No. 1 Texas softball powers past Northwestern, improves to 2-0 in NCAA Tournament

Top-seeded Texas matched its efficiency with plenty of explosiveness while blasting Northwestern 14-2 Saturday at McCombs Field and cruising into the final day of the NCAA Tournament’s Austin Regionals with a 2-0 record.

A day after leaving a dozen on the bags in a 5-0 win over Siena, Texas (49-7) didn’t strand a single runner while racking up a dozen hits against the Wildcats, including four home runs. That helped ease some frustrations for a Texas squad still miffed about squandering its opportunities at the plate on Friday.

More: Mac Morgan throws a no-hitter as No. 1 Texas shuts out Siena in NCAA Tournament opener

“After the game yesterday, we had a pretty tough talk about our performance and how we have higher standards for this program,” said second baseman Alyssa Washington. “And yesterday, we just didn’t play to those. So there was just some self-reflection (which) prompted us come back and make a change today.”

Washington, a senior team captain, led the way. She went 3-for-3 at the plate with three runs, three RBIs, and the first of Texas’ four home runs. Designated player Joley Mitchell, centerfielder Kayden Henry and third baseman Mia Scott also had home runs and helped the Longhorns rack up 12 hits.

More: Five softball teams that could stand in the way of a Texas-Oklahoma WCWS rematch

Texas coach Mike White said his team played with a renewed sense of urgency, which will bode well as the competition stiffens with each round of the tournament.

More: No. 1 Texas softball leaning on deep pitching staff to make its NCAA Tournament run

“You can’t afford to come in here and think you’re going just turn up and win,” he said. “It just doesn’t happen that way. These teams are coming here for a reason; they want to win. I think we got ahead of ourselves (on Friday) and we started looking ahead. We didn’t play with the same high energy that we had all year. It’s just getting them to know that ‘Hey, this is this could be our last weekend to play for the season.’ So I liked the energy we had today.”  

Citlaly Gutierrez earned the win in the circle after scattering four hits across four innings in the game shortened to five innings in the run-rule game. White said he hopes his players “find some air-conditioning and relax a bit” while they wait to find out Sunday’s opponent.

Saint Francis and Siena faced off in Saturday’s second game, with the winner taking on Northwestern in the third and final game Saturday. Whoever wins that third game will face Texas at noon on Sunday, and that team will need to beat Texas twice to advance to next weekend’s Super Regionals.