The Texas Longhorns came into game one of the WCWS finals as, believe it or not, the underdogs. That was a big mistake. The Longhorns always play their best ball when nobody expects them to win.
The Horns got down quickly when Teagan Kavan gave up a solo shot in the top of the first to stake the Red Raiders to a 1-0 lead. But the cheers coming out of the Hub City wouldn’t last long.
Texas’ Kayden Henry got a beautiful leadoff bunt single which set the stage for Katie Stewart.
“I was thinking one pitch at a time, I saw my pitch and I made sure not to miss it,” Stewart told ESPN after the game.
The Horns weren’t done yet, Kaiah Altmeyer would get an RBI to make it 3-1 Texas and then Ashton Maloney, the 8th hitter in the lineup, got a triple to drive in two more runs and just like that, Texas was up 5-1 in the first inning.
Kavan was masterful throwing a complete game three hitter to pick up the win. She said she wasn’t rattled giving up the early homer, realizing that Tech wasn’t likely to be shut out.
“It’s probably not going to be a scoreless game, I’m probably going to give up a run here or there,” Kavan said after the game. “So to get it out early, I just kept telling myself, ‘it’s ok, it was going to happen at some point.’”
Meanwhile, Texas Tech’s vaunted pitchers didn’t fare quite so well.
Tech coach Gerry Glasco opted to go with Kaitlyn Terry as the starting pitcher instead of his million dollar star, NiJaree Canady.
Terry didn’t make it out of the first inning before Glasco brought on Canady in relief. Canady pitched 1 ⅓ innings before she got pulled as well. All told, the pair gave up six hits and five runs, all of them earned, in their 2 ⅔ innings.
The Horns are now just one win away from winning it all. They’ll get the chance to close out the series tomorrow night at 7:00 pm (CT).
