No. 6/9 Softball shares the Opening Day event with the debuts of five newcomers

CLEARWATER, Fla. The 2023 edition of The University of Texas softball program entered the new season with several question marks, but most were answered in nearly seven hours Friday, despite splitting games against No. 23 Missouri and No. 8 Northwestern.

In Texas’ 11-1 win over the Tigers Leigh Goode delivered a run-scoring triple in his first career collegiate plate appearance. Goode channeled freshman magic Viviana Martinez, who single home Goode. The duo sparked an eight-run streak over the next four innings for the Longhorns, while the first-year Longhorn Mac Morgan kept Missouri out of the running column.

Facing a possible five-inning complete suspension for Morgan, Missouri plated its only run in the bottom of the fifth inning to avoid the eight-run mercy rule and extend the game.

The offensive production from Goode and Martinez also carried over into Texas’ 10-9 loss to Northwestern, as the Freshmen combined to go 4-6 at the plate with three runs scored and three runs scored.

HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE:

“(Freshmen) just don’t think like freshmen. They all understand that the game doesn’t know you’re a freshman, so they just attack the pitchers and play the game the way it’s supposed to be played. In fact, they were the ones who looked like veterans today, so hopefully we can take that and continue to build as a team. It’s just harder to have a full negative day. I think there were both positives and negatives, but I think the positives definitely outweighed the negatives.”

GAME NOTES:

• Mac MorganThe first-year Longhorn, after transferring from Arizona State, started Texas’ win over No. 23 for Missouri, which he limited to just one run, scattered five hits, issued one walk and struck out two batters in five innings of work.
• Viviana Martinezwho batted seventh against the Tigers and eighth against the Wildcats, finished his first two career collegiate softball games with 1.000 hits as the Arizona native recorded five hits in five plate appearances.
• Of Texas’ 20 runs in Friday’s two games, the Longhorns had 14 2-out RBIs, led by Mia Scott’s four. In addition, Martinez (3), Jordyn Whitaker (3) and Alyssa Washington (2) all ended with multiple 2-out RBIs.
• Eight different Texas softball student-athletes finished with at least one 2-out hit as the Longhorns finished their two games Friday with a .567 batting average through two innings.
• He looks to build on his Big 12 All-Freshman campaign during the 2022 season, Katie Cimus matched Martinez’s team-high five hits, which included three extra-base hits: two doubles and the team’s first home run of the season on a sixth-inning solo shot against Northwestern.
• Texas’ two-game total of 20 was the highest by a Longhorn offense since 21 against UTA (14) on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, and Iowa State (7) on Sunday, April 3, 2022.

NEXT:

• Texas continues its stay in Clearwater, Fla., where the Longhorns will face Illinois (1-1) and No. 13 Tennessee (2-0) on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 3:00 pm CT / 4:00 pm ET and 5:30 pm CT / 6:30 pm ET, respectively.
  • Illinois beat Southern 14-2 before dropping the contest to the Volunteers 9-2.
  • In addition to Tennessee’s win over Illinois, the Volunteers blanked Howard 21-1.

FOLLOW US:

• For the latest information on the team, follow @TexasSoftball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. General sports news can also be found at @TexasLonghorns on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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