By Steve Lansdale
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — This is not the way the postseason was supposed to start for the University of Texas softball team.
The Longhorns entered the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at the USA Hall of Fame Stadium Complex ranked No. 8 in the nation … and lost pool play games to No. 14 Oklahoma State, 6-2, and Iowa State, 2-0.
With the losses, UT’s record fell to 41-14. The Longhorns now will play [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]in a Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship placing game at 11 a.m. Saturday against an opponent that has not yet been determined.
In their first game of the day, against Oklahoma State, starting pitcher Miranda Elish surrendered six hits and six earned runs in 5-1/3 innings.
Texas took a two-run lead in the fourth inning when left fielder Kaitlyn Washington smacked a double to right-center field, driving in pinch runner Ki’Audra Hayter and center fielder Reagan Hathaway.
But OSU roared back with six runs in the sixth inning. Center fielder Chyenne Factor cut the deficit in half with a bases-loaded single that scored right fielder Rylee Bayless. Pinch hitter Sydney Springfield then drove in what proved to be the tying and eventual winning runs with an RBI single to center field that drove in first baseman Michaela Richbourg and second baseman Madi Sue Montgomery.
Oklahoma State pitcher Samantha Show was outstanding, scattering four hits over seven innings to run her season record to 17-7, while Elish watched her season record fall to 14-9.
The Texas bats were better, but only barely, in the second game of the day against Iowa State, as UT got five hits against the Cyclones — two by third baseman Shannon Rhodes — after mustering just four against the Cowgirls.
Brooke Bolinger started the second game for Texas, allowing just two hits but also a pair of earned runs, and absorbing the loss to fall to 9-4. The Longhorns had chance to score in each of the first two innings, but stranded two runners in the first and one in the second to remain scoreless against Iowa State starter Emma Hylen, who pitched seven shutout innings to improve her season record to 15-9.
The game’s only runs came on one swing, when designated player Talyn Lewis drilled a two-run home run to center field in the fourth inning.
Washington’s double against Oklahoma State and Rhodes’ two-bagger against Iowa State gave Texas hitters 86 this season, tying the school record set in 2012.
Freshman Shealyn O’Leary didn’t start either game, but pitched in relief in both, throwing 3-1/3 scoreless innings between the two games to lower her NCAA Div. I-leading earned run average to 0.46.
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