Texas Softball Avoids Sweep, Secures Win on Senior Day vs. Arkansas

The Texas Longhorns headed into Saturday looking to salvage some momentum after they had already dropped their final conference series of the regular season. The Longhorns lost the first two games of the series to the visiting No. 7 Arkansas Razorbacks and looked to avoid the sweep.

Taking the field for the final game of the regular season, Texas would end on a positive note and build some momentum heading into the SEC Tournament. The Longhorns scored a victory on their Senior Day, taking the final game of the series 4-1.

Texas honored seven seniors ahead of the ballgame, catcher Reese Atwood, infielder Leighann Goode, outfielder Ashton Maloney, pitcher Citlaly Gutierrez, Kaydee Bennett, Kaiah Altmeyer and Victoria Hunter were all recognized pregame. And the group will be leaving their final regular-season game at Red and Charline McCombs Field with a win.

Texas Finds Enough Hits as Teagan Kavan Deals

Texas Longhorns pitcher Teagan Kavan throws a pitch in the first inning against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. | Brett Rojo-Imagn Images

The Longhorns strung together their highest number of hits of the weekend in the series finale, outhitting the Razorbacks 8-4. And on Saturday afternoon, the hits managed to bring in some runs with the Longhorns scoring a pair of runs in the second and fifth innings.

Texas started the game as it had for most of the series, trailing on the scoreboard. The Razorbacks would strike first with a solo home run in the top of the second inning; however, the Longhorns responded right away.

On Senior Day, one of the Longhorns' freshmen got them right back into the game with Hannah Wells providing the prompt response. In the bottom of the second, Wells got a hold of a pitch and launched it over the wall for a go-ahead two-run home run.

The Longhorns added another pair of runs late in the ballgame to protect their lead, with two of their seniors being involved in the scoring. Atwood forced an error which brought in a run, and Goode singled to drive in the fourth and final run of the game.

"It's definitely good," Texas head coach Mike White said. "You always want to right the ship after you've had some tough losses. Last night we had a couple of tough bounces, and we didn't play that well on defense. Today, we changed that. We pitched very well, and we played really good defense and got some opportunistic hitting."

Junior Teagan Kavan took to the circle in the final game of the regular season and was in control from the start, going the distance to pick up win No. 20 on the season. Kavan allowed just four hits and one earned run while striking out 10 batters.

"You could see it on her face coming in last night, like I'm determined," White said. "I'm going to do this for my team. We didn't end up winning the game, but just her demeanor was so much better."

The next time the Longhorns take the field, they'll be battling in the SEC Tournament. While the rest of the SEC looks to finish up their regular season, Texas will be waiting. The Longhorns don't yet have a set opponent, but the tournament begins on Tuesday, May 5.

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