Texas squares off against the nation's top offense in a top-five rivalry showdown on the softball diamond.
It's the Red River Rivalry, and you'd be hard pressed to find a more competitive head-to-head matchup in a sport other than softball.
The No. 2 Texas Longhorns are taking on the No. 2-ranked Oklahoma Sooners in Austin this weekend for the Horns' second straight top-5 matchup.
Texas lost two games out of three to No. 4 Alabama last weekend in Tuscaloosa, which dropped them from their consensus No. 1 ranking that was held for most of the season.
And the challenge of avenging that result doesn't get any lighter. Oklahoma commands the nation's top-producing offense with an absurd 144 home runs, 485 runs scored and .428 team batting average on the season.
Longhorns coach Mike White knows what this rivalry entails regarding both program's storied histories, but this exact series is especially critical with Texas look to dethrone the Sooners in the SEC standings and build momentum on their way to repeating as national champions.
"It's always big (playing Oklahoma), but obviously we’ve got three teams at the top of the league right now, so it's going to come down to winning the series to stay in that (SEC) chase or not," White said to the Austin American-Statesman. "Obviously, they've been playing very well. Offensively, they've got some video game-like numbers (and) a deep pitching staff."
Still, White has confidence in his group.
"There's a lot to like about what they're doing, but we've also got a lot of talent on our side as well. It's going to come down to using our fans and playing at home in front of a good crowd, and hopefully a good performance by our pitching staff, which is what we need."
That staff begins and ends with superstar right-hander Teagan Kavan, who has a record 14-2 record in the circle and has struck out 124 batters in 99.1 innings pitched this season. Against the Crimson Tide, Kavan held her opponents to just one run as Texas took Game 1 ... but that would be all as Alabama scored 18 runs on 17 hits the rest of the series against the Longhorns' depth.
"You try and limit the damage that they may cause, and that's by limiting pitches errors, which are walks and hit by pitchers," White said. "I think there's been our Achilles' heels for our staff."
White explained that the biggest factor into this rivalry weekend is that fact that it's played at McCombs Field on the Forty Acres.
"We have the crowd on our side, and we have the last at-bat," White said. "That's what the nice thing about being a home team is: ‘Hey, let's just stay in the game if we're giving up runs.’ Obviously, I don't want to give up runs, but if we do, stay in the game, keeping your mindset and keep hunting, and you just never know what can happen."
Texas hosts Oklahoma at 6 p.m. on Friday with the game airing live on ESPN 2.
Games 2 (7 p.m.) and 3 (1 p.m.) on Saturday and Sunday will be nationally televised on ESPN.
