Texas swept Tennessee in two elimination games, riding Teagan Kavan’s shutout and Katie Stewart’s power into the WCWS Championship Series.
Texas swept Tennessee in two elimination games, riding Teagan Kavan’s shutout and Katie Stewart’s power into the WCWS Championship Series.
Texas softball didn’t just survive Monday in Oklahoma City. The Longhorns kicked the door down.
No. 3 Texas beat No. 8 Tennessee twice at Devon Park, winning 5-2 in the opener before dominating the winner-take-all rematch 4-0 to advance to the Women’s College World Series Championship Series.
The Longhorns are now 51-12, 6-0 in elimination games this season and headed to the WCWS finals for the third straight year and fourth time in five seasons.
Citlaly Gutierrez set the tone in Game 1, giving Texas 6.2 strong innings while allowing just one earned run on five hits.
She retired the first 11 Tennessee hitters before the Lady Vols finally broke through.
Teagan Kavan entered in the seventh and slammed the door with a game-ending strikeout for her fourth save.
The Texas offense brought the punch. Reese Atwood launched her 19th homer of the season in the fourth, Katie Stewart added a solo shot in the fifth, and Hannah Wells drove in two runs with a single off the center-field wall.
Then Kavan took over Game 2.
The junior right-hander threw a complete-game shutout, allowing only two hits with 10 strikeouts and no walks.
It was her ninth double-digit strikeout game of the season, her ninth career WCWS win and her program-record fifth complete-game shutout at the event.
Texas gave her room in the third. Viviana Martinez singled in a run, a double steal forced a Tennessee mistake, and Atwood ripped an RBI double.
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Stewart later crushed her program-record 30th homer to make it 4-0. Texas now owns 97 home runs this season, another school record.
Next up: Alabama or Texas Tech in the WCWS Championship Series beginning Wednesday on ESPN.
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