The top-overall seed Texas softball and head coach Mike White have taken care of business without much trouble in the first two games of the Austin Regional this weekend. Texas defeated Siena 5-0 behind a perfect game from Mac Morgan on May 17.

Texas continued its winning ways in its second game of the Austin Regional on May 18, taking down the Northwestern Wildcats in five innings. The Longhorns run-ruled their first opponent of the postseason, dismantling the Wildcats by a score of 14-2 this afternoon at Red & Charline McCombs Field.

Texas never trailed in this game, jumping out to an early 4-0 lead behind home runs from Alyssa Washington and Kayden Henry in the bottom of the second inning. Washington notched two of her three runs batted in on the afternoon on the two-run shot to left to get the Texas bats going in the second.

After Northwestern cut Texas’s lead in half in the top of the third inning, on a two-run homer against Citaly Gutierrez, the Longhorns responded in the bottom half. Reese Atwood got Texas’s lead back to three runs with a sac-fly in the bottom of the third.

The bottom of the fourth is when the Longhorns really piled on Northwestern offensively. An offensive outburst led by Mia Scott and Washington in the bottom of the fourth inning saw the Longhorns score a whopping nine runs on over a half dozen hits in that half inning.

Scott hit a three-run home run to right field, driving in three runs. The three-run shot from Scott in the bottom of the fourth got Texas to double-digit runs on the day. It also got the Longhorns in the run-rule territory against the Wildcats.

After Texas’s pitching shut down the Northwestern bats in the top of the fifth inning, the Longhorns achieved their first run-rule win of the postseason by a convincing margin of a dozen runs today.

Scott, Washington, and the Longhorns now await the winner of the loser’s bracket game in the final of the Austin Regional on May 19. Northwestern faces the winner of Siena vs. Saint Francis (PA) to decide the Austin Regional on May 19 at 12 p.m. CT.

You can view the live updating bracket for the Austin Regional in the college softball postseason on NCAA.com here.

This month, a young distillery is launching its first bourbon in Austin, Texas — and it has a message for Kentucky.

Fierce Whiskers released its first bourbon — a 3-year-old release distilled, aged and bottled at 98 proof in Austin — on May 10. It’s available now at retail stores across Texas with a suggested retail price of $46.99.

Fierce Whiskers began distilling its first batches of bourbon in September 2020. In 2021, it opened its tasting room in southeast Austin. Since then, it has launched multiple releases, including a wine-infused whiskey, two carbon-neutral rye whiskeys and a dual gin release.

Its first retail-available product, Fierce Whiskers Straight Texas Rye, debuted in June 2023.

“The success of the Rye was everything we hoped and gave us great confidence for the Bourbon,” founder and CEO Tri Vo. “Our team is exceedingly talented and willfully dedicated to the stubborn spirit needed to make whiskey in Texas, and that heart comes through in every spirit we release. We are so thrilled that after three years in the making, the bourbon is finally among those spirits.”

With an advertising campaign crafted by independent brand studio Butler, Fierce Whiskers made some brash, bold statements around Austin, which Butler showed off on its Instagram page.

“Kentucky, you still have the horse-thing,” a billboard reads. “The next great bourbon ain’t from Kentucky,” says a magazine ad.

In an Instagram post from the distillery showed off two other billboards, one reading “Kentucky, we’ve got the next round.”

“Kentucky, you had a good run,” says another.

Kentucky has a long, storied tradition of making great bourbon — so much so that many people are under the false impression that bourbon has to be made in Kentucky. While that’s not true, it is highly, highly unlikely that Kentucky will ever be dethroned as the king of America’s native spirit.

With that said, there’s plenty of great bourbon coming from all around the U.S. — including in Fierce Whiskers’ backyard. Still Austin is one of the best craft distilleries around.

Fierce Whiskers to Celebrate Launch With ‘Bourbon Bash’

Fierce Whiskers will celebrate its official launch from 4-8 p.m. Saturday with a “Bourbon Bash” at the distillery (5333 Fleming Ct, Austin, TX 78744). The event is free to the public and will feature food from include Uchiba (free onigiri to the first 150 guests), KG BBQ and small bites from Tare Austin, Castel Provisions, The Salty Donut, OMG Squee and Ululani’s, the latter of which will serve Hawaiian shaved ice, plus an option incorporating bourbon.

Bawi, the agua frescas brand, will provide refreshments including a Fierce Whiskers x Bawi cocktail. The Concord Botanical café and dispensary will park its school bus on the lawn for drink infusions.

Join the Whiskey Raiders Bottle of the Month Club, where you will receive hard-to-find bottles curated by Whiskey Raiders staff with a 90+ rating on whiskeyraiders.com plus live virtual tastings. Sign up here!

2024 LONGHORN ELITE INVITE

Friday Finals Livestream Video

As many Florida and Georgia names are repping at the 2024 Atlanta Classic, many more Texas names are going in on the weekend racing action two time zones over at the 2024 Longhorn Elite Invite in Austin, TX. Friday’s finals session sounded off with a set of four more women’s and men’s event finals, the 200 free, 200 back, 400 IM, and 100 fly.

Texas freshman Erin Gemmell of Nation’s Capital easily won the women’s 200 free at 1:57.51, ahead of Texas redshirt Jillian Cox (2:00.96). This marks a season best for Gemmell, following her 1:57.98 from the San Antonio Pro Swim Series. For Cox, her finals time was just off her season best of 2:00.22 from the Knoxville Pro Swim Series.

Gemmell now affirms herself as the 5th-fastest American in this event this season after being tied with Addison Sauickie. Gemmell owns a lifetime best of 1:55.90 from the 2023 World Championships.

2023-2024 US Rankings- Women’s 200 FR LCM

1. Katie Ledecky, 1:54.97
2. Anna Peplowski, 1:56.99
3. Paige Madden, 1:57.25
4. Simone Manuel, 1:57.37
5. Erin Gemmell, 1:57.51**
6. Addison Sauickie, 1:57.98

Four Texas Longhorn women finished 1-2-3-4 on the women’s side of the 100 fly. Kelly Pash (58.16) took the four-tenths win over Emma Sticklen (58.57) while Dakota Luther touched out Olivia Bray by 0.07s for third, 59.01 to 59.08.

Pash’s 58.16 eclipses her 2024 calendar year best of 58.34 from the Knoxville Pro Swim Series. She remains the 7th-fastest American in 2024 in this event. At the October 2023 Pan American Games, Pash won silver with a time of 57.85, which still ranks 7th this season.

Meanwhile, Sticklen’s 58.57 is a small drop from her 58.81 year best and keeps her ranked 12th in the nation this year. Luther’s 59.01 was a hair off her 2024 best time of 58.84. In the same way, Bray’s 59.01 was just off her US No.11-ranked 58.42 year best.

2024 US Rankings- Women’s 100 FL LCM

1. Torri Huske, 55.68
2. Gretchen Walsh, 56.14
3. Regan Smith, 56.36
4. Claire Curzan, 56.61
5. Alex Shackell, 57.22
6. Alex Walsh, 57.59
7. Kelly Pash, 58.16**
8. Josephine Fuller, 58.37

TXLA’s Shaine Casas took out another win in Austin, topping the men’s 100 fly at 51.48, splitting 23.80/27.68. Casas’ season best rests at 51.03 from the 2023 US Open, but has a 2024 calendar year best of 51.40 from the January Knoxville Pro Swim Series. With his 51.03 season best, Casas sits in second in the US only behind Caeleb Dressel this season. Casas put up his lifetime best of 50.40 back at the 2022 US Nationals.

SMU transfer Danny Kovac was spotted exactly a second behind, in second place, at 52.48. Kovac remains 10th-ranked in the nation this season, dropping 0.03s from his 52.51 from a SMU time trial last month. This marks Kovac’s fastest 100 fly since the 2021 US Olympic Trials, where he swam 51.61 to rank 4th in semi-finals before dropping to 8th in the final.

Pro Carson Foster, representing the Mason Manta Rays, won the men’s 200 free by exactly two seconds at 1:47.10. That’s just tenths off his season best time of 1:46.58 from the San Antonio Pro Swim Series last month, which ranks 4th in the nation for the 2023-2024 season. Foster does own a lifetime best of 1:45.57 from the 2022 US Team Trials.

Austin trainee Rex Maurer narrowly took second at 1:49.10, ahead of Texas’ Luke Hobson of Lakeridge (1:49.35). Maurer put up a new season best, dropping from his 1:49.98 at last month’s Fran Crippen Swim Meet of Champions in Mission Viejo. He owns a lifetime best of 1:47.63 from the 2023 US Nationals, which ranked 20th in the nation at the end of last season. Meanwhile, Hobson holds the top time in the nation this season at 1:45.26 from the outlandishly-scheduled February World Championships.

More Day 3 Event Winners

• Wisconsin commit Maggie Wanezek of Elmbrook handily took the women’s 200 back with a 2:11.99. Wanezek recently set her personal best of 2:10.33 at the March NCSA Spring Championships, ranking 12th in the nation this 2023-2024 season.
• Texas commit Cooper Lucas of Lakeside easily won the men’s 400 IM in 4:24.52, just off his 2024 year best of 4:23.54 from the Knoxville Pro Swim Series. Lucas owns a lifetime best of 4:18.76 from the September 2023 World Junior Championships, which puts him in 8th in the US this 2023-24 season.
• Texas’ Chris O’Connor easily won the men’s 200 back at 2:03.54, dropping just about a second from prelims (2:04.44). In February, O’Connor swam an unrested 2:12.28 at a TCU dual meet. He owns a lifetime best of 1:58.24 from 2023 US Nationals, which ranked 15th in the nation at the end of the 2022-23 season.
• After swimming the event for the first time since June 2022 in prelims, Texas’ Angie Coe dropped from a fresh 4:57.97 personal best to an Olympic Trials qualifying time of 4:48.76. She now adds this 400 IM cut to her 200 IM cut achieved in January.