{"id":322259,"date":"2026-06-04T09:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T09:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/322259\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T09:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T09:14:08","slug":"no-3-softball-capitalizes-on-five-run-first-inning-clinches-game-1-of-wcws-championship-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/322259\/","title":{"rendered":"No. 3 Softball capitalizes on five-run first inning, clinches game 1 of WCWS Championship Series"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>OKLAHOMA CITY \u2013 No. 3 Texas Softball capitalized on a five-run first inning to take down No. 6 Texas Tech, 7-3, in the first game of the Women&#8217;s College World Series Championship Series on Wednesday night at Devon Park.<\/p>\n<p>Texas improves to 52-12 overall and secured its 25th win against a ranked opponent. Texas is 10-2 in the NCAA Tournament and 5-1 at the WCWS.<\/p>\n<p>Junior RHP <a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/teagan-kavan\/13304\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"13304\" target=\"_blank\">Teagan Kavan<\/a> (29-6) threw her fourth complete game of this year&#8217;s WCWS and her 21st of the season. Across 7.0 innings of work, Kavan limited Tech to three runs on three hits with six strikeouts. Tech&#8217;s three hits were the second-fewest hits they&#8217;ve had in a game this year. The West Des Moines, Iowa, native worked around two walks and a hit batter. Kavan recorded two 1-2-3 innings and ended the game retiring five-straight batters.<\/p>\n<p>The Longhorns outhit Texas Tech at a 10-3 clip with two extra-base hits. Junior first baseman <a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/katie-stewart\/13333\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"13333\" target=\"_blank\">Katie Stewart<\/a> hit a two-run home run in the first, setting a WCWS record with her fourth-consecutive game with a home run. Stewart reached base in three-of-four plate appearances after being intentionally walked and reaching via hit by pitch.<\/p>\n<p>Junior shortstop <a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/viviana-martinez\/13327\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"13327\" target=\"_blank\">Viviana Martinez<\/a> went 2-for-3 with two RBI and junior center fielder <a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/kayden-henry\/13302\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"13302\" target=\"_blank\">Kayden Henry<\/a> finished 2-for-4 and scored a run at leadoff. Senior right fielder <a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/ashton-maloney\/13305\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"13305\" target=\"_blank\">Ashton Maloney<\/a> drove in two runs on her triple in the first. It was Maloney&#8217;s team-leading fourth triple of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Texas Tech launched a solo home run in the top of the first inning to go up 1-0 before Texas put up a five-spot in the bottom half.<\/p>\n<p>It all began with Henry leading off with a bunt single. Then, Stewart demolished her 31st home run of the season to give Texas a 2-1 lead. With two outs, senior left fielder <a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/kaiah-altmeyer\/15161\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"15161\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiah Altmeyer<\/a> drove in a run on her infield single to first base to score senior catcher <a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/reese-atwood\/13295\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"13295\" target=\"_blank\">Reese Atwood<\/a> and grant a 3-1 advantage. Maloney mashed her team-leading fourth triple of the season to score Altmeyer and freshman designated player <a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/hannah-wells\/15155\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"15155\" target=\"_blank\">Hannah Wells<\/a> and stretch the lead to 5-1.<\/p>\n<p>Texas scored again in the fourth on Martinez&#8217;s single up the middle that allowed freshman third baseman <a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/jaycie-nichols\/15157\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"15157\" target=\"_blank\">Jaycie Nichols<\/a> to score from second base, making it 6-1 Texas.<\/p>\n<p>Tech trimmed Texas&#8217; lead to 6-3 on a two-run home run in the top of the fifth.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez boosted the Longhorn lead to 7-3 in the sixth on a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Nichols from third. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Notes<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\tThe Longhorns improve to 52-12 (.812) this season.&#13;<br \/>\n\tTexas is 10-2 in the NCAA Tournament and 5-1 in the WCWS.&#13;<br \/>\n\tThe Horns have 25 ranked victories on the season.&#13;<br \/>\n\tTexas&#8217; five runs in the first inning are the most in a Championship Series game since OU had five vs. the Horns in 2022.&#13;<br \/>\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/teagan-kavan\/13304\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"13304\" target=\"_blank\">Teagan Kavan<\/a> turned in her fourth complete game in this year&#8217;s WCWS to earn her 10th career victory at the WCWS. Her 10 wins tie for fourth-most in NCAA history at the WCWS.&#13;<br \/>\n\tKavan is 68-0 when she has a four-run lead throughout her career.&#13;<br \/>\n\tKavan&#8217;s 10 wins at the WCWS ties for the fourth-most by a pitcher in NCAA history.&#13;<br \/>\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/katie-stewart\/13333\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"13333\" target=\"_blank\">Katie Stewart<\/a> set a WCWS record after recording her fourth-straight game with a home run. Stewart smashed her single-season program record 31st home run of the season.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Up Next<\/p>\n<p>Game two between Texas and Texas Tech is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT Thursday, June 4, at Devon Park. The game will broadcast on ESPN. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OKLAHOMA CITY \u2013 No. 3 Texas Softball capitalized on a five-run first inning to take down No. 6&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-322259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322259","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=322259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}