Reese Atwood, Texas softball team power past Florida State for nonconference win

Texas catcher Reese Atwood continued her assault on the school’s record books as the No. 3 Longhorns routed No. 17 Florida State 10-0 Wednesday in Tallahassee, Fla., in a game shortened to six innings by the mercy rule.

Atwood hammered her 11th home run of the season in the sixth inning, moving her closer to UT's single-season record of 18 set by Taylor Hoagland in 2012. With the homer, Atwood tied Loryn Johnson (2009) for seventh on the program’s single-season RBI list at 50, in just 85 official plate appearances. No other Division I player has 50 RBIs.

As a team, Texas (25-3) had 11 hits against the Seminoles (18-9). The Longhorns scored six runs through the first three innings. Pitcher Mac Morgan allowed three hits in four innings while improving to 7-0; Estelle Czech came in to throw two scoreless innings.

“It was really important to get off to a good start, and the team was able to do that tonight,” Texas coach Mike White said. “Then, of course, Mac Morgan went out and had four shutdown innings, then Estelle Czech was marvelous coming in out of the bullpen. Every time (Florida State) was able to get something going, our defense was able to snuff them out with some good plays. Florida State is a great team and can really hit. They hit some balls right at people, and that was the difference tonight: We found some holes, and they didn’t.”

Texas, which is 5-1 in Big 12 play, will resume conference action Friday with the first of three games against Central Florida (14-11, 2-4 Big 12) in Orlando. The Longhorns and UCF have met only once, with Central Florida winning 15-10 in 2022.