she did overlap with<\/a> Caitlin Clark as students at Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, Iowa. The thread was connected repeatedly when she was a freshman. Not so much anymore as Kavan stands on her own name. There is no doubt she will be the one leading a new era after pitchers Canady, Jordy Frahm and Karlyn Pickens; and UCLA\u2019s home run hitters Megan Grant and Jordan Woolery move on to the pros.<\/p>\nKavan\u2019s greatest skill has always been rising to the occasion. She earned second-team All-American status this year, and Glasco felt she never received the respect she deserved this season.<\/p>\n
But sometimes, White said, it\u2019s like she gives up leads \u201calmost like she feels sorry for\u201d the opponent, as if it\u2019s a game in the game to level up.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
The WCWS was not the time for that. Since Kavan was tired and tight after throwing 115 pitches the prior night, White and Taylor weren\u2019t sure she could go seven. And if they lost that way, she wouldn\u2019t be available for a winner-take-all Game 3.<\/p>\n
They handed the ball to Citlaly Gutierrez. Taylor knew she was confident for the moment as soon as the senior looked her dead in the eye before facing Tennessee in the semifinals and saying she was ready for the first game. White talked her up publicly all week, knowing his team had worked hard since last year\u2019s title to fill the pitching void between Kavan and Co.<\/p>\n
Gutierrez earned the win allowing one run off three hits in 4 \u2153 innings, none bigger than the fourth with the bases loaded. She came back in to relieve freshman Hannah Wells, who pitched once between May 1 and Game 2, and shut down the threat to preserve a slim 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe got the biggest out in the whole tournament for us because without a doubt that could have gone the other way,\u201d White said.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
It set up the desired return of Kavan, who came in for the sixth with MOP votes already secured in the electronic ballot box. Throwing 21 strikes in 28 pitches to finish off one of the most dangerous and definitely the most expensive offenses in the country was merely an accoutrement to elevate the point. It was her third WCWS save, tied with Oklahoma\u2019s Paige Lowary for most in a WCWS career.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she came in and she smelled the win, she was not giving that up,\u201d White said. \u201cShe was a killer. She was an assassin out there on the mound today and just really didn\u2019t give them an opportunity to come in, and shut the door so hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
Kavan\u2019s elevation in such a scenario stood starkly against Glasco and his baffling pitching decisions. Unlike earlier in the tournament, these ones went against his normal circus \u2014 and didn\u2019t work out. He yanked both his All-Americans, Canady and Kaitlyn Terry, by the third inning of Game 1. And instead of going back to swapping them out, he stuck with Canady despite Texas scoring two runs off two hits and an error in the sixth.<\/p>\n
Everyone knew Kavan would soon head to the bullpen. She took the circle as dusk fell, the 12,308 in attendance swaying alongside their phone\u2019s flashlights to Ella Langley\u2019s \u201cChoosin Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Considering the two-time MOP has one final year of eligibility, it tracks to select the same. Thoughts of a three-peat and more trophies are on the horizon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 Teagan Kavan wandered the infield slightly hunched over by trophies in each hand. The pockets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[113574,63519,56530,115779,56161,27,29,28,1769,63517],"class_list":["post-323748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-gerry-glasco","tag-mike-white","tag-nijaree-canady","tag-ruth-taylor","tag-teagan-kavan","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-tech","tag-wcws"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323748","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=323748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"OKLAHOMA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/09cdbf28-3dbd-4b74-a73c-c41264d7bfdd.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n