The Texas Longhorns and Tennessee Lady Vols played an if-necessary game to decide who moved on for a shot at the national championship. Texas sealed the deal with a 4-0 win to move on to the championship series.
Teagan Kavan dominated in this one. Tennessee just could not overcome her game, and Kavan pitched a complete-game shutout with 10 strikeouts, allowing just two hits.
“I think I was able to mix a little bit more than I did the first day,” Kavan said afterward. “I think I hit, I don’t know what the stats will show, but I think I hit corners a little better than I did. I missed a pitch, and they capitalized on it the first day. I was able to keep them off the board today, and so that was huge just to keep our team in the game.”
After Kavan opened the game by retiring the Lady Vols in order, Karlyn Pickens dominated the bottom of the first inning by striking out the side. This game had the makings of a pitcher’s duel. Kavan responded with another quick inning.
Hannah Wells was the first to reach base. After Pickens recorded two outs in the bottom of the second, including her fourth strikeout of the game, she issued back-to-back walks to Wells and Kaiah Altmeyer.
Pickens’ grip was affected by the sweat on the hot Oklahoma City day, where it felt like 103 degrees. But the Lady Vols were able to get out of the inning on an Ashton Maloney groundout.
“Definitely was a little sweaty out there,” Pickens said. “Keeping the hand dry kind of was in the back of my mind. Yeah, we tried to fix that as best we could, just using rosin, all that stuff.”
Kavan was on a roll and would not be outdone by Pickens. The Lady Vols were retired via three consecutive strikeouts in the third inning. Kavan was dialed in, and Tennessee had trouble picking up on her spin.
Jaycie Nichols broke the no-hit bid for Pickens to lead off the bottom of the third inning. Nichols placed a perfect slap halfway down the third-base line and beat out Dodge’s throw.
Then Kayden Henry reached on a bunt to put two on. Things quickly went worse for Pickens and the Lady Vols.
With one out, Nichols scored on a Vivana Martinez RBI single. Then, as Martinez stole second, Henry stole home. Reese Atwood wrapped up the three-run inning with an RBI double to score Martinez. Texas ended the inning with five hits.
After Kavan recorded two outs in the top of the fourth, Emma Clarke broke her no-hit bid with a single up the middle. However, Kavan responded with her sixth strikeout of the day.
The offense just couldn’t get things going against the Longhorns, and with Kavan having a lead, it felt like the Lady Vols were beginning to press.
“I think Texas has a really good pitching staff, and we just weren’t at our best today,” Clarke said afterward. “Kudos to them, we tip our hats to them, and they were just better than us today.”
Kavan kept dealing and recorded her seventh and eighth strikeouts of the game in the fifth inning. She worked the zone up and down and just made it difficult on Tennessee.
Katie Stewart added her 30th home run of the season, a one-out solo shot in the bottom of the fifth. Texas had all the momentum and took care of business on both sides.
Ella Dodge ripped a pitch off the first-base bag that was ruled foul in the top of the sixth, and it popped up to hit Stewart in the face. Stewart turned out to be fine after medical attention but exited the game. Dodge fought off 10 pitches before flying out for the third out.
After Pickens threw her last inning as a Lady Vol to complete her outing, Kavan returned to close the door, and after retiring the side in order, the Longhorns moved on to the national championship series.
