Texas softball shows fight, advances to Super Regional vs. Arkansas

Throughout the postseason thus far, head coach Mike White and Texas softball has remained remarkably resilient and shown a lot of grit. Despite a tough loss to the eventual conference champ Oklahoma State Cowgirls in the Big 12 Tournament back on May 13, Texas has looked like one of the most perseverant teams in the country.

The Longhorns are still alive in the postseason, despite a tough Seattle Regional where they had to face the 13-seed Washington Huskies three times. In order to advance to the Super Regional coming out of the weekend, the Longhorns had to fight tooth and nail to down the Huskies.

Texas got one big comeback win and was also able to hold on to a lead late in their two triumphs over the Huskies in the Seattle Regional over the weekend. The first win for the Longhorns over Washington came thanks to a massive eight-run rally in the final few innings of the game against Washington on May 21.

Washington did get the best of Texas in the first of two meetings on May 22, by the final score of 2-1. But then, the Longhorns came up big in the final game of the Seattle Regional to cap the weekend. Texas jumped out to a 3-0 lead heading into the final half-inning of the game, but a costly error nearly allowed Washington to climb back.

Hailey Dolcini and Texas softball show grit to advance to supers to face Arkansas

Nonetheless, star pitcher Hailey Dolcini was able to hang on to claim the 3-2 win in the end to claim her 21st victory of the season. Dolcini also didn’t allow a single earned run, as the two runs that the Huskies scored came thanks to that aforementioned costly Texas error.

Dolcini and the Longhorns will now be advancing after posting a 3-1 record in the Seattle Regional. This is the second year in a row that the Longhorns have made it to Super Regionals, which is a solid accomplishment.

But Texas will have to get it done on the road again as this team is set to travel to Fayetteville to face the four-seed Arkansas Razorbacks in at least two games for supers. The first meeting between Texas and Arkansas in the Fayetteville Super Regional is May 26, with the first pitch time set for 6 p.m. CT.

This will be the first time that Texas and Arkansas meet in softball since the 2016 season. Texas and Arkansas faced each other twice in the Texas Classic to start off the 2016 campaign, both of which went in the Longhorns’ favor.

Following the narrow 3-2 win over Washington in the second of two games on May 22, Texas boasts a record of 41-18-1 (12-6 Big 12). Dolcini and the Longhorns will now put their 14-7 record on the road to the test against another difficult opponent in the supers in the Razorbacks.