Reese Atwood Leaves Everlasting Legacy on Texas Longhorns Softball

Sandia, Texas, is a small town located 190 miles away from Red and Charline McCombs Field in Austin, with the biggest city near the town being Corpus Christi.

However, a player who would come to define and transform the Texas Longhorns softball program, into one of the top squads in the nation, would arrive from a place with a population of around 300 people, on the Forty Acres four years ago.

For the second straight year, the Longhorns would celebrate in between the circle and home plate on the field of Devon Park in Oklahoma City as back-to-back national champions. And at the center of it all has been senior catcher Reese Atwood.

Reese Atwood Leaves Texas as a Longhorn Legend

Texas Longhorns catcher Reese Atwood (14) celebrates after hitting a home run in the fourth inning of a Women's College World Series softball game. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Atwood has been the trusted backstop for the Longhorns over the last four seasons, with the catcher becoming one of the top players not just to wear the burnt orange but one of the best players in the sport.

The catcher was a highly recruited prospect out of Tuloso-Midway High School when she chose the Longhorns as her next home. The senior reflected on her recruiting process before arriving in Austin and the past four seasons as she grew into one of the best players in the country.

"Going back to being recruited to Texas, it was such a dream come true for me," Atwood said. "And to have a coach like Coach White that never lost faith in me and was able to develop me in four years and make me into the absolute best player that I can be, just so incredibly grateful."

The many accolades that the senior has accumulated don't come without the numbers, and Atwood has plenty of them. Atwood leaves as the Longhorns' program leader in both home runs and RBIs, as well as ended her career as the NCAA's active leader in both categories.

She will hang up her No. 14 jersey after playing in 256 games, only three of which she didn't start, with a .360 batting average for her career with 266 hits, 74 home runs, and 283 RBIs.

And with the numbers, the accolades poured in. Atwood was a four-time All-Conference player, a three-time All-American, two of those being First-Team selections, Texas's first Johnny Bench Award winner in 2025, given to the top catcher in the country, and was a USA Softball Player of the Year Top 3 finalist in 2024.

Not only has Atwood been a difference maker on the field as the Longhorns now stake claim to back-to-back national championships, but the catcher has led by example, building the culture that head coach Mike White now has in a championship-winning program.

"She's the heart and soul of this program," Teagan Kavan said. "She sets the standard for what it means to work hard and what it means to be a Longhorn. She plays this game with so much pride and wears Texas with so much pride, and I'm just so proud of her and the legacy she's left, not just at Texas but on the sport as a whole."

Atwood will leave as a multi-time national champion, a multiple-time All-American, and holding multiple records in Texas program history, but above all, the player out of Sandia, Texas, leaves Austin with a much bigger legacy than the numbers and accolades show.

The senior has transformed the Longhorns into one of the top powers in college softball with her play behind the plate and in the building, cultivating a championship DNA in the heart of Texas over the last four years.

And undoubtedly, one day the No. 14 will never be worn again in burnt orange and be right next to Cat Osterman's No. 8 jersey at McCombs Field.

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