Softball concludes 2024 season in WCWS Championship Series - University of Texas Athletics (2024)

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Game Recap: Softball | 06.07.2024 | Chris Allen Brown

The Longhorns tied the school single-season record with 55 wins and reached the Championship series for the second time in the last three years.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. –With its backs against the walls of Devon Park at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex, The University of Texas' softball program came out swinging with its historic 2024 season on the line. But a knockout punch in the form of a three-run bottom of the sixth was the final blow for the Longhorns as the Oklahoma Sooners hung on to an 8-4 victory on Thursday night.

Kayden Henry, a freshman playing in her first Women's College World Series (WCWS), connected on the first swing when the Dickinson, Texas native sent an 0-2 pitch to right-center field to score Reese Atwood from second and gave Texas a 1-0 lead. Oklahoma answered during the next round with a one-out, two-run home run to take a 2-1 lead.

Again, though, the Longhorns withstood the gut punch as the team's captain Alyssa Washington delivered a two-out single back up the middle to score Viviana Martinez from third and tie the game at 2-2. During the follow inning, on a similar play that the Sooners capitalized on Wednesday night, Texas re-took the lead at 3-2 when Henry scored from third as Mia Scott reached base via a two-out fielding error.

However, Oklahoma battled right back with a three-run, four-hit bottom of the fourth that was highlighted by a one-out, bases-clearing double to the right-center field gap.

For the second consecutive game, the Longhorns rallied in the sixth inning when Scott was credited with a two-out, infield single that plated Joley Mitchell from third and cut the team's deficit to 5-4. But, as momentum was shifting across the diamond and the game-tying run on third, Scott was tagged out attempting to get back to first base after the base knock.

The Sooners saw an opportunity to land a potential knockout punch in the bottom of the sixth and seized the opportunity with a one-out single through the right side that plated a run. And then, two batters later, a two-run single to center field extended the Oklahoma lead back to four runs at 8-4.

FROM HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE

"Yeah, obviously congratulations to the University of Oklahoma on their fourth championship in a row. It's an incredible feat. We know how tough it is just to get here, let alone win four. It's an amazing achievement, especially for those classmen that were freshmen and now have four rings, that's something that drives all of us to get better, to be able to come back and win.

To my team, what an incredible effort. Great year. As I told the four seniors that are leaving, you always want to leave the jersey in a better place than you found it. And they've all done that, and they can be extremely proud of their efforts and contributions to the program and to softball as a whole."

FROM FRESHMAN OUTFIELDER KAYDEN HENRY

"I want people to remember our grit. I mean, we fought this whole year. We had a great regional, honestly, in my opinion. We have a young team. Any moment we were down, I feel like people can never count us out. We continued to fight. We showed our Texas fight the whole entire year. We worked our way to No. 1 for a season. We'll be back again."

GAME NOTES

• With her two-out single in the top of the third, Reese Atwood was credited with her 80th base hit on the season, which is tied with Janae Jefferson (2019) for third on the program's single-season hit list.
• As a result of her fourth-inning stolen base, Kayden Henry recorded her first multi-stolen base game since March 15, 2024 against BYU when the freshman was credited with two stolen bases.
• The Texas offense was credited with three stolen bases throughout Thursday night's game, which is tied for the second most by a team in a WCWS Championship Game.
  • The Longhorns' three stolen bases were the most by a team in a WCWS Championship Game since Florida State was credited with three on June 5, 2018.
• Mia Scott, Teagan Kavan and Katie Stewart were all selected to the Women's College World Series All-Tournament Team.
  • The three Longhorn selections tied the 2022 team — Estelle Czech, Courtney Day and Bella Dayton — for the most WCWS All-Tournament Team selections in a single season in program history.
• Texas' Kayden Henry led all WCWS participating student-athletes with two stolen bases.

UP NEXT

• The 2025 season.
  • The Longhorns will enter the 2025 season having scored at least one run in their last 31 consecutive games, which is six games shy of tying for the fourth longest streak in program history.

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