No. 6/9 Softball wraps up action in the NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic

CLEARWATER, FL A day after weather conditions washed out Saturday, the University of Texas softball program returned to action Sunday and picked up where it left off with a 7-0 win over Illinois before tying No. 17 Kentucky 4-4.

Texas (2-1-1) and Kentucky (2-0-1) previously had a 3:30 pm ET / 2:30 pm CT “drop time” for the Wildcats’ travel plans. The two teams were tied 4-4 after seven full innings, and because the Longhorns were unable to complete their offense in the bottom of the eighth inning, NCAA rules reset the score to the final full inning, which ended in a 4-4 tie.

HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE

“I thought the pitchers came a lot better today. I thought Estelle Czech Republic, during that first game, came out and threw the ball really well and was able to hit his spots and spots. And we were able to get through the bats and get him runs. Leigh Goode was another nice game and Reese Atwood got a big hit against Illinois and it was great to see. In the second game, we got up on Kentucky in the first half, and then we just started to fall apart a little bit on the defensive end, which allowed them to get back into the game. I thought it was a tale of two games in the last game: first half was great, second half not so great.”

GAME NOTES

• Mia Scott was the Texas representative on the NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic All-Tournament Team. For each of the 16 participants in the three-day event, one student-athlete was selected for the entire tournament team.
  • On the weekend, Scott finished with a .467 batting average with a team-leading seven hits and eight runs scored. He was also credited with five stolen bases in four games and finished the Longhorns’ four games with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.
• In Texas’ 7-0 win over Illinois, freshman second baseman Viviana Martinez he was awarded a single shortstop in his first plate appearance of the morning. The hit was Martinez’s sixth career hit in six official plate appearances.
  • Unfortunately, the streak ended for Martinez in his next plate appearance when he popped out to first base in the top of the fourth inning.
• Saturday afternoon’s tie with Kentucky marks the first time in program history that Texas has had at least one tie in back-to-back seasons since the Longhorns had a six-inning tie with Minnesota in the 2022 season.
  • Saturday’s result is just the fifth tie in Texas softball history: 2000 (1), 2008 (2), 2022 (1), 2023 (1).
• His seven-inning complete game shutout against Illinois, Estelle Czech Republic now has four career seven-inning complete shutouts as a member of the Texas softball program.
  • Czech’s last seven-inning complete game shutout came on June 6, 2022, when she kept Oklahoma State out of the run column during the Women’s College World Series.
• appearing in Saturday’s game against Kentucky, Alyssa Washington has now appeared in 100 career collegiate softball games as a member of the Texas softball program.
  • Washington joins in Courtney Day (118) and Alyssa Cinderella (115) as the only active Longhorn softball student-athlete to reach the career milestone.
• Reese Atwood She became the second Longhorn softball student-athlete to hit a home run in the 2023 season when the freshman sent the first pitch over the left-field fence in the fourth inning against Illinois.

NEXT

• After playing five games at Florida State over the weekend, Texas now opens home regular season softball action by hosting Lamar at 6pm CT on Wednesday, February 15th.
  • Lamar travels to Austin after five games in the round robin tournament hosted by the University of Houston. Over the weekend, Lamar dropped two games to Virginia (5-0,4-1), two games to Nebraska (8-0, 7-0) and one to Houston (9-1).

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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