Tag: ncaa softball rankings

Texas Softball: Longhorns walk it off in the 9th inning

The Texas Longhorns needed some late innings heroics and a couple errors to stay unbeaten on the season.

The Texas Longhorns softball team was facing adversity for a change in their latest matchup with the North Texas Mean Green. The Longhorns fell down 2-0 very early, in fact the Mean Green scored both runs with one out. Shealyn O’Leary pitched three innings and gave up just the two runs. The offense struggled to pick up the slack for Texas.

Courtney Day came on in relief to throw two scoreless innings. Day surrounded just one hit and striking out one. She gave way for the Big 12 pitcher of the week Miranda Elish to pitch the rest of the way. Elish went four innings of shutout softball, striking out five and walking one.

On offense, the Longhorns struggled and had to scratch and claw their way back into the game. In the first Kaitlyn Washington hit a sacrifice fly to right field to bring Shannon Rhodes across the plate. North Texas pitcher Hope Trautwein pitched eight innings and gave up two runs, she got the no decision in this one.

Texas would tie the game up in the 7th inning when Camille Corona scored on a wild pitch from Trautwein. It would come down to the Longhorns in the 9th inning to remain perfect. Rhodes singled but a throwing error by North Texas allowed pinch runner Tuesday DerMargosian to come around to score to walk off in the ninth inning.

Elish improved to 5-0 on the season and Texas is now 11-0 early on in the season.

Texas Softball Jumps to No. 3 in Latest Top 25

After going a perfect 4-0 in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge this past week, UT has risen to No. 3 in the latest D1Softball top 25.

After going a perfect 4-0 in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge this past week, the Longhorns have risen to No. 3 in the latest D1Softball top 25. With their overall record at 10-0, Texas joins UCLA as the only two undefeated teams in the top 10 and are tied for the second-most wins throughout the entire top 25.

Just above the Longhorns at No. 2 are rivals Oklahoma. The Sooners jumped from No. 4, going 4-1 this past week. Oklahoma State at No. 8 and Texas Tech at No. 19 are the only other Big 12 teams ranked.

Coming up for Texas is a home game against North Texas on Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. CST. After their midweek game, they will host the Texas Invitational, as Duke, Lipscomb, North Dakota State, and Weber State will travel to Austin to participate.

Another game to look forward to is when the Longhorns will travel to Los Angeles to face the No. 1 ranked UCLA Bruins. Playing on Feb. 27, two of the top three teams in the country will be squaring off possibly for the title of No. 1 team in the country.

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Texas Longhorns Sweep Their Way Through PV Tournament

The Texas Longhorns softball team finished the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge with their perfect record intact.

The Texas Longhorns softball team swept a triple-header on Friday in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge. Texas was back on the mound for a double-header that included an exhibition match against the Mexican National Team. They dropped that game 5-4 after a wild eight inning. Texas had the bases loaded but hit into a triple-play to end that strong effort. They gave up a sac fly in the bottom of the eight for the walk-off.

In the night cap of the double-header, Texas would take on the Ole Miss Rebels. Miranda Elish took the ball and proceeded to pitch a complete game where she gave up just one unearned run in the 7th. Elish improved to 4-0 on the season giving up just three hits and striking out seven.

Kaitlyn Washington’s RBI ground out in the second got Texas on the board, Kaitlyn Slack singled to drive in Mary Iakopo to make it 2-0. In the third inning the Longhorns extended the lead to 4-0 when Iakopo single that scored two unearned runs. Texas is now 10-0 on the season and three players picked up some tournament hardware.

The Longhorns will host the North Texas Mean Green on Wednesday ahead of the Texas Invitational next weekend.

Texas Softball Sweeps Triple Header, Hands Utah First Loss

The Texas Longhorns softball team remain red hot, sweeping a triple header and improving to 9-0 on the season.

The Texas Longhorns game into the weekend riding a 6-0 start. They would face California Baptist in their first game of the day. Red hot Miranda Elish would cool down going 0-3 in the first game, leaving two on base. Courtney Day would take the mound in this game and would go the distance. She pitched seven scoreless innings for the Longhorns striking out four and allowing four hits.

Caitlyn Lloyd would hit a triple but wasn’t ever able to get home. Day scored the first run for Texas in the second inning when catcher Colleen Sullivan drove her in. Sullivan wouldn’t be done there as she came in clutch in game two. Leadoff hitter Reagan Hathaway drove in two more runs in the fourth and came around to score on a Janae Jefferson double. The Longhorns win the first of two, 4-0. Day improved to 2-0.

The first time this season the Longhorns found themselves in the hole in a game. The Utah Utes were able to get to starter Shealyn O’Leary in the 4th inning. Due to a throwing error, the Utes got one run across the plate to give the Longhorns their first real deficit of the season. Again in the 5th inning, the Utes scored another unearned run to go up 2-0, the Longhorns were held scoreless heading into the 7th inning.

Kaitlyn Slack got the scoring starting with a home run off starter Halle Morris who had pitched six scoreless inning up to that point. Hathaway followed up with another home run to tie the game off relief pitcher Sydney Sandez. Sullivan came to the plate with Jefferson on second to walk it off in the bottom of the 7th to remain perfect on the season.

In their third game on the day, Miranda Elish would dominate the 12th ranked Tennessee Volunteers. Elish didn’t much run support in this game but received more than she needed in the first inning. After scoring just seven combined runs in the first two game, the offense exploded for an eight-run bottom of the first. Vols starting pitcher Kiki Milloy lasted just 0.2 of an inning giving up six runs on four hits.

Courtney Day would hit her first home run on the season to put Texas up 10-0, they added another run in the third on a RBI single by Shannon Rhodes to go up 11-0, Elish handled the rest. She pitched five scoreless innings and the game was run ruled to give Elish her third victory. Texas finished the day with a 9-0 record.

College Softball Rankings: Texas currently top 10 team in nation

Texas softball is off to a hot start with an undefeated record, positioning them as a Top 10 team in the nation.

Texas softball is off to a hot start with an undefeated record.

According to the 2020 USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll, Texas is ranked the No. 6 team in the nation. This particular poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches, one from each conference.

These particular records reflect games played through Feb. 10, 2020.

No. 1 – Washington – 5-0

No. 2 – Oklahoma – 4-0

No. 3 – UCLA – 6-0

No. 4 – Arizona – 5-0

No. 5 – Florida State – 5-0

No. 6 – Texas – 6-0

No. 7 – LSU – 5-0

No. 8 – Florida – 4-1

No. 9 – Alabama – 1-3

No. 10 – Kentucky – 4-0

While Texas remained at the same spot as the preseason poll, they are just one point away from jumping Florida State for the No. 5 spot.

Texas hosted six games last week for the Texas Classic. Led by senior pitcher Miranda Elish, the Longhorns have surrendered just eight runs while outscoring their opponents 60-6 in the process.

Elish was named Big 12 Player of the Week, leads the conference with 17 RBIs. Oklahoma, Texas, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech are the only four Big 12 teams to crack the Top 25 rankings.