AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas head softball coach Mike White isn’t sure what it is, but his team found it heading into the NCAA Tournament.

The Austin regional features Texas’ opponent at 3 p.m. Friday, the Wagner Seahawks, along with Wisconsin and Baylor, in a double-elimination tournament that runs through Sunday at McCombs Field.

Wagner, a small college nestled next to St. John’s University on Staten Island in New York, ran through the Northeast Conference tournament with three wins to claim the automatic bid despite a losing record at 22-26 overall. The Longhorns won the Southeastern Conference tournament, beating No. 1 national seed Alabama in the title game. While the NEC and SEC tournaments certainly aren’t the same, White said he can’t overlook anybody at this point.

AUSTIN, TX – MAY 02: Texas Longhorns infielder Hannah Wells #13 celebrates after hitting a two run home run during the SEC college softball game between Texas Longhorns and Arkansas Razorbacks on May 02, 2026, at Red & Charline McCombs Field in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Adam Davis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

“The game is going to reward the best team,” he said. “Our goal here is to play our best softball, and I feel like we got a good start on that last week.”

Texas won three games in the SEC tournament, beating Ole Miss, Georgia and the Crimson Tide. They capped the tournament run with a 7-1 win over the Tide, forcing SEC pitcher of the year Jocelyn Briski to throw 70 pitches in three innings.

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“Whatever it is, we have it back,” White said. “(We have to) get that confidence going. I think that’s really important. They were loose and confident in who we were playing and how we were playing.”

Junior first baseman Katie Stewart, the SEC player of the year and school record holder with 25 home runs so far this season, said the team isn’t afraid to fail anymore. That has played a huge part in the Longhorns’ rebounding from an 8-9 mark in their final 17 games before the postseason.

“We’re starting to trust our preparation,” she said. “We’re playing for the people next to us, and the seniors since it’s their last postseason.”

Junior pitcher Teagan Kavan’s approach after the rough stretch late in the year is one similar to a goldfish — just forget about it as fast as possible and move on.

“Whatever happened, happened. You can’t fix that,” she said. “We can learn from it and go forward, but we can’t do anything about what’s happened.”

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