Texas softball stays alive in NCAA playoffs with wins over Texas A&M, SHSU

By Steve Habel, Senior Contributing Writer

AUSTIN, Texas — The ninth-ranked Texas softball team is still alive and kicking in the NCAA playoffs, thanks mostly to the rubber-armed pitching of Miranda Elish and home-run prowess of third baseman Shannon Rhodes.

It took all the Longhorns had to beat pesky Sam Houston State, 3-0, Saturday at Red & Charline McCombs Field in their second elimination game of the day to stay in the hunt for their first run to the College World Series since 2013.

The victory over the Bearkats, the Southland Conference champion, in the nightcap followed a 3-2, eight-inning win over Texas A&M in Saturday afternoon’s first elimination game.

Texas (43-15) advances to play [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]Houston Sunday afternoon in the championship game of the Austin Regional. If the Longhorns survive that contest, the two teams will play again, with the winner advancing to next week’s Super Regional.

The Longhorns defeated Houston, 5-0, when the squads squared off April 10 in Austin.

“We are happy to survive and keep our season going,” Texas coach Mike White said, “and it was a real struggle today against two very good teams.”

Elish (16-9) pitched every inning and won both games, beating Sam Houston State while allowing just one hit and striking out 11 in seven innings. She did not allow a walk in the impressive performance.

“What a performance for Miranda all day,” White said. “She kept hitting her spots and kept her pitch count down in the second game, which was huge. We don’t want to be knocked out of the tournament with our horse on the bench, and we will ride her as much as she can go.”

Elish threw 229 pitches in the two games combined.

“I’m good — I’m going to go get an ice bath as soon as I leave here and get ready for tomorrow,” Elish said. “I didn’t feel any fatigue. If I did, I just pushed through it. I felt like I was getting stronger as the game went on.”

Texas had to work hard to beat the Bearkats (35-23) in the second elimination game. The Longhorns manufactured a run in the first inning off Sam Houston State starter Karina Sanchez (2-6). Mary Iakopo’s groundout scored Lauren Burke from third base to give Texas an early lead.

“The long ball doesn’t always show up in these games,” White said, “so it was important for us to get a run on the board early on and build on it.”

Rhodes ripped two-run homers in each game, with her blast in the sixth inning of the nightcap expanding the Texas lead to 3-0, providing a pair of key insurance runs and allowing Elish some breathing room for the final two frames.

“We have a lot of power, and we haven’t shown the long ball game much this year,” Rhodes said. “The home runs were big, especially the one in the second game, which helped us get through today, but it was a total team effort.”

Longhorns beat Texas A&M to stay alive
Texas advanced to second elimination game with a 3-2, eight-inning win Saturday afternoon over Texas A&M. The Longhorns had the game in hand, threw it away (literally) and bounced back to scratch out a run in extra innings to keep their season alive.

“Getting through that first one was big, and now we can create some momentum off the two wins today and by the way we fought and played and won,” White said. “You never know what can happen in this game.”

The Aggies stuck first in the losers’ bracket game, pushing across an unearned run in the first inning off Elish without a hit. Kelbi Fortenberry walked to lead off the frame, stole second, went to third on an error by Texas shortstop McKenzie Parker and scored on a wild pickoff throw to third by Longhorns’ catcher Mary Iakopo.

Texas responded in the bottom of the second as Parker doubled and came home when Rhodes clubbed a home run well over the left-field fence to hand the Longhorns a 2-1 lead.

Elish had to work out of a jam with runners on first and third with no out in the fifth. She coaxed a popout from Garcia, who was trying to bring home the tying run with a bunt, and a foul out by Baylee Klingler before striking out Payton McBride to end the threat.

The Longhorns’ one-run lead held up until the seventh, when Texas A&M scored with two out on a throwing error by Rhodes, in the process sending the game to extra innings.

Texas went on the offensive in the top of the eighth as Jefferson doubled to left center off the glove of Aggies’ centerfielder Fortenberry with one out. Reagan Hathaway then bunted, and A&M catcher Haley Lee threw the ball into right field, allowing Jefferson to score with the deciding run.

The Aggies got a baserunner to first with a one-out single but could produce nothing else, ending their season at 28-27 at the hands of their (formerly) most-hated rival.

Elish got the win after surrendering two unearned runs on six hits, striking out 10 and walking two. McBride took the loss for A&M, allowing all three runs on nine hits and two walks; she did not strike out a batter in eight innings of work.

“No one wants to get out of bed and make an error, but we made some and we were able to pick each other up and get through it,” White said. “I’m proud of the fact we were able to fight back and win those two games.”

These Bearkats are tough
The Longhorns found themselves in the tournament losers’ bracket after a 2-1 opening-round defeat Friday at the hands of Sam Houston State Bearkats. It was the third straight setback for the Longhorns.

Shealyn O’Leary (13-2) suffered the loss for Texas, allowing one run on two hits in two-thirds of an inning in relief of starter Brooke Bolinger.

Bolinger permitted one unearned run on just one hit in 5-1/3 innngs with a walk and three strikeouts, while Elish struck out two during a single frame of relief.

The key hit for the Bearkats came in the sixth as they took advantage of a key Texas infield error on a dropped line drive that set the table for a two-run home run by Tiffany Thompson off O’Leary.

Iakopo blasted her team-leading 10th home run in the loss, becoming the first UT player to hit 10 or more in a season since Lindsey Stephens had 15 homers in 2016.
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