Texas Softball's Teagan Kavan Up for 2 ESPY Awards

Teagan Kavan carried the Texas Longhorns to their second straight national championship, and as a result, the incoming senior pitcher is being mentioned among the greatest names in sports.

The star pitcher - who became the first player ever to take home back-to-back Most Outstanding Player honors in the Women's College World Series - is included in nominations for two ESPYs at ESPN's annual award show: Best Championship Performance and Best Team.

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Kavan's poise was incredible to witness throughout the Longhorns' run in Oklahoma City to their second national title in school history. The All-American right-hander from West Des Moines, Iowa was stoic in the most tense moments, which inspired her team to make the plays necessary to take down superstar pitcher NiJaree Canady and Texas Tech.

Her junior season saw Kavan total 260 strikeouts, the sixth-most in the country, with a 2.33 earned run average.

Not only was Kavan dominant in the circle as a starting pitcher in this championship performance, but she was nails out of the bullpen, as well. That was punctuated in the championship-clinching game, a 4-1 Texas win, where Kavan came in in the bottom of the sixth inning to strike out the side.

That led to her third-career WCWS save, which moves her into a tie for the all-time record.

In total, Kavan was 4-1 with a 1.47 ERA, two saves, and 30 strikeouts in 33.1 innings pitched at the 2026 WCWS.

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Texas was the undisputed top team in college softball from Week 1 onward. Mike White's squad was tied with Texas Tech as co-preseason No. 1-ranked teams, but a two-game sweep gave Texas the edge, yet again.

The Horns finished the year 53-12 overall, including a 11-2 record in the NCAA Tournament and 6-1 record at the WCWS. According to Texas Athletics, "Texas [became] the fifth team in WCWS history to lose their opener in Oklahoma City and go on to lift the trophy."

It was a clutch performance like no other, all driven by Kavan's mastery.

Coach White was asked after the championship if Kavan, by now, can be considered one of the best pitchers college softball has ever seen.

"You’d have to say yes on that, and she does it in a different way," he said. "Sometimes you go — you could be so much better. Sometimes, she rises to the level of competition, that’s what she does."

With Texas in position to win after taking a 2-1 lead over Tech, Kavan jogged out to the bullpen as starter Citlaly Gutierrez held it down in the circle. Kavan was less than 24 hours removed from throwing 115 pitches in a three-hit complete game in Game 1 of the WCWS Finals.

"It’s kind of crazy to say that, but today when she came in and she smelled the win, she was not giving that up. She was a killer," White said.

"She was an assassin out there on the mound today and just really didn’t give them an opportunity to come in, and shut the door so hard. You’ve got to take your hat off to a kid like that who can do that in this situation in those moments, with that many fans watching you and all that pressure, she felt no pressure. She just wanted to do it for her team."

The performance is now in the running to be crowned as the best across the sports world at the 2026 ESPYs, which air live on ESPN at 7 p.m. on July 16.