Texas Longhorns Win Thrilling Slugfest to Open Series vs. Texas A&M

The Texas Longhorns have been as close as a team can be to unbeatable as the Longhorns continue to extend a program record in the longest winning streak in program history and head into their conference series this weekend with a 29-1 record.

That record will be tested with the challenge the Longhorns had headed into Red and Charline McCombs Field with the task not being any ordinary one, with the dirt edition of the Lone Star Showdown on deck as the No. 15 Texas A&M Aggies traveled into Austin for a three-game series over the weekend.

And the start of the Lone Star Showdown did not disappoint, as game one of the three-game series on Friday brought out the fireworks as the Longhorns came away with the win in the first game of the series in a 9-8 shootout, ending the night in a walk-off fashion.

Texas Wins High-Scoring Series Opener

Texas Longhorns infielder Viviana Martinez round second base in the fifth inning of the first game of the Women’s College World Series. | NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

The bitter rivals battled back and forth throughout the night with a combined 17 runs scored between the two teams, and the pair combined for 23 hits on the night. And the scoring held throughout the ballgame, with both teams scoring in five of the seven innings.

Getting the start in the circle for game one of the series was the Longhorns, looking to set the tone with their ace in junior Teagan Kavan, who ended the night by tossing 4.2 innings but struggled at times, giving up seven hits, five earned runs, two walks, while striking out just four batters.

Kavan would give up a two-run home run in the top of the third inning and would get pulled for senior Citlaly Gutierrez, who, in relief, put together a solid effort to ease things from within the circle, pitching 2.1 innings while surrendering three earned runs and a strikeout.

Head coach Mike White would go back to his ace in the sixth inning, looking to give Kavan a chance at redemption to close things out in game one of the series, giving up no hits and no runs in her final two innings of action in the sixth and seventh innings. And in the seventh, Kavan recorded all three outs to slam the door with strikeouts.

The Longhorns had six of their batters record at least one hit, with all of those hits coming with runners on base, as the hits all came with an RBI. Leading the Longhorns' scoring was junior Viviana Martinez, who ended the night a perfect 4-4 at the plate with four RBIs and two home runs, her first round-trippers of the season.

With the game all square at eight in the seventh inning, freshman Hannah Wells continues to impress in her first season on the Forty Acres, coming up in the clutch as she came away with a fielder's choice that would allow the walk-off run to score from third.

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