Well, that certainly wasn't the start the the Horns were looking for in this year's Women's College World Series.
As the Texas Longhorns arrived in Oklahoma City, so did their Day 1 opponents, the Tennessee Volunteers, and from the jump, the Vols looked much more prepared than the defending National Champions.
While the Horns were able to earn three runs and their season isn't over quite yet, it was Tennessee walking away with a 6-3 victory, advancing to the second-round game against Texas Tech and sending Texas to an elimination game against Mississippi State.
With five of the eight teams in the WCWS coming from the SEC, it was pretty much unavoidable that the Longhorns would face opponents from their own conference.
However, having to survive two SEC opponents in a row is a brutal slate for any team to survive, much less the defending National Champions, who already have a target on their back.
It's win or go home for the defending National Champions
If Texas can't find consistency at the plate or in the circle, the Longhorns will see their postseason cut short and will be boarding the bus back to Austin as the Mississippi State Bulldogs move on to a third game in the WCWS.
This portion of the World Series works on a two-loss elimination system, so the winning team in the elimination game will get another chance to punch their ticket to the finals, which is a best-of-three series between the final two surviving teams.
Against Tennessee, the Horns' bats weren't connecting as well as they needed to be, earning just five hits and only four runs, and star pitcher Teagan Kavan didn't have her usual juice in the circle, giving up three hits for three runs in three innings.
Texas head coach Mike White pulled Kavan from the game after the third inning and rotated in Citlaly Gutierrez, who pitched the final four innings but gave up an additional three runs.
When all was said and done, it was impossible to deny that Tennessee was the better team out there today, and Texas is going to have to right its currently askew ship before the Horns take the field against the Bulldogs.
Texas and Mississippi State are scheduled to throw out the first pitch of the elimination game at 6 p.m. CT on Friday, May 28, and the matchup will be available on ESPN. The winner will move on to face the loser of Texas Tech versus Tennessee to determine who will move on.
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