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Henry's heroics lift No. 1 Texas past No. 9 Arizona in extra innings

by:Jason Rhea•02/22/25
Screenshot 2025-02-22 at 6.38.39 PM
Courtesy of Texas Athletics

An offensive slugfest early gave way to a pitcher’s duel in the middle innings. But, Texas got their bats going again in the eighth inning as the Longhorns survived with an 8-4 win over Arizona. Teagan Kavan allowed four runs over 6.1 innings for her sixth victory.

The Longhorns got rolling early in the first inning as Reese Atwood reached on a throwing error by Jenna Sniffen at third base. Katie Stewart followed by drawing a hit-by-pitch. Leighann Goode made the Wildcats pay with a two-run single to the right side. Joley Mitchell followed that with a shot between third base and shortstop for an RBI single to give the Longhorns a 3-0 first-inning lead. That would chase Miranda Stoddard as she was unable to escape the first inning. Devyn Netz was able to get Vanessa Quiroga swinging to end the frame.

The Wildcats needed just five pitches to even things up as Kaiah Altmeyer and Regan Shockey got things started for the Arizona offense. Then, Sydney Stwart obliterated a ball to center field to knot the game at three.

After a scoring barrage in the opening frame, Kavan and Netz both settled in for three scoreless frames each. But, in the fifth inning, Logan Cole reached on an error by Kaydee Bennett at second base and Regan Shockey slapped a base hit down the third base line. A Stewart walk brought up Miranda Stoddard with the bases loaded. However, Kavan froze Stoddard and escaped out of the inning still tied.

The Longhorns took advantage of their scoring opportunity in the sixth inning with two outs. Joley Mitchell beat out an infield single. After reaching second on a wild pitch, Katie Cimusz smacked a double to left field. That would score Mitchell and give Texas a 4-3 advantage. But, that would be the extent of the damage. Iowa State transfer Saya Swain struck out Ashton Maloney to keep the deficit to one.

Arizona was not going down without a fight. Logan Cole got the last scoring opportunity going for the Wildcats with a double. Then, Altmeyer singled down the left field line to tie the score again at four apiece. But, that’s all that Texas would allow. Citlaly Gutierrez came into the circle and forced back-to-back flyouts from Stewart and Stoddard to force extra innings.

Now, the International Tiebreaker was in effect in extra innings. With Goode at second base, Mitchell singled up the middle to put runners on the corners. Arizona threw out Goode at the plate after an infield hit by Mitchell. Next, Maloney hit a low, liner that was caught by Altmeyer but allowed Mitchell to score to give Texas a 5-4 lead. But, that would not be it as Kayden Henry hit a towering home run that brought in three for an 8-4 Texas lead.

Gutierrez was sharp in the bottom half of the eighth inning as she retired the Wildcats in order to secure the win for the Longhorns. Texas shook off the loss to Stanford to move to 14-1 on the season. They will finish the Hillenbrand Invitational against Colorado State on Sunday. Comparatively, the loss moves the Wildcats to 14-2 with a final game against Stanford tomorrow.

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