Oklahoma gets a 3-0 shutout win at Texas Friday, putting the Longhorns three games behind first place in the SEC standings
AUSTIN, Texas - In a Friday night game at Red & Charline McCombs Field, Oklahoma became the first team to shut out Texas since March 30, 2024, defeating Texas 3-0 in the first game of a three-game SEC series. This was despite experiencing two weather delays- one in the top of the fourth and another in the bottom of the seventh.
The Sooners (now 39-3, 12-1 SEC) have now won four straight regular season games against the Longhorns (now 32-5, 9-4 SEC). Oklahoma has also defeated Texas seven out of the last eight times overall including postseason matchups.
It was a pitchers' duel between Oklahoma's Audrey Lowry and Teagan Kavan. They both pitched all seven innings and each allowed just six hits.
The Sooners never looked back as they had no problem getting on the scoreboard in the top of the first. Kai Minor started off in the top of the first with a leadoff single, followed by a two-run homer by Ella Parker off of a rise ball from Teagan Kavan. Teagan did respond in that inning by getting the next three batters out including two of those outs being strikeouts. Kavan recorded a career thirteen strikeouts in Friday night's Red River game.
Kavan did not have much trouble after the first inning except for a sixth inning solo home run by redshirt senior first baseman Isabela Emerling. It was Emerling's first career hit against the Longhorns as she was 0-for-10 in her career versus Texas before that home run.
Audrey Lowry and the Sooner defense was nothing but clutch. The biggest plays came late in the game starting in the bottom of the fifth where Ella Parker caught a pop fly and threw to freshman catcher Kendall Wells at home. Parker's throw was in time to Wells as Texas' Ashton Maloney was tagging up from third base.
Then, in the bottom of the sixth, Audrey Lowry stole the show. Her spectacular fielding forced a double play against the Longhorns. She also forced a Reese Atwood ground out to end the inning as the star catcher for the Longhorns was unable to get anything going for Texas offensively. Lowry ended up with four strikeouts.
Leading the way offensively was freshman center fielder Kai Minor going 2-for-4 with one run and junior right fielder Ella Parker going 1-for-2 with one run and two RBIs.
With the Sooner win tonight, Lowry now has a record of 18-1 in her starts this season while the Texas loss puts Kavan at 15-3 this season.
Game 2 of the series will be Saturday, April 11 at 7:00 p.m. CT on ESPN with Game 3 concluding on Sunday, April 12 at 1:00 p.m. CT on ESPN.
What's at stake in this series: Oklahoma is looking for its first series win in Austin since 2022 while Texas is looking to have back-to-back home series wins versus Oklahoma.