The Texas Longhorns Are Now College Softball’s Super Power

For a long time, the Texas Longhorns' rival across the Red River has held the title as the goliath of college softball. The Oklahoma Sooners have been the superpower and the team to beat, especially after an unprecedented four straight national championships.

However, the claim to be the top program in the sport has shifted below the Red River as the Longhorns have made their claim to be the new top team in college softball, winning back-to-back national championships after taking down the Texas Tech Red Raiders in two games. Texas now becomes one of five programs to ever win back-to-back national titles.

Before Oklahoma's four-peat, the last team to win consecutive national championships was the Florida Gators back in 2014 and 2015. The Longhorns now put themselves into elite company, tied for the third most national titles of all time, equaling the Gators, Arizona State Sun Devils, and Texas A&M Aggies.

Texas Grabbing the Brass Ring Was Only a Matter of Time

Texas Longhorns pitcher Teagan Kavan (17) throws a pitch in the first inning against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. | Brett Rojo-Imagn Images

The Longhorns appearance in this year's Women's College World Series championship series is their third straight time being one of the last two teams standing. And now, after securing a second national title, they have been the ones at the top of the mountain, two out of the last three seasons.

"Like I said when we started the season to the team, we won a national championship, we're not here to defend it, we're here to get better," Texas head coach Mike White said after Thursday's win. "I felt like we won the national championship, but we weren't playing to a level that I think we can get to where we have everything working."

Texas has been knocking on the door of a national title, being in the championship series four out of the last five seasons. Before breaking through and winning a year ago, the Longhorns had been runners-up running into the Oklahoma dynasty in 2024 and 2022, in 2023 Texas did not make it out of the Super Regionals.

Not only had a national championship eluded the Longhorns since becoming a program back in 1997, but the ultimate crown had also slipped from the hands of head coach Mike White.

A national championship had eluded the Longhorns' head man for 15 seasons as a head coach, making seven trips to Oklahoma City between his time with Texas and Oregon before winning his first national title in his 16th season as head coach and his 8th time in OKC.

In his eight seasons in Austin, White has taken the Longhorns to seven straight trips to the Super Regionals, four out of the last five Women's College World Series championship series, and now back-to-back national titles. No team outside of Oklahoma has a better resume than Texas over the last few seasons, and with two straight titles, Texas has its claim to be the top program in the sport.

Only two programs have ever won three straight national championships, one being the UCLA Bruins from 1988-1990, who have 12 national titles, the most all-time, and the second being Oklahoma in 2021-23.

"I have so much faith in this program, I believe that they can three-peat, I believe they can four-peat," senior Reese Atwood said. "I believe with the standards that this program has set and the culture and the love that our support staff and everybody gives us, anything that we want is possible."

The Longhorns would have a shot at joining that elite group in 2027, with a wealth of talent returning from its national title squads, with Teagan Kavan and Katie Stewart being the headliners, as the juniors will head into their senior season as two-time national champions with a chance at a third.

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