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No. 6 seed Texas used dominant pitching and the long ball to top No. 3 seed Florida 3-0 in the opening game of the 2025 Women’s College World Series.
Joley Mitchell broke the scoring ice in the top of the 2nd inning with a solo home run off of UF pitcher Keegan Rothrock.
FIRST HOME RUN OF WCWS @marie_joley #WCWS x ESPN / @TexasSoftball pic.twitter.com/f1D3IodKFx
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) May 29, 2025
It was the first of 2 solo blasts for Mitchell. She extended the lead to 2-0 with another home run, again off Rothrock, in the top of the 6th. Mitchell became the first Texas softball to hit multiple homers in a Women’s College World Series game.
"No one has done what @marie_joley has done!"
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) May 29, 2025
Joley Mitchell is the first ever @TexasSoftball player to hit multiple HRs in a WCWS game #WCWS x ESPN pic.twitter.com/VX8KsSHfVu
Rothrock was chased when Katie Stewart made it back-to-back homers and extended the Longhorn lead to 3-0 in the 6th.
BACK-TO-BACK #WCWS x ESPN / @TexasSoftball pic.twitter.com/oRyfGQpzuv
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) May 29, 2025
Rothrock finished with a line of 5+ innings, allowing 3 earned runs on 5 hits and 2 walks, striking out 2 over 105 pitches (64 strikes). Florida coach Tim Walton used 4 pitchers in the game.
Texas coach Mike White only needed 1 pitcher. Teagan Kavan went the distance, tossing a complete game shutout. Kavan held the Gators to just 2 hits on the day, with neither going for extra bases. Over 98 pitches, she threw 62 strikes, issuing 2 walks and striking out 1 over 24 batters faced.
The victory places Texas in the winner’s bracket. The Longhorns will next play on Saturday against either No. 7 seed Tennessee or No. 2 seed Oklahoma.
Florida, meanwhile, will try to fight its way out of the loser’s bracket. The Gators will play on Friday at 7 p.m. ET against the Tennessee-Oklahoma loser.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
