{"id":191477,"date":"2026-03-05T08:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T08:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/191477\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T08:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T08:34:08","slug":"why-texas-longhorns-can-win-ncaas-toughest-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/191477\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Texas Longhorns can win NCAA’s toughest conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas softball<\/a> completed the\u00a0nonconference portion of its schedule in dominant fashion while reaffirming itself as a serious contender for a second consecutive national championship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for the No. 3 Longhorns (19-1), so have plenty of other SEC squads.<\/p>\n

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No conference in the country boasts the firepower of the SEC, which begins league play this weekend. Six of the top-seven teams in this week\u2019s National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll<\/a> come from the conference, including No. 1 Tennessee, No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Florida, No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 7 Arkansas as well as Texas.<\/p>\n

Five other teams \u2014 including No. 23 South Carolina, which hosts Texas in a three-game series beginning Friday in Columbia, S.C. \u2014 are in the poll.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns infielder Katie Stewart (2) and catcher Reese Atwood (14) walk to the dugout after two scores during the game against Abilene Christian at Red & Charline McCombs Field on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026 in Austin.<\/p>\n

Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Even Ole Miss and Auburn received votes, which means Missouri and Kentucky are the only league teams not to get any kind of love from the NFCA voters. (Vanderbilt doesn\u2019t compete in softball, making makes the SEC a 15-team conference.)<\/p>\n

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\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns outfielder Ashton Maloney (7) bunts the ball during the game against Abilene Christian at Red & Charline McCombs Field on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026 in Austin.<\/p>\n

Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Entering conference play, SEC teams have a cumulative 262-57 record.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou always track the conference results to see how everyone’s doing,\u201d Texas head coach Mike White said. \u201cThe top of the conference is really kind of separating themselves from the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

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MORE: Texas softball: The Longhorns beat Houston in first game on Longhorn Invitational schedule<\/a><\/p>\n

But White also mentioned the league\u2019s depth, which will likely scathe even the best teams. Last season, Texas finished third in the SEC with a 16-8 league record before racing through the postseason and winning its first national championship. Oklahoma and\u00a0Texas A&M <\/a>shared the 2025 regular-season championship and lost seven conference games each last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of it’s hard to get out for those three (series) games and get a sweep,\u201d White said. \u201cAnd if you want to win the conference, you’ve got to get at least three or four sweeps.\u201d<\/p>\n

As SEC play swings into action, let\u2019s break down what Texas must do \u2014 and what the Longhorns must avoid \u2014 in order to win its first SEC regular-season championship as well as the sixth conference title in program history.<\/p>\n

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Reese Atwood, Teagan Kavan among reasons why Texas will win the SEC<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns starting pitcher Citlaly Gutierrez (77) throws a pitch in the third inning of the Longhorns\u2019 9-1 win over the Houston Cougars in their first game of the Longhorn Invitational at Red and Charline McCombs Field in Austin, Feb. 27, 2026.<\/p>\n

Sara Diggins\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Behind All-American catcher Reese Atwood<\/a> and first baseman Katie Stewart<\/a>, the Longhorns possess arguably the best lineup in college softball. They rank seventh in the country in both hitting (.395) and runs per game (9.65). They also lead the SEC with 2.05 steals per game, not usually a focus for White\u2019s power-packed lineups.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it’s obvious how stacked our roster is right now,\u201d said\u00a0Atwood, the career home run leader for Texas who\u2019s hitting .490 with a team-high 33 RBIs. \u201cWe have so much talent in every position. I think that’s just really exciting for us moving forward and going into the SEC this week.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The newcomers to a veteran lineup have stepped up. White said Arizona transfer\u00a0Kaiah Altmeyer (.472 batting average, 16 RBIs) has \u201ckind of earned that starting spot in (left field) for us. She\u2019s made some fabulous catches.\u201d White also credited a strong crop of freshmen led by third baseman Jaycie Nichols, utility MaTaia Lawson, pitcher Hannah Wells<\/a> and outfielder Alisa Sneed for the contributions. In particular, Nichols seems to have locked down the starting spot at third base.<\/p>\n

Ace Teagan Kavan<\/a> has hit her stride at the right time. Last season\u2019s Most Outstanding Player at the Women\u2019s College World Series, Kavan gave up 13 runs and 18 hits in 14 total innings during her first four starts of the season. But over her past six starts, Kavan (2.14 ERA, 8-0 record) has allowed just 20 hits and five earned runs in 35 innings.<\/p>\n

MORE: Texas softball: Back healthy, shortstop\u00a0Viviana Martinez happy to again be helping UT<\/a><\/p>\n

Pitching depth tops reasons why Texas won\u2019t win the SEC<\/p>\n

According to White, the Longhorns\u2019 No. 2 pitcher in the rotation behind Kavan remains a work in progress.<\/p>\n

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Sophomore\u00a0Cambria Salmon<\/a> (2.13 ERA in 26 1\/3 innings), senior Citlaly Gutierrez<\/a> (2.19 ERA, 16 innings) and Hannah Wells (2.88, 17 innings) have all started multiple games this season, but White said \u201cI think we’re not going to have a clear-cut No. 2 pitcher, per se. (But) we can’t put all that pressure on one pitcher (Kavan). We need to have pitching step up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gutierrez has the most experience with 46 career starts and almost 300 innings, but she\u2019s also the most versatile; a year ago, 24 of her 34 appearances came out of the bullpen.<\/p>\n

Fifth-year senior Ashton Maloney<\/a>, the longtime leadoff hitter who set a single-season school record for hits a year ago with 93, has endured a slow start to the season. Maloney is a career .386 hitter but\u00a0is only batting .296 entering SEC play, which has dropped her to No. 9 in the lineup. When the scrappy Maloney starts slapping her way onto the bags, it adds that extra juice to the Texas lineup.<\/p>\n

Atwood, the team\u2019s unquestioned leader from her vantage point behind the plate, admits to some nitpicking. But she wants more on-field chatter for a team with 20 errors in 20 games, a slightly higher rate for Texas than the past couple of seasons.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf there’s one thing to be picky about, I think it’d be more of our communication,\u201d she said. \u201cJust a few communication errors here and there might get us in the SEC. But we’ve been working on that in practice. We\u2019ve talked about it as a team, and we already saw the improvements in our communication (at the\u00a0Longhorns Invitational<\/a>).”<\/p>\n

Regardless of the opposition, Stewart said the Longhorns need to maintain\u00a0 the intensity that has helped them win 17 consecutive games, a streak that includes three wins over teams currently ranked by the NFCA.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot making SEC play bigger than any other game we’ve already played,\u201d said Stewart, who\u2019s hitting .490 with 28 RBIs and a team-high 11 home runs. \u201cHow we play the game doesn’t change, even though it’s conference. I think one thing is just (be) more on the attack. I think once we get to a certain point, we get a little complacent. Knowing that anybody in the SEC can come back at any time, it\u2019s just being able to close the door when we need to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texas vs. South Carolina: How to watch<\/p>\n

Where: Carolina Softball Stadium in Columbia, S.C.<\/p>\n

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Schedule: Game 1 at 5 p.m. Friday; Game 2 at 2 p.m. Saturday; Game 3 at 11 a.m. Sunday.<\/p>\n

TV\/radio:\u00a0SEC Network+; texaslonghorns.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas softball completed the\u00a0nonconference portion of its schedule in dominant fashion while reaffirming itself as a serious contender…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[46014,63519,47588,9764,61479,56161,27,29,537,28703,28],"class_list":["post-191477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-college-softball","tag-mike-white","tag-reese-atwood","tag-sec","tag-sec-softball","tag-teagan-kavan","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-longhorns","tag-texas-longhorns-softball","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}