throwing a no-hitter and coming up one walk away with two outs in the final inning. from school. 12th perfect game.

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So rookies Teagan Kavan and Morgan have a pair of hits, and Citlaly Gutierrez, who started the first game of the super regional, has yet to throw a pitch.

Few teams can match that kind of pitching depth.

Florida had three runners throughout the game with a single, a walk and an error by Texas. Stanford had six.

The two opponents have had only four baserunners reach second base.

That’s dominance, my friends.

White has so far pulled all the right levers.

He started with Kavan on Thursday and she had already gotten over her super-regional nerves and was up to the task.

He started Morgan on Saturday, relying on his experience, guile and a surprising strikeout to keep a dangerous Florida lineup in check.

“Mac was trying really hard,” Washington said gratefully. “Just being able to get her back and work for her was fantastic.”

Of course, everything Texas has tried is working.

This article originally appeared in the Austin American-Statesman: Longhorn softball perfect and in prime position