Katie Stewart, Texas softball hope Game 3 win over Oklahoma helps in SEC home stretch

Sure, Texas softball enters the second half of their SEC schedule on a bit of a skid after dropping a second consecutive series this past weekend, this one to visiting Oklahoma.

But that’s why Katie Stewart’s epic walk-off blast into the student apartments behind left field meant more than just an 8-6 win in Sunday’s series finale against the Sooners. The victory showed that Texas still knows how to find its clutch gene after two close losses earlier in the series, and it showed that the Longhorns still boast enough pitching to keep even the nation’s best lineups — and the No. 2 Sooners do rank No. 1 in nearly every statistical category — in check.

“I know we lost a series, but anytime you beat an Oklahoma team, you've done something, I think,” Texas coach Mike White said. “Looking at the volume of the work in the three games over the weekend, I thought we played very well and that pitching came together. They pitched as a group, as a unit.”

And the Longhorns stayed together as a group, even after Oklahoma rallied to take its first lead of Game 3 in the top of the eighth inning. Freshman Hannah Wells tied the game 6-6 in the bottom of the eighth with a pinch-hit solo homer. Kayden Henry followed with a one-out single before Stewart’s bomb, emphatic bat toss and a jubilant jog around the bags.

Oklahoma comes out of the dugout to welcome infielder Ella Parker (5) home after hitting a home run in the first inning as the Texas Longhorns play the Oklahoma Sooners in the first game of a three-game series on Friday, April 10, 2026 at Red and Charline McCombs Field in Austin. (Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman)

Mike White: Win stops 'negative momentum'

White approved of his team's pitching the entire series, in which Oklahoma outscored No. 4 Texas (33-6, 10-5 SEC) by a cumulative 13-11. He also appreciated that his bats heated up in the series finale. But he liked his team’s mentality most of all, especially after the Longhorns gave up a two-run lead in the top of the seventh inning.

“I thought that our resiliency today, after two tough losses, it could have been easy just to say, ‘You know, it was close, but we couldn't have done it,’ ” he said. “So, anytime you can stop that kind of negative momentum, it's a good thing."

Besides, Texas has shown it can survive midseason slumps and regain its form. Last April, the Longhorns lost a series against Tennessee and got swept by the Sooners before ultimately ending their first SEC campaign with a 16-8 conference record and making a postseason run that ended with the school’s first national championship.

Texas Longhorns utility Katie Stewart (20) slaps the hand of head coach Mike White as she rounds third after her home run in the fourth inning against the Tennessee Lady Volunteers during the NCAA Softball Women's College World Series semifinal game at Devon Park on June 2, 2025; Oklahoma City, OK. (Brett Rojo/Brett Rojo-Imagn Images)

“Yeah, we lost two series in a row,” Stewart said “But who cares? This happened last year. We had a rough patch around this time too, and so it's just how we respond moving forward, not what's happened in the past.”

The rest of the season technically may begin with a three-game series this weekend at scrappy Georgia (31-11, 9-6 SEC), but Stewart says Sunday’s triumph could serve as the starting point for a late-season surge.

“I feel like it just gives us momentum moving forward,” Stewart said. “We're still up there; we're still a competitive team.”

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Teagan Kavan: Strong outings provide pitching momentum

Specifically, White said the series against Oklahoma shows that his Texas team can play with — and beat — anyone in the nation despite entering Sunday on a four-game losing streak that stretched back to a series against No. 3 Alabama.

The high-powered Sooners entered the series averaging almost 12 runs a game, but they needed extra innings Sunday to reach 13 runs for the entire series. Teagan Kavan did the heavy lifting for the staff with a total of 282 pitches in two appearances, but the junior ace had enough help. Wells gave up just one run while throwing three innings in her start in Game 2, which Oklahoma won 4-3. Relievers Brenlee Gonzalez and Citlaly Gutierrez allowed a total of three runs in a combined five innings, and Gutierrez even snagged the official win in Game 3 after throwing just three pitches, much to the bemusement of White.

“How about that? Cit has three pitches and Teagan has 130-something, and Cit gets the win,” he cracked.

Texas Longhorns starting pitcher/relief pitcher Citlaly Gutierrez (77) throws a pitch in the fourth inning of the Longhorns’ 9-1 win over the Houston Cougars in their first game of the Longhorn Invitational at Red and Charline McCombs Field in Austin, Feb. 27, 2026. (Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman)

White also liked his offense snapping out of a slump. In it four-game losing streak, Texas totaled 11 runs and never had more than eight hits in a single game. But on Sunday, the Longhorns rapped out a dozen hits against five different Sooner batters, the first time in the series that Texas had more hits that Oklahoma.

And several of those hits came in key moments, including Stewart’s memorable third-floor shot.

“We finally got the pitching (this series) that was holding teams down, but we weren't really getting the key hits when we needed it,” White said. “It was good to see us get those key hits today. It was a good all-round job throughout the order, which we've been missing.”