SAN ANTONIO – No. 9 Nebraska defeated No. 1 Texas 8-5 on Saturday in the University of Texas at San Antonio Softball Invitational, avenging a loss from the previous day and handing the defending national champions their first defeat of the young season.
The Huskers (3-1) jumped out to an early lead with power hitting, including home runs by Ava Kuszak, Jordy Frahm, Emmerson Cope and Lauren Camenzind, before holding off a Texas rally.
Leighann Goode, a senior infielder and O’Connor High School alum, contributed a three-run bomb for the Longhorns (2-1) but could not spark a complete comeback.
“That was the thing that scored eight runs on eight hits,” said Texas head softball coach Mike White. “You know, we had, we out-hit him 11, and we only scored five, so we weren’t very efficient in that department. But we also hit some balls really hard at people.
“You know, if we had first and third and I think one out, we hit a line drive at the second baseman that goes through, we could have done a little bit, you score some more runs, so you start to keep him in quality at bats. We talk about that bat more, the process and outcome.”
“Even though it didn’t go the way we wanted to,” Goode said. “Like Coach White said, we hit the ball hard and especially those last few innings off a Jordy. I mean, it didn’t fall the way we wanted to, but we strung some hard hit balls together, and even though our pitching wasn’t there, I know they got our back for tomorrow.”
Later in the evening, Nebraska topped host UT San Antonio 6-3.
The Roadrunners (0-2) fell behind early and struggled to put together consistent offense despite strong defensive efforts, as the Huskers pulled away with timely hits and home runs.
On Sunday, Feb. 8, UT San Antonio will host Texas at 3:05 p.m. at Roadrunner Field to close out the invitational. Nebraska faces Washington earlier in the day.
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