In a matchup between the Big 12 Freshman of the Year and the USA Softball National Player of the Year, it was actually the freshman who got the upper hand as Teagan Kavan and the Texas Longhorns outdueled NiJaree Canady and the Stanford Cardinal on Thursday evening, 4-0.
Kavan was sensational in her Women’s College World Series debut, tossing a complete 7.0 innings and allowing just a single hit with four walks and eight strikeouts on the evening.
Canady, meanwhile, also went the distance, tossing 6.0 IP with five hits and four earned runs allowed while also allowing four walks and recording five strikeouts in the inning. While it certainly wasn’t the best outing we’ve seen from the Stanford ace, Texas’ offense deserves a ton of credit for keeping consistent pressure on the nation’s best hurler.
The Longhorns went 5-of-20 (.250) at the plate, but when their at-bats mattered most, they came through. Texas was 4-of-10 (.400) with runners on base and 4-of-7 (.571) with runners in scoring position. The Longhorns tallied three two-out RBIs on the evening and were able to keep their foot on the pedal consistently all night.
An RBI single from Bella Dayton in the bottom of the third inning gave Texas a 1-0 lead, while a single from Mia Scott brought Dayton around to score later in the inning to make it 2-0 Longhorns.
That score would hold until the bottom of the sixth when Kayden Henry singled up the right side. The ball was mishandled by Stanford right-fielder Kaitlyn Lim, which led to two more insurance runs coming across on the error.
The win moves Texas to the winner’s bracket on Saturday, and will play in Game 8 at 6:00 p.m. on ESPN. The Longhorns will face the winner of Game 4, between No. 5 Oklahoma State and No. 4 Florida.
Meanwhile, Stanford will have to play again on Friday in an elimination game against the loser of the Cowgirls and Gators.
