The Longhorns return to the Women's College World Series by double-dipping Arizona State in the Austin Super Regional.
Teagan Kavan - last year's Women's College World Series Most Outstanding Player for the national champion Texas Longhorns - is headed back to Oklahoma City after shutting out Arizona State 5-0 in Sunday's decisive Game 3 of the Austin Super Regional.
The Longhorns won two in a row over the Sun Devils after dropping Game 1 on Friday. They advance to their third straight WCWS and will face Tennessee in the national quarterfinals held at historic Devon Park.
Kavan and Arizona State starter Kenzie Brown starred in a pitcher's duel to begin the game. The Longhorns' starter pitched a complete 7.0 innings, allowing just five hits and striking out five. Brown is credited with the loss after throwing 4.1 innings and giving up three runs on six hits.
The scoreboard was finally adjusted in the bottom of the third inning when Katie Stewart poked a shallow single into center field to score two.
Texas left fielder Kaiah Altmeyer robbed what would've been extra bases with a reaching catch at the wall, but a base hit by Arizona State's Yannixa Acuna was flared into a wide-open right field that put her on third base with a two-out triple. The Longhorns' defense escaped the threat with a groundout to end the inning.
Viviana Martinez worked Brown to the longest at-bat of the Super Regional - a 17-pitch battle where, unlike the first half of the game, the batter prevailed. Martinez ripped an RBI triple down the line, pushing Texas' lead to 3-0 as the home crowd roared in support. Brown was taken out of the game after the sequence had worked her pitch count up to 93.
The Sun Devils got a runner on after an errant throw pulled Stewart off first base, stopping a run of six straight batters retired by Kavan. The Longhorns' right-hander responded by forcing a groundout to retire the side.
The Longhorns added insurance runs at the top of the sixth inning after loading the bases for Stewart. The SEC Player of the Year grew her RBI total with a two-run single.
Reese Atwood had a chance to walk it off with a mercy-rule grand slam, but grounded out to send it to the top of the seventh. Kavan closed the door with a pop-out, her career-high 230th strikeout of the season, and another soft pop-out.
Kavan spoke about resilience and optimism in the postgame interview as the Longhorns prepare to defend their title in Oklahoma City next week.
