{"id":321290,"date":"2026-06-03T18:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T18:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/321290\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T18:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T18:40:10","slug":"texas-seeks-to-defend-softball-title-in-womens-college-world-series-rematch-with-texas-tech-houston-public-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/321290\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas seeks to defend softball title in Women\u2019s College World Series rematch with Texas Tech \u2013 Houston Public Media"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780512010_846_.webp\" alt=\"The Texas Longhorns celebrate catcher Reese Atwood, far left, as she scores a home run against Tennessee in the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.\"\/>The Texas Longhorns celebrate catcher Reese Atwood, far left, as she scores a home run against Tennessee in the Women\u2019s College World Series in Oklahoma City.  (Photo Courtesy Of Texas Athletics)<\/p>\n<p>The University of Texas softball team is playing for a second ring this year at the Women\u2019s College World Series Championship in Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n<p>The Longhorns (51-12) face the Texas Tech Red Raiders (61-8) starting Wednesday night in a rematch of last year\u2019s championship showdown. UT Austin fought back after a Game 2 loss last year to win its first title in the program\u2019s 28-year history.<\/p>\n<p>Texas battled through the elimination bracket in Oklahoma City to earn its spot in the championship series. The Longhorns swept Tennessee in the WCWS semifinals Monday, with a complete game shutout from pitcher Teagan Kavan enabling the 4-0 win that sent UT to the championship.<\/p>\n<p>Standing in the Longhorns\u2019 way is a Texas Tech team that has been fueled by star pitcher NiJaree Canady, who made history as the first college softball player to sign a $1 million name, image and likeness deal when she transferred from Stanford to Texas Tech in 2025.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780512010_739_.webp\" alt=\"Texas Longhorns pitcher Teagan Kavan throws a pitch against Tennessee at the Women's College World Series.\"\/>Texas Longhorns pitcher Teagan Kavan throws a pitch against Tennessee at the Women\u2019s College World Series.  (Photo Courtesy Of Texas Athletics)<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, Canady threw a two-hit shutout game against the University of Alabama, propelling the Red Raiders to the finals. Texas Tech is seeking the first national championship in program history.<\/p>\n<p>The Longhorns scored five runs in the first inning of last year\u2019s title game, including a three-run home run from Leighann Goode. In the fourth inning, Mia Scott delivered a grand slam that pushed the lead to 10-0 \u2014 all but guaranteeing the team\u2019s win.<\/p>\n<p>Canady and Kavan will go head-to-head as starting pitchers Wednesday night in the first of the three-game championship series at Devon Park in Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n<p>Game 1 is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN. Game 2 will be Thursday at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN, with an if-necessary Game 3 set for Friday at 7 p.m. CT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texas Longhorns celebrate catcher Reese Atwood, far left, as she scores a home run against Tennessee in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[115058,223,154,27,29,28,873,4101],"class_list":["post-321290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-college-soaftball","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-tech-university","tag-university-of-texas-at-austin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321290","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=321290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}