AUSTIN, Texas – No. 1 Texas Softball utilized a 3-2 victory vs. No. 15 Texas A&M to clinch the Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown Saturday afternoon at McCombs Field. Texas won Friday night’s series opener, 9-8.
Following the victory and the Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown trophy presentation, the Athletes Unlimited Professional Softball league presented Texas seniors Reese Atwood and Leighann Goode with a “golden ticket”, which represents official selections into the AUSL College Draft pool.
Texas improves to 31-1 overall, 8-0 in Southeastern Conference play, 16-0 at home and moves to 11-1 against ranked opponents. Texas is on a program and national best win streak of 29 games.
Senior catcher Reese Atwood shined behind the dish and at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two RBI off a solo home run and single. At catcher, Atwood threw out two would-be base stealers at second and pulled off a no-look pickoff at third base.
Senior shortstop Viviana Martinez accounted for Texas’ other run on an RBI single in the first. Junior center fielder Kayden Henry and freshman pitcher/designated player Hannah Wells both connected on base hits.
Freshman RHP Hannah Wells received the win after going 5.2 innings in the circle, limiting Texas A&M to just two runs on seven hits while striking out three. Wells worked around three walks and two hit batters. Junior RHP Teagan Kavan picked up her second save of the season after tossing 1.1 innings of relief. Kavan retired all four batters she faced with one punchout.
Texas A&M got an early 1-0 lead in the first on a sacrifice fly. Martinez and Atwood smashed back-to-back RBI singles in the bottom half to give Texas a permanent lead at 2-1.
A&M tied the game at 2-2 in the third on a single to right, and then Atwood fired a solo home run in the bottom of the third for the 3-2 edge.
Up Next
No. 1 Texas and No. 15 Texas A&M meet at 1 p.m. CT for Sunday’s series finale. The game will broadcast on ESPN with Matt Schumacker and Amanda Scarborough on the call.
