Texas Softball Smashes 3 Homers, Shuts Out Florida in WCWS Opener

Credit: BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON www.si.com/onsi/softball

Teagan Kavan and the Texas Longhorns completely turned around from their Super Regionals appearance against Clemson and put up quite the fight against the Florida Gators to take a 3-0 victory in the opening game of the Women’s College World Series on Thursday.

With Kegan Rothrock in the circle for Florida going head-to-head with Kavan, it was inevitable that a pitcher’s duel would commence, but the Longhorns were able to break through. 

In the second inning, Joley Mitchell took Rothrock’s screwball over the left field wall for a solo shot. From there, the bats were silent on both ends until Mitchell stole the show once again in the fifth, this time with a solo homer to right field. 

Her two home runs made her the first player in program history with a multi-home run game in the WCWS. 

Katie Stewart followed up immediately with a solo shot of her own, almost in the same spot as Mitchell, and Rothrock was pulled from the game. 

Rothrock finished her outing with four strikeouts, including the Longhorns’ best bat, Reese Atwood, who struck out twice, once looking. Florida went through two more pitchers before ending the game with Katelynn Oxley, who held the Longhorns from scoring again. 

Kavan finished the complete game shutout with one strikeout and two walks. 

Florida will play on Friday against the loser of the Oklahoma and Tennessee game at 7 p.m. ET