{"id":294316,"date":"2026-05-15T10:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T10:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/294316\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T10:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T10:09:11","slug":"texas-hopes-sec-tourney-title-run-leads-to-another-womens-college-world-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/294316\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas hopes SEC tourney title run leads to another Women\u2019s College World Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN (KXAN) \u2014 Texas head softball coach Mike White isn\u2019t sure what it is, but his team found it heading into the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n

The Austin regional features Texas\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

Wagner, a small college nestled next to St. John\u2019s 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<\/a>. While the NEC and SEC tournaments certainly aren\u2019t the same, White said he can\u2019t overlook anybody at this point.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

AUSTIN, TX \u2013 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)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game is going to reward the best team,\u201d he said. \u201cOur goal here is to play our best softball, and I feel like we got a good start on that last week.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Katie Stewart is the SEC Player of the Year\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever it is, we have it back,\u201d White said. \u201c(We have to) get that confidence going. I think that\u2019s really important. They were loose and confident in who we were playing and how we were playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019t afraid to fail anymore. That has played a huge part in the Longhorns\u2019 rebounding from an 8-9 mark in their final 17 games before the postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re starting to trust our preparation,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re playing for the people next to us, and the seniors since it\u2019s their last postseason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Junior pitcher Teagan Kavan\u2019s approach after the rough stretch late in the year is one similar to a goldfish \u2014 just forget about it as fast as possible and move on.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever happened, happened. You can\u2019t fix that,\u201d she said. \u201cWe can learn from it and go forward, but we can\u2019t do anything about what\u2019s happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN (KXAN) \u2014 Texas head softball coach Mike White isn\u2019t sure what it is, but his team found…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,107448,63519,107449,9969,27,537,15828,107447],"class_list":["post-294316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-double-elimination-tournament","tag-mike-white","tag-northeast-conference","tag-southeastern-conference","tag-texas","tag-texas-longhorns","tag-the-longhorns","tag-wagner-seahawks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294316","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=294316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}