By Riley Zayas
Softball starts 2020 season 6-0
The Texas softball team played its first home games of the season when they hosted the annual Texas Classic, which this season featured Texas A&M Corpus-Christi, Maryland, Wichita State, Colorado State and Lamar.
Facing high preseason expectations, the Longhorns kicked off 2020 well, going 6-0, and run-ruling all six opponents in six or fewer innings, outscoring their opponents 68-8, behind phenomenal performances at the plate.
They began[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] the Classic with a Thursday afternoon doubleheader, defeating Wichita State, 10-2, and just three hours later, rolling over Maryland, 17-0. After a break, they returned to the diamond Friday night to shut out Lamar, 12-0. Saturday featured another doubleheader as they took down Colorado State, 12-3, and Wichita State, 9-1 — both in five innings. The Classic was capped off Sunday afternoon in an 18-2 beatdown of the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders, behind two hits and six runs batted in from the versatile Miranda Elish, who saw time played right field, pitcher, designated hitter and left field over the game’s six games.
Elish was really the star of the Texas Classic, at least for the Longhorns, anchoring them at the plate, where she went 9-for-11, with four of those hits being home runs, and also drew three walks and drove in 17. On the mound, she was just as phenomenal, throwing 10 innings and picking up the wins against both Wichita State and Colorado State, tossing 18 strikeouts. To nobody’s surprise, she was named the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Player of the Week.
There’s no rest for the weary, as the Longhorns will travel across the Mexican border and compete with the likes of Utah, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Cal Baptist and the Mexican National Team in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge Thursday through Saturday, playing five games in three days.
Sutton named a top 10 finalist for prestigious award
After scoring a season-high 20 points on the road against Texas Tech, Texas guard Sug Sutton was named one of 10 finalists for the prestigious Nancy Lieberman Award, given to the nation’s top point guard, who demonstrates what it means to truly “run the floor” and proves herself to be a leader and a high-level ballhandler with great decision-making skills. Sutton has those traits, ranking seventh in the Big 12 in assists per game (4.05) and sixth in the league in steals per game (1.8 per game). She also averages double figures in scoring with 11.4 points per game.
The award, which was won in each of the last two seasons by Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu last season, is named in honor of Lieberman, who was an All-America point guard at Old Dominion from 1976-80. Along with Ionescu, the lists of finalists includes Baylor’s Te’a Cooper, Connecticut’s Crystal Dangerfield and South Carolina’s Tysha Harris.
Men’s tennis picks up victory over No. 18 Georgia
The No. 4 men’s team knocked off No. 18 Georgia, 4-3, in just the fifth meeting between the teams since the 1975 season. No. 2 Yuya Ito, had an off day, falling to No. 28 Trent Bryde, 7-6. But Ito bounced back, pairing up with Christian Sisgaard to win their double match, 6-4, for the Longhorns. Chih Chi Huang and Cleeve Harper also won their match to give UT the critical doubles point. Sisgaard had perhaps the best day of any on the Texas team, rolling to a singles victory over No. 17 Phillip Henning before teaming up with Ito for the doubles win.
Texas went down early, 2-1, but won the next two matches in singles play to put them in front, and ultimately set them up for the win.
Women’s tennis wins big over No. 12 Ohio State
The No. 7 women’s tennis team beat No. 12 Ohio State Sunday in Chicago, winning its second straight consolation game after being defeated in their first-round match against No. 9 Florida State and then knocking off Illinois, 4-1.
The 4-3 win over Ohio State came after the Turati sisters, Anna and Bianca, teamed up to win a doubles match early on, and then won their matches in singles play, with Bianca’s victory over No. 8 Shiori Fukuda sealing the victory — their sixth of the season — for the Horns, their sixth of the season. In doubles, Fernanda Labrana and Marta Perez Mur won four consecutive games to take down Fuduka and Irina Cantos Siemers for the point. This was the fifth occasion in UT’s seven dual matches that the Horns have earned the doubles point, and proved to be a critical point, as the Buckeyes and Longhorns tied in singles action.
With the first part of their season over, Texas will host Air Force at 3 p.m. Thursday at the Texas Tennis Center.
Black History Month on the Forty: Julius Whittier
Each week, Horns Illustrated will include a short profile on a black former student-athlete.
Whittier was the first African-American letterman in the history of Texas football, first taking the field in 1969 for a school that was, at the time, less than 10 percent black. However, while he showed exemplary courage in breaking down a racial barrier, he didn’t set out to be a trailblazer. Instead, he simply wanted to play the game he loved at the highest level possible.
“I was a jock, plain and simple,” Whittier told The New York Times in 2005. “I didn’t care about civil rights or making a mark. I just wanted to play big-time football.”
He didn’t stop at making history though. He played a key role in the team’s three straight Southwest Conference championships under Darrell Royal, and made three Cotton Bowl appearances. He started on the offensive side of the ball his final two years with the team, as an offensive lineman his junior year and tight end his senior year.
“As the first African-American to play and letter in football at UT, I must say it was a maturing experience for me,” Whittier said during his 2013 University of Texas Hall of Honor induction speech.
He went on to work in the Dallas County Prosecutor’s office for decades after earning his law degree from Texas in 1980.
Whittier died in 2018, at the age of 68.
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