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 campaign of Fred Taylor.
