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WCWS Finals: Texas Softball Captures Program’s First NCAA Championship

Nicole Reitz|
Texas' Leighann Goode (43) celebrates a home run in the first inning during the Women's College World Series championship game between Texas Tech and Texas at Devon Park, Friday, June, 6, 2025, in Oklahoma City.
Texas' Leighann Goode (43) celebrates a home run in the first inning during the Women's College World Series championship game between Texas Tech and Texas at Devon Park, Friday, June, 6, 2025, in Oklahoma City. | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

For the first time in program history, the Texas Longhorns are National Champions. 

A five-run first inning, a grand slam from Mia Scott, and a lights-out performance by Teagan Kavan in the circle propelled the Longhorns to the 10-4 win over the Red Raiders. 

Reese Atwood started it all. The Longhorns' best hitter had the worst batting average of the team during the WCWS, but she ended her slump with an RBI that started a major rally in the first inning. 

Katie Stewart followed up with a single through the right side for an RBI, and when Leighann Goode came to the plate with two outs, she rocked a three-run shot over the wall off NiJaree Canady. 

Canady, the ace of Texas Tech, who threw 520 pitches in the WCWS, was pulled after the Longhorns got ahold of her.

Atwood kept the momentum going with a double to second off of Chloe Riasseto. Stewart added a double of her own to score Atwood, and the insurance runs just kept flowing. 

With bases loaded and no outs in the fourth, Scott did wonders in her last collegiate game. A grand slam put the game in the run-rule territory. 

The Red Raiders woke up their bats in the fifth to tack on three runs, taking away the run-rule effect, and once more in the seventh, but Kavan managed to silence them once again.

Notably, by the fourth inning, Kavan had thrown 28.2 consecutive innings in the WCWS without allowing an earned run, becoming the longest streak by any pitcher in D1 history.  She finished the outing with three strikeouts.

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Nicole Reitz
NICOLE REITZ

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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