Kavan’s shutout lifts Texas to win over Arizona State, back to WCWS

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas will return to the Women’s College World Series to defend its national title.

The Longhorns capped a 2-1 series win in the super regional round over Arizona State with a 5-0 victory Sunday at McCombs Field. Katie Stewart drove in four runs, and Teagan Kavan hurled a complete-game shutout with five strikeouts.

AUSTIN, TX – APRIL 12: Texas Longhorns utility Katie Stewart (20) gets a hit during the SEC college softball game between Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners on April 12, 2026, at Red & Charline McCombs Field in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Adam Davis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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The win sends the second-seeded Longhorns back to Devon Park in Oklahoma City, where they claimed the program’s first national championship last season. They’ll face Tennessee at 1:30 p.m. CT Thursday in the double-elimination tournament.

Texas bounced back from a 4-1 loss to open the best-of-3 series on Friday against the Sun Devils, claiming Saturday’s game 4-3 thanks to a pinch-hit 2-run home run in the seventh inning by Victoria Hunter.

Stewart provided the bulk of the offensive punch for the Longhorns, smacking a pair of 2-run singles in the third and sixth innings. Shortstop Vivi Martinez capped a 15-pitch at-bat against Sun Devils pitcher Kenzie Brown with an RBI triple in the fifth to score Kayden Henry. Martinez fouled off 11 pitches during the plate appearance, and then ripped a pitch down the first-base line that rolled all the way to the right-field wall, playing Henry to give Texas a 3-0 lead.

Kavan kept the Sun Devils off balance, forcing eight groundouts and eight flyouts to go with her strikeouts. She scattered five hits, allowing a 2-out triple to Yannixa Acuna in the fourth on a pop-up that dropped in shallow right field just out of Leighann Goode’s diving catch attempt. With the outfield heavily shifted the opposite way, the ball squirted into foul territory, allowing the speedy Acuna to scamper to third.

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After Kavan walked Brooklyn Ulrich, she got Tiare Ho-Ching to ground out to end the inning, escaping the jam unscathed.

Texas (47-11) was 7-for-19 with runners on and 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Arizona State didn’t have a hit with runners in scoring position, going 0-for-5. Both of Stewart’s 2-run singles came with two outs.

Stewart, Henry and Martinez all had two hits for the Longhorns. Acuna had two hits for the Sun Devils.

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