The Longhorns managed to score the tying and go-ahead runs in the sixth inning to steal Game 1 and close in on the national championship.
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Longhorns softball team is now just a win away from a national championship.
In a low-scoring, pitching-dominated affair on Wednesday night, the Longhorns managed to score the tying and go-ahead runs in the sixth inning to beat Texas Tech 2-1 in Game 1 of the Women’s College World Series.
The win now gives the Longhorns a 1-0 series advantage heading into Thursday night’s Game 2, and the ladies in Burnt Orange now need just one win either Thursday or Friday to clinch the school’s first-ever national championship in softball.
The main storyline heading into Wednesday’s game ended up living up to the billing, as a pitcher’s duel between Texas’ Teagan Kavan and Texas Tech’s NiJaree Canady took center stage.
The game remained scoreless through four innings, with Canady holding the Longhorns to just one hit through five innings. After a rough first inning, Kavan was also brilliant, keeping the Red Raiders out of the hit column in the second, third and fourth innings.
The Red Raiders finally opened the scoring in the fifth inning, after Mihiya Davis hit an RBI single to score Logan Halleman, who had reached base earlier in the inning on an error.
After being shut out and left searching for answers most of the game, the Longhorns finally broke through in the sixth inning. After a pair of singles to get runners on base, and a pair of steals to advance runners into scoring position, Reese Atwood put the Longhorns on the board with a 2-run single that scored both the tying and go-ahead runs.
Kavan shut the door on the Red Raiders in the seventh inning, sealing the Longhorns Game 1 win.
Both Kavan and Canady were masterful, with the nation’s two top pitchers giving just three and four hits respectively.
The two squads will face off again on Thursday night at 7 p.m. in Oklahoma City, with the Longhorns eyeing a chance to bring home the championship.