AUSTIN, TX – Entering Friday afternoon’s 8-0 win over Seton Hall to open the 2023 NCAA Austin Regional, The University of Texas’ softball program recorded just two combined no-hitters in its history. That number is now three following a five-inning combined no-hitter from Mac Morgan and Estelle Czech against the Pirates.
Prior to this weekend, the last combined no-hit for the Longhorns occurred on April 4, 2013, when Kim Bruins, Holly Kern, Gabby Smith and Blaire Luna combined for a five-inning perfect game in an 8-0 victory on Texas Southern. The performance was also the second no-hitter by Texas this season after freshman Citlaly Gutierrez tossed a five-inning no-hitter against Texas Southern on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023.
It’s the first postseason combined no-hitter in Texas’ softball history. The last postseason no-hitter in program history occurred on May 26, 2013, when Blaire Luna threw a seven-inning no-hitter against Florida State during the NCAA Austin Super Regional to send the Longhorns to the Women’s College World Series.
The 2023 season marked the first time the Texas Longhorn program has tossed multiple no-hitters during the same season since throwing three within a 21-day span (March 6 – March 27) during head coach Mike White‘s first season on the Forty Acres in 2019.
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Seton Hall’s lone baserunner in five innings against Texas’ two pitchers came when Lela Allen led off the top of the fourth by drawing a bases-loaded walk. She was erased four pitches later on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Taylor Hill, who was part of a 1-4-3 inning-ending double play. It was the final pitch from Mac Morgan (17-3), who started and threw 38 pitches in four innings before giving way to Estelle Czech, who tossed only 10 pitches, to start the top of the fifth.
On the afternoon, only two Pirate batters worked the court to at least three balls with only one resulting in a baserunner: Allen’s fourth inning walk.
FROM HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE
“Well, first of all, condolences to our opponent Seton Hall. They had a great week last week winning the Big East Championship and they’ve been playing really well. We watched the tape on them, and they are a dangerous opponent. We fortunately were able to get off to a pretty good start with two runs in the first inning and were able to continue the scoring from there. Combining some really good pitching by Mac Morgan and some outstanding hitting by Vivi Martinez, it was a good start for us. You know, we just didn’t get them a chance to settle in. We know that good teams like Seton Hall always have an opportunity to get back in the game and make anything happen, so we just were cognizant of that and didn’t want that to happen.”
FROM SOPHOMORE MAC MORGAN
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“Yeah, I’m feeling good. I mean, it was just another day. I’m feeling good. I’m going to be rested for next few days, but it felt good to be out there in the circle. Today was really rewarding. I’m grateful for every opportunity I get. I mean, being able to live my dream and just being able to succeed is what I really wanted. And I think I’m doing just great.”
GAME NOTES
Texas freshman Viviana Martinez turned in a career performance with two doubles in two official plate appearances on the afternoon.
Martinez’ previous career high was only one double in a single game, which she accomplished 12 different times with the most recent happening against Sam Houston on Wednesday, May 3, 2023.
With her first inning double to centerfield, Vivana Martinez became the first first-year softball student-athlete to drive in at least 50 runs in a single season.
With her three RBI on the afternoon, Martinez will enter Saturday’s action with 51 RBI on the season, which is the sixth most on the program’s single-season RBI list.
Every student-athlete in the Texas starting lineup was credited with her at least one hit or run on the afternoon.
The Texas offense scored at least one run in four of the game’s five innings with the bottom of the fifth featuring four runs that doubled the Longhorn lead from 4-0 to 8-0.
UP NEXT
First-seeded Texas (43-13-1) will play the winner of second-seeded Texas A&M and third-seeded Texas State on Saturday, May 20 at 2 PM CT.
The winner of that game will advance straight into the regional final set for Sunday, May 21 at 1 PM CT.
The loser will play, again, Saturday at 7 PM CT.
FOLLOW US
For the latest information on the team, follow @TexasSoftball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at @TexasLonghorns on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 11 Arkansas men’s golf team followed in the footsteps of their counterparts on the women’s side by drawing a national No. 2 seed and heading West for the first stage of the NCAA postseason.
Coach Brad McMakin’s Razorbacks were chosen Wednesday as the No. 2 seed for the NCAA Austin (Texas) Regional to be hosted by the University of Texas on May 13-15.
The Razorbacks were seeded behind SEC rival Tennessee, which earned its first-ever No. 1 seed, and ahead of the host Longhorns. Arkansas State, winners of the Sun Belt Conference championship are the 12th seed at the regional.
The 13-team regional will compete at the University of Texas Golf Club for 54 holes with the top five teams advancing to the NCAA Championships, which will take place May 24-29 at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.
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“We’re obviously excited about getting to go to the UT club in Austin,” McMakin said. “The team has played really well this year. It’s a great golf course and it definitely fits into our game plan of being difficult.”
The other NCAA regional tournaments are in Baton Rouge, Chapel Hill N.C., Rancho Sante Fe, Calif., Palo Alto, Calif., and West Lafayette, Ind. The top five finishers at each of the regionals will qualify for the NCAA Championships.
The rest of the field in Austin will consist of Georgia, Wake Forest, Notre Dame, North Carolina-Greensboro, BYU, Utah, San Jose State, Grand Canyon and Missouri-Kansas City.
“We’ve got some great teams out there,” McMakin said. “We’ll have to do a good job and do what we’ve been doing all year and I think we’ll be fine.”
The Razorbacks are coming off a trip to the SEC match play semifinals, where they lost to No. 1 ranked and eventual champion Auburn.
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No. 7 Tennessee placed third after three rounds of stroke play at the SEC Championships before the Volunteers were ousted by No. 22 Texas A&M in the match play quarterfinals.
Arkansas State finished three rounds of stroke play at the Sun Belt Championships in first place at Annandale Golf Club in Madison, Miss., with Thomas Schmidt finishing as runner-up. The Red Wolves went on to defeat Texas State 3-1 in the semifinal and won their first Sun Belt match play title with a 3-2 victory over Louisiana-Monroe.
AUSTIN, Texas – Carlos Sanchez, the 43-year-old photographer for an Austin TV news station, is facing two new charges one week after he was arrested while covering a protest on the UT Austin campus, the Texas Department of Public Safety said Wednesday.
Troopers said Sanchez, who works for Fox 7 Austin, met with DPS Special Agents on Wednesday morning. During the meeting, Sanchez was charged with two misdemeanors — assault and interference with public duties.
Sanchez was arrested again and booked into the Travis County Jail.
DPS said one of its troopers was struck in the “lower head and neck area” due to Sanchez’s camera.
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“The department understands a journalist’s right to cover events of the day, and we work to ensure those rights are protected while also upholding the laws of this state,” DPS said in a statement Wednesday. “While journalists should be provided access, it is never acceptable to interfere with official police duties and assaulting an officer of the law – no matter the degree – will never be tolerated. DPS will always work to ensure the safety of our officers. Both law enforcement officers and journalists should be expected to do their jobs in a professional manner – and we strongly believe a line was crossed last week when one of our Troopers was assaulted while trying to do his job.
Sanchez was arrested during the April 24 protest when he was also booked into the Travis County Jail. He was initially charged with criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor, as well as assault against a peace officer, which is considered a second-degree felony.
When KSAT reached out to DPS for comment on April 24, the agency responded April 25, vowing DPS’ Criminal Investigations Division would “further” investigate Sanchez’s case.
Sanchez’s criminal trespassing charge was dismissed one day after his first arrest. Fox 7 Austin reported April 30 that Sanchez’s second-degree felony charge was also dropped.
Austin, TX – On Monday, April 28, around 1 p.m., University of Texas at Austin students and community members gathered on the UT South Lawn to set up a Popular University encampment. A group of around 40 people was quickly joined by hundreds more supporting students, as booming chants of, “Free free Palestine,” echoed throughout UT’s South Mall.
Shortly after the encampment went up, UT police, Austin police and Texas State Troopers wearing riot gear arrived, assaulted and arrested at least 80 protesters. During the attack on the encampment, police used pepper spray and flash bangs on students, threw a disabled person out of a wheelchair, and dragged students on the ground by their legs.
Despite the police violence, students bravely fought back, and the crowd surrounded the police in an effort to stop them from making more arrests. After hours of heated struggle, the massive crowd eventually marched down 22nd Street, pushing the police to retreat off the street.
Hundreds more Austinites arrived to campus to support the now torn-down student encampment, many holding umbrellas to block pepper spray and bringing supplies like food, water and first aid equipment.
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As soon as protesters were hauled to Travis County Jail, over 50 people arrived with drums and megaphones out front to demand the release of all those arrested. Police purposely delayed booking and processing the arrestees, and they are still holding at least 40 of the protesters in jail as of 5:30 a.m. this morning, May 1. Students and community have continued to rally outside the jail for over 36 hours and counting in spite of this repression.
Jules Lattimore, a Students for a Democratic Society member who was at the jail support rally said, “We will not stop fighting, no matter what UT administration or Texas does. We demand divestment, we demand the coward President Jay Hartzell resigns, we demand everyone jailed is immediately freed, and we demand Greg Abbott’s police thugs off our campus. When we fight, we win!”
