Texas Softball Explains Why a Target on Its Back Is Fuel for a Title Repeat
The Texas Longhorns are still riding high off their historic 2025 season, which saw the program claim its first-ever national title over the in-state Texas Tech Raiders. After coming in as runners-up to Oklahoma in 2024, they used that stinging defeat and turned it into resilience.
Now gearing up for 2026 and a chance to repeat, the pressure is on, and a target has been placed on their backs by every team across the country that wants a hand at beating the reigning national champions.
If one asks head coach Mike White, though, he believes the pressure is good for the growth of his players.
Sports anchor and reporter for KVUE News, Anne-Parker Coleman, asked White and his players what it's been like to flip the switch from celebrating last year's championship to now forgetting about it and focusing on getting another.
"Everyone's gunna want to beat the national champions."
— anne-parker coleman (@anneparkercole1) January 16, 2026
I asked @TexasSoftball what it's been like to flip the switch from celebrating last year's natty to now forgetting about it and focusing on getting another...#Texas | #HookEm pic.twitter.com/4S6J41h9ke
“There is gonna be a target on us for sure,” White said in the video. “Everyone is gonna want to beat the National Champions, and that’s good. That brings a little bit of pressure, but pressure is privilege.”
Ace Teagan Kavan heads into her junior season, and she’s certainly molding into a strong team leader. After getting a rocky start in the postseason, she went on to set the Women’s College World Series (WCWS) record for the most innings pitched without allowing an earned run with 31.2. Her dominant performance throughout the tournament and during the WCWS championship series earned her Most Outstanding Player.
If anyone is prepared to go into battle once again, it’s Kavan.
“Teagan has told us all the time that we gotta be very present,” utility player Katie Stewart said in the video. “The past already happened, and we aren’t guaranteed another national championship. We need to keep playing our game.”
Catcher Reese Atwood also knows firsthand what it’s like to endlessly fight for first place. After finally raising the NCAA trophy, the senior isn’t backing down for anything and will go into the 2026 season with a clean slate.
She struggled a bit at the plate during the postseason, but she found her rhythm in the championship series and finished with a .393 batting average, a team-leading .822 slugging percentage, and a .504 on-base percentage. She led the team in RBIs (89), home runs (21), total bases (157), OPS (1.326), and walks (41). She became the first student-athlete in program history to record multiple 20-home run seasons.
“Ultimately, that’s what is going to end up being our play this year, Atwood said in the video. “To be who we are this year and not let last year seep in.”
While ranked No. 2, just behind Texas Tech, in Softball America’s preseason top 25 rankings, Texas returns nearly its entire stunning lineup from the WCWS, aside from star third baseman Mia Scott and first baseman Joley Mitchell. White’s picks in the transfer portal add even more depth to the roster.
Earlier this offseason, White admitted that in order to repeat, every area of the field needs fine-tuning, and production on the field has to be much better than it was during the championship year.
“Do you want to try and repeat? It’s the process you have to focus on,” White told Brady Vernon at Softball America. “When you look back at how good we were as a program, regardless of the national championship, we still have a lot to work on. We have to improve in the pitching area, defense, and offense; the better we do in those areas, the more likely we are to be there in the end. The key is consistency, and for us, we just have to be better than we were last year.”
The Longhorns will open their 2026 slate on the road at the UTSA Invitational at Roadrunner Field in San Antonio on Feb. 6-8. The team is scheduled to play 36 games against teams that qualified for the 2025 NCAA Tournament, including 20 games against teams that advanced to Super Regionals.
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Nicole Reitz graduated from Indiana University Indianapolis with a degree in sports journalism in 2022 and has been writing about softball and baseball since 2018 .Her work has been published in various publications like Softball America, the Indianapolis Star, and SoxOn35th.
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