Tag: Reese Atwood

Texas catcher Reese Atwood takes home Player of the Year honors

Reese Atwood is racking up the awards.

It shouldn’t be a shock to see star Texas Longhorns softball catcher Reese Atwood earn some national recognition after the season she has had.

This season for the No. 1 Longhorns, Atwood has an impressive slash line of .435 (batting average)/.505 (on base percentage)/.904 (slugging). She has set Texas single-season records with her 23 home runs and 90 RBIs, which also led the country this season. She was recently named Big 12 Play of the Year and national Player of the Year by Softball America. Now D1 Softball has also named her as their national Player of the Year.

Last season Atwood played in 58 games with 56 starts slashing .291/.313/.529. She doubled her home run and rbi output while also showing more patience at the plate with 23 walks as opposed to her three walks last season with 12 more strikeouts.

Here is what D1 Softball had to say about Atwood:

One of 2024’s best breakout stars, Atwood earns National Player of the Year honors after a stellar season. Establishing herself as one of the nation’s most feared hitters, Atwood owns a .435 batting average and a 1.409 OPS. She led top-seeded Texas with 23 home runs, nearly doubling the total of her next-closest teammate. Atwood leads the nation with 90 RBIs and has earned 33 free passes, including 23 walks and 10 hit-by-pitches. Defensively, she owns a .972 fielding percentage and has been a rock behind the plate for the Longhorns.

Texas will face off with Stanford in their first matchup of the Women’s College World Series, where they will see the D1 Softball national Pitcher of the Year, NiJaree Canady who holds an ERA of 0.65 with 310 strikeouts.

You can catch Atwood and the Longhorns in Game 3 on ESPN2. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT.

Texas softball coach, players react to advancing to WCWS

Texas is Oklahoma City bound. Players and coaches react to win over Texas A&M.

Texas Longhorns head coach Mike White certainly had the right way of summing up the Longhorns’ 2-1 series victory over the Texas A&M Aggies in the NCAA softball super-regionals this past weekend.

“Obviously, (there is) never a dull moment in a Texas softball game,” White said after Sunday’s 6-5 Longhorns victory. “That was exciting stuff.”

Texas freshman pitcher Teagan Kavan, who earned the save despite giving up three late A&M runs, said she was on “cloud nine” after the Longhorns clinched their spot in the Women’s College World Series.

This has been a dream of mine since I was 10 years old,” Kavan said. “I can’t believe it. I’m proud of us and our fight. We’re not done yet and we’ve got business to take care of (in the WCWS).”

She received the support of her teammates despite the tense situation late. Texas scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 6-2 lead, but Kavan had a trick to keeping calm and earning the save.

“I kept focusing on the speaker at the top of the field and took a deep breath,” she said. “That’s what got me through.”

Texas catcher Reese Atwood added “this series was one of the most intense series I’ve been a part of.”

“I’m proud of the team to take the energy of the (Longhorns) fans and away from the A&M fans,” she said. “They definitely brought it, too.

“The emotion for the team is extreme excitement. We’re also grateful we have an opportunity to go play on the biggest stage. We’re getting ready now. We got past this really tough series and we have to prepare for what we’ve got coming.”

Texas takes on Stanford in Game 3 of the women’s college world series at 6 p.m. CT Thursday in Oklahoma City.

Listen to the full press conference here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ4AXMs6wzY.

No. 1 Texas softball set to start NCAA Tournament Friday

No. 1 overall seed Texas opens up NCAA Tournament play in the Austin regional against Siena on Friday.

The No. 1 overall seed Texas Longhorns softball team opens up NCAA Tournament play in the Austin regional against Siena Friday. Continue reading “No. 1 Texas softball set to start NCAA Tournament Friday”

No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners beat No. 1 Texas Longhorns 5-1, win Big 12 tournament championship

Kelly Maxwell recorded seven strikeouts and allowed just two hits to lead the Oklahoma Sooners to their second consecutive Big 12 tournament title.

Oklahoma Sooners pitcher [autotag]Kelly Maxwell[/autotag] threw a gem, and the Sooners enacted Red River revenge on the Texas Longhorns to win the Big 12 tournament title.

Maxwell threw 5 2/3 innings and allowed one run on two hits and three walks. She recorded seven strikeouts against a vaunted Texas offense that was averaging just over 15 runs per game in its last five outings. Maxwell and the Sooners snapped Texas’ 18-game winning streak, which started with the second game of the OU-Texas three-game series in Austin.

Batting as the visiting team, the Oklahoma Sooners started early. [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag] reached on an error by first baseman Katie Stewart. [autotag]Ella Parker[/autotag] picked up an infield single, beating the throw from second base on a slow dribbler. [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag] made her presence felt with a double to score Coleman. With Parker on third, [autotag]Kinzie Hansen[/autotag] came through with a fielder’s choice RBI to put Oklahoma up 2-0 in the first inning.

Maxwell worked a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the first but ran into trouble in the second. After a couple of strikeouts, Maxwell surrendered a walk to Joley Mitchell and Kayden Henry drove in the Longhorns only run of the game with a triple to right center. Maxwell ended the threat, leaving Henry stranded on third.

Like they’ve done so many times, the Sooners responded in the top of the third inning. Parker singled and advanced on a wild pitch. She came around to score on a hard-hit ball by [autotag]Alyssa Brito[/autotag] to put Oklahoma up 3-1. Hansen brought Brito around to make it 4-1. Hansen had a double that she nearly turned into a triple, but the Texas relay throw was just in time to get Hansen at third and retire the side.

The Longhorns couldn’t take advantage of a lead-off single in the top of the third as Maxwell retired the next three Longhorns in order.

The Sooners tacked on another run in the top of the fourth after [autotag]Alynah Torres[/autotag] reached on another Texas error. Boone singled up the middle to score Torres to put the Sooners up 5-1.

In the bottom of the fourth, Maxwell needed just six pitches to retire the Longhorns in order. In the fifth, she surrendered a leadoff walk but struck out the next two Longhorns before inducing a ground out to end the inning.

In the sixth, Maxwell ran into trouble after she walked and hit Texas batters to put runners on first and second with nobody out for Big 12 Player of the Year [autotag]Reese Atwood[/autotag]. Atwood lined a ball to straight away center field that Jayda Coleman played perfectly to prevent the Longhorns from pushing two runs across.

But then [autotag]Patty Gasso[/autotag] and Jennifer Rocha went to the bullpen and senior [autotag]Nicole May[/autotag]. May had struggled from the circle, but was flawless in her 1 2/3 innings of work. May recorded three strikeouts to help preserve the victory and give the Sooners the Big 12 tournament title for the second year in a row.

It was Maxwell’s second Big 12 tournament title in the last three years after beating the Sooners as a pitcher for the Oklahoma State Cowgirls in 2021. In this one, against arguably the hottest team in the country, Maxwell was lights out.

With the win, Maxwell moved to 17-2 on the season. Ella Parker continued her incredible tournament with another two-hit game. Parker was named most outstanding player for the tournament. She was 7-for-9 in Oklahoma’s three games with a home run, two doubles, five RBIs and six runs scored.

It’s the Sooners’ ninth Big 12 tournament title since the formation of the conference. Now, they head into the NCAA tournament on a high note. The Oklahoma Sooners will host an NCAA regional next weekend, but we’ll find out who it is on selection Sunday.

After beating Texas to split the four games, the Sooners have a chance to move back into the top spot after Tennessee was bounced early in the SEC tournament by LSU and Oklahoma State lost to BYU in the opening round of the Big 12 tournament.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions. You can also follow John on X @john9williams.

Oklahoma Sooners hang on to beat Texas 5-2 in series opener

Kelly Maxwell was phenomenal through six innings, and Jayda Coleman provided the difference at the plate in the Oklahoma Sooners 5-2 win over Texas.

[autotag]Kelly Maxwell[/autotag] was phenomenal through six innings, and [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag]’s three-run homer proved to be the difference in the Sooners’ 5-2 win over the Texas Longhorns.

In a highly-anticipated top-five matchup, the game lived up to the billing as Maxwell and Longhorns starter Mac Morgan battled to keep the score low.

The Sooners got things going in the third inning. However, a heads-up challenge from Texas head coach Mike White and solid defensive positioning from the Horns prevented Oklahoma from creating a bigger inning.

After her single moved Maya Bland to third, Kinzie Hansen was called out for leaving the base early on a [autotag]Rylie Boone[/autotag] single, which wiped Oklahoma’s first run off the board and put Bland back on third. Instead of first and third and nobody out, the Sooners gave up an out with Hansen’s aggressiveness.

It ultimately didn’t matter as the Sooners cashed in, but the inning could have been bigger.

But Boone came through with one out, and Jayda Coleman’s drive to left could have gone for extra bases, but White had his team playing the line to take the double away, and [autotag]Patty Gasso[/autotag] was forced to hold Boone at third. Coleman drove in Bland to put the Sooners on the board. On the next at-bat, [autotag]Alyssa Brito[/autotag] drove in Boone to make it 2-0.

The Sooners then got things going again in the fifth, again on a rally started by the back half of the order.

In the fifth, Hansen looked to drive a double down the line, but another timely challenge from White ruled that the ball was foul as it went past third base. Hansen then grounded into a fielder’s choice. Rylie Boone singled on a chopper to put two on with one out for the reigning Big 12 and National Player of the Week, Jayda Coleman.

Facing a 2-2 count, Coleman launched a ball to right field for a three-run home run to put Oklahoma up 5-0.

More: By the Numbers: No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners vs. No. 4 Texas Longhorns

Things got interesting in the bottom of the seventh when Joley Mitchell singled to lead off the inning and moved to second on a wild pitch. One of the best hitters in the nation, Reese Atwood, doubled down the left field line to score Mitchell and get the Longhorns on the board. Leighanne Goode walked and Viviana Martinez moved Adayah Wallace to third on a fielder’s choice. Ashton Maloney’s sacrifice fly scored Wallace to make it 5-2 and after a walk to Victoria Hunter, freshman Katie Stewart came up to the plate as the tying run with two outs.

The broadcast team mentioned during her at bat that in pregame batting practice, Stewart hit a ball over the fence and into the apartments beyond the stadium, breaking a window. With that kind of power, Texas was one swing away from tying the ball game. Stewart battled to a full count and Kelly Maxwell induced a groundball to [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag] to close out the game and secure the win.

The Texas Longhorns offense came into this game sixth in the nation in scoring and second in batting average. Maxwell held them to two runs on three hits, three walks and recorded 10 strikeouts. At one point in time, Maxwell had struck out 7 of the 11 Longhorns batters that she’d faced.

After hitting .857 last weekend against Kansas, Coleman was the hero in this one, going 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs. Rylie Boone was the only other Sooners hitter with multiple hits on an evening where the vaunted Sooners lineup only collected seven hits. [autotag]Cydney Sanders[/autotag] walked twice

The win moved Oklahoma to 35-1 on the season and 13-0 in Big 12 play. The Sooners are now four games up on Texas in the regular season conference title race. Oklahoma State beat Houston to stay within three games.

It was the Sooners ninth win in a row over the Longhorns and they extended their nation leading win streak to 17 games.

Oklahoma and Texas get back at it on Saturday for game two of the Red River Rivalry series in Austin. That game can be seen on ESPN with first pitch scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CT.

More: How to watch No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners vs. No. 4 Texas Longhorns

More: Sooners, Blue Devils top consensus top 25 rankings for week 8

Texas Softball: No. 5 Longhorns defeat No. 8 UCLA Bruins, 3-2

Texas softball made a statement in Top 10 win over UCLA.

Texas softball got off to a hot start on Friday. The No. 5 Longhorns earned a Top 10 victory over the No. 8 UCLA Bruins, 3-2. Continue reading “Texas Softball: No. 5 Longhorns defeat No. 8 UCLA Bruins, 3-2”

No. 1 Oklahoma Softball vs. No. 9 Texas: How to watch, weekend preview, key players, schedule,

Weekend preview of the Oklahoma Sooners’ three-game series against the Texas Longhorns. Game times, how to watch, key players, prediction.

The Red River Showdown resumes this weekend at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City and then heads to Marita Hynes Field in Norman for a renewal of one of the great rivalries in college softball.

The No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners play host to the No. 8/9 Texas Longhorns in what’s anticipated to be a capacity crowd.

A rematch of the 2022 Women’s College World Series, the showdown is getting the attention it deserves with the Saturday and Sunday games getting a bump from ESPN+ to ESPN2.

Gone are stars Jocelyn Alo and Janae Jefferson, but the series still has a ton of star power on both sides. Although for Texas, it takes on a bit of youth movement.

Juniors Jayda Coleman, Tiare Jennings, and Alyssa Brito lead the way offensively for the Sooners, while freshmen Leighanne Goode and Reese Atwood do a lot of the heavy lifting for the Longhorns.

It will be a fantastic series between the two sides, here’s what you need to know to get ready for the top 10 rivalry series.