2023 Texas Longhorns softball team

2023 Texas Longhorns softball
ConferenceBig 12 Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 10
Record45–15–1 (11–7 Big 12)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
  • Steve Singleton (4th season)
  • Kristen Zaleski (1st season)
  • Molly Jacobsen (1st season)
Home stadiumRed and Charline McCombs Field
Seasons
← 2022
2024 →
2023 Big 12 Conference softball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT
No. 1 Oklahoma  ‍†‍‡‍y 18 – 0 – 0   1.000 61 – 1 – 0   .984
No. 8 Texas  ‍‍‍y 11 – 7 – 0   .611 45 – 15 – 1   .746
No. 9 Oklahoma State  ‍‍‍y 10 – 8 – 0   .556 47 – 16 – 0   .746
No. 18 Baylor  ‍‍‍y 8 – 10 – 0   .444 40 – 18 – 0   .690
Iowa State  ‍‍‍ 6 – 12 – 0   .333 25 – 30 – 0   .455
Kansas  ‍‍‍ 5 – 13 – 0   .278 25 – 27 – 0   .481
Texas Tech  ‍‍‍ 5 – 13 – 0   .278 31 – 22 – 0   .585
† – Conference champion
‡ – Tournament champion
y – Invited to the NCAA tournament
As of June 8, 2023[1]
Rankings from NFCA/USA Today

The 2023 Texas Longhorns softball team represented the University of Texas at Austin during the 2023 NCAA Division I softball season. The Longhorns played their home games at Red and Charline McCombs Field as a member of the Big 12 Conference. They were led by head coach Mike White in his fifth season at Texas.

Previous season

Texas finished the 2022 season 47–22–1 overall and 12–6 in Big 12 Conference play.[2] Texas also was the first unseeded team to ever reach the Women's College World Series finals.[3]

Big 12 Tournament

Bracket

First Round
Thursday, May 11 		Semifinals
Friday, May 12 		Championship
Saturday, May 13
         
1 Oklahoma 9(5)
5 Iowa State 0
4 Baylor 1
5 Iowa State 8
1 Oklahoma 6
2 Texas 1
2 Texas 7(8)
7 Texas Tech 6
2 Texas 9
6 Kansas 1
3 Oklahoma State 7
6 Kansas 8

Personnel

Roster

2023 Texas Longhorns Roster[4]
 

Pitchers

  • 22 – Estelle Czech – junior
  • 45 – Logan Hulon – junior
  • 55 – Mac Morgan – sophomore
  • 77 – Citlaly Gutierrez – freshman
  • 99 – Sophia Simpson – sophomore
 

Catchers

Infielders

  • 10 – Mia Scott – sophomore
  • 11 – Alyssa Washington – junior
  • 14 – Reese Atwood[a] – freshman
  • 15 – Courtney Day[a] – junior
  • 23 – Viviana Martinez – freshman
  • 43 – Leighann Goode – freshman
  • 44 – Katie Cimusz – sophomore
 

Outfielders

  • 1 – Mya Holmes – sophomore
  • 5 – Jordyn Whitaker[a] – junior
  • 6 – Bella Dayton – junior
  • 7 – Ashton Maloney - Redshirt freshman
  • 9 – Lou Gilbert – senior
  • 16 – Alyssa Popelka – junior

Utility Players

  • 3 – Vanessa Quiroga – sophomore
  • 13 – Maddie Pomykalski – freshman
  • 27 – Baylea Brandon – sophomore
  • 28 – Camille Corona – junior

Designated Hitters

  • 5 – Jordyn Whitaker – junior
  • 15 – Courtney Day – junior
 

Roster Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Plays two different positions

Coaches

2023 Texas Longhorns coaching staff[5]
  • Mike White – Head coach – 5th year
  • Steve Singleton – Associate head coach – 4th year
  • Kristen Zaleski – Assistant coach – 1st year
  • Molly Jacobsen – Volunteer assistant coach – 1st year

Support staff

2023 Texas Longhorns support staff[6]
  • Keely McMillon – Director of operations – 3rd year
  • Kassi Hardee – Associate athletic trainer (Softball) – 6th year
  • Melissa Schmitz – Assistant coach for athletic performance – 7th year
  • Nick Williams – Video coordinator
  • Hailey Dolcini – Graduate assistant – 1st year

Offseason

Player departures

2023 Texas offseason departures
Name Number Pos. Height Year Hometown Notes Source
Hailey Dolcini 27 P 6’0” Senior Ferndale, CA Graduated [7]
Janae Jefferson 2 IF 5’4” Senior Humble, TX Graduated
Lauren Burke 00 UTL 5’7” Senior Eugene, OR Graduated
Mary Iakopo 33 C/1B 5’10” Senior Carson, CA Graduated
McKenzie Parker 9 IF 5’9” Junior Conroe, TX Graduated

Outgoing transfers

Name B/T Pos. Height Hometown Year New school Source
Brianna Cantu R/R UTL 5’7” League City, TX Sophomore Houston [8]
Carlee Ratcliff R/R UTL 5’5” New Boston, TX Sophomore — —
JJ Smith R/L C/1B 5’10” Rosenberg, TX Sophomore Texas State [9]
Shea O’Leary R/R P 6’2” Castaic, CA Junior UT Tyler [10]

Coaching staff departures

Name Position New Team New Position Source
Megan Bartlett Assistant Coach Arizona State Head coach [11]

Incoming players

2022 Texas Signing Class
Name B/T Number Pos. Hometown High School Source
Citlaly Gutierrez R/R 77 P Stamford, TX Stamford [12]
Leighann Goode R/R 43 SS/2B San Antonio, TX Sandra Day O'Connor
Maddie Pomykalski R/R 13 UTL Frankfort, IL Lincoln-Way East
Reese Atwood R/R 14 C/1B Sandia, TX Tuloso-Midway
Viviana Martinez L/R 23 SS/2B Tolleson, AZ Tolleson Union

Incoming transfers

Name B/T Pos. Height Hometown Year Previous school Source
Baylea Brandon L/L Utility 5’6” Leander, TX Sophomore LSU [13]
Mac Morgan R/R P 5’8” Creighton, MO Sophomore Arizona State [14]

Coaching staff additions

Name Position Previous Team Previous Position Source
Kristen Zaleski Assistant Coach Oklahoma Volunteer Assistant Coach [15]

Preseason

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Award Player Position Year Source
USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Mia Scott IF Sophomore [16]

Big 12 media poll

Big 12 media poll
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1 Oklahoma 36 (6)
2 Oklahoma State 29 (1)
3 Texas 28
4 Baylor 20
5 Iowa State 16
6 Texas Tech 12
7 Kansas 6

Source:[17]

Preseason All-Big 12 team

Preseason All-Big 12 Team
Name Number Position Class Source
Mia Scott 10 IF Sophomore [18]

Schedule and results

2023 Texas Longhorns softball game log (45–15–1)
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Tie        = Canceled      Bold = Texas team member
Regular season (40–12–1)
Postseason (5–3)
Big 12 Softball Tournament (2–1)
Date Time (CT) TV Opponent Seed Stadium Score Win Loss Save Attendance Overall record Tournament record Box Score Recap
May 11 1:40 p.m. Big 12 Now vs. (7) Texas Tech
First Round		 (2) No. 10 USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium • Oklahoma City, OK 7–6 (8) Gutierrez (12–4) Herzog (2–4) — – 41–12–1 1–0 Box Score Recap
May 12 4:00 p.m. Big 12 Now vs. (6) Kansas
Semifinals		 (2) No. 10 USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium • Oklahoma City, OK 9–1 (5) Morgan (16–3) Brooks (5–6) — 3,739 42–12–1 2–0 Box Score Recap
May 13 12:00 p.m. Big 12 Now vs. (1) Oklahoma
Championship		 (2) No. 10 USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium • Oklahoma City, OK 1–6 May (16–0) Gutierrez (12–4) Bahl (3) 4,684 42–13–1 2–1 Box Score Recap
Austin Regional (3–0)
Date Time (CT) TV Opponent Seed Stadium Score Win Loss Save Attendance Overall record Regional Record Box Score Recap
May 19 4:00 p.m. LHN vs. #4 Seton Hall #1 (13) No. 8 Red & Charline McCombs Field • Austin, TX W
8–0 (5)		 Morgan
(17–3)[f]		 Smith
(16–7)		 — 1,633 43–13–1 1–0 Box Score Recap
May 20 2:00 p.m. ESPN vs. #2 Texas A&M #1 (13) No. 8 Red & Charline McCombs Field • Austin, TX W
2–1		 Gutierrez
(13–5)		 Preston
(4–3)		 Simpson
(2)		 1,643 44–13–1 2–0 Box Score Recap
May 21 1:00 p.m. ESPN2 vs. #2 Texas A&M[g]
Regional Final		 #1 (13) No. 8 Red & Charline McCombs Field • Austin, TX W
11–5		 Morgan
(18–3)		 Ackerman
(7–7)		 — 1,663 45–13–1 3–0 Box Score Recap
Knoxville Super Regional (0–2)
Date Time (CT) TV Opponent Seed Stadium Score Win Loss Save Attendance Overall record Super Regional Record Box Score Recap
May 26 3:00 p.m. ESPN2 at (4) Tennessee (13) Sherri Parker Lee Stadium • Knoxville, TN L
2–5		 Rogers
(18–1)		 Morgan
(18–4)		 — 2,417 45–14–1 0–1 Box Score Recap
May 27 2:00 p.m. ABC vs (4) Tennessee[h] (13) Sherri Parker Lee Stadium • Knoxville, TN L
0–9		 Gottshall
(16–1)		 Gutierrez
(13–6)		 — 2,472 45–15–1 0–2 Box Score Recap
* indicates a non-conference game. All rankings from NFCA/USA Today on the date of the contest. Source:[23]

Schedule Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Neutral site, Texas is the designated visiting team
  2. ^ a b Neutral site, Texas is the designated home team
  3. ^ Originally scheduled for February 11th, rescheduled to February 12 due to inclement weather.[22]
  4. ^ Game was originally scheduled for the OU Softball Complex in Norman, OK but was relocated to the USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, OK. The Saturday and Sunday games of the series will still be played in Norman. Texas will remain the Visiting team.
  5. ^ Set new all-time NCAA single game regular season attendance record. Previous record of 5,724 was set on March 14, 2000.
  6. ^ Texas pitchers Mac Morgan and Estelle Czech combined to throw a no-hitter versus Seton Hall. This was the first combined no-hitter by Texas in NCAA tournament play
  7. ^ Texas was the designated Visiting Team
  8. ^ Texas was the designated Home Team

Postseason

Big 12 Tournament

Main article: 2023 Big 12 Conference softball tournament
First Round
Thursday, May 11 		Semifinals
Friday, May 12 		Championship
Saturday, May 13
         
1 Oklahoma 9(5)
5 Iowa State 0
4 Baylor 1
5 Iowa State 8
1 Oklahoma 6
2 Texas 1
2 Texas 7(8)
7 Texas Tech 6
2 Texas 9
6 Kansas 1
3 Oklahoma State 7
6 Kansas 8

NCAA tournament

Main article: 2023 NCAA Division I softball tournament

Austin Regional and Knoxville Super Regional

Round 1 Round 2 Regional Finals Super Regionals
               
4 Tennessee 12(5)
Northern Kentucky 0
4 Tennessee 9(5)
Indiana 1
Indiana 4
Louisville 3
4 Tennessee 7 —
Knoxville Regional – Sherri Parker Lee Stadium
Indiana 3 —
Northern Kentucky 1
Louisville 9(5)
Indiana 4
Louisville 2
4 Tennessee 5 9 —
13 Texas 2 0 —
13 Texas 8(5)
Seton Hall 0
13 Texas 2
Texas A&M 1
Texas A&M 2(8)
Texas State 1
13 Texas 11 —
Austin Regional – Red and Charline McCombs Field
Texas A&M 5 —
Seton Hall 3
Texas State 4
Texas A&M 4
Texas State 2

Statistics

All Statistics through end of 2023 Season

Team batting

Team AB Avg. H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
Texas 1639 0.325 532 89 10 52 326 171 220 70
Opponents 1550 0.220 341 56 2 33 145 123 318 28

Team pitching

Team IP H R ER BB SO SV ERA
Texas 403.2 341 179 138 123 318 8 2.39
Opponents 381.0 532 370 287 171 220 1 5.27

Individual batting

Note: leaders must meet the minimum requirement of 2 PA/G and 75% of games played

Player GP AB Avg. H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
Ashton Maloney 60 152 0.382 58 3 1 0 17 10 14 5
Mia Scott 61 199 0.377 75 15 2 2 32 24 18 19
Viviana Martinez 61 188 0.346 65 14 3 5 52 15 17 6
Bella Dayton 52 96 0.344 33 3 0 2 14 11 10 7
Leighann Goode 61 203 0.325 66 16 3 8 41 21 19 10
Courtney Day 54 130 0.308 40 7 0 7 31 22 29 2
Reese Atwood 58 172 0.291 50 8 0 11 43 3 29 1
Katie Cimusz 51 125 0.272 34 7 0 6 24 24 27 3
Vanessa Quiroga 29 47 0.383 18 4 0 3 11 6 10 0
Alyssa Popelka 50 72 0.361 26 0 0 0 5 5 11 9
Camille Corona 24 39 0.359 14 3 0 0 5 2 1 0
Baylea Brandon 23 30 0.300 9 2 0 3 8 7 6 0
Lou Gilbert 35 32 0.281 9 2 1 0 5 6 3 4
Alyssa Washington 42 113 0.239 27 4 0 4 27 11 14 4
Jordyn Whitaker 27 33 0.212 7 1 0 1 10 4 9 0
Mya Holmes 9 8 0.125 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 0

Individual pitching

Note: leaders must meet the minimum requirement of 1 IP/G

Player GP GS W L IP H R ER BB SO SV ERA
Citlaly Gutierrez 33 15 13 6 108.2 94 46 31 34 77 3 2.00
Mac Morgan 37 26 18 4 145.2 128 62 52 30 76 2 2.50
Estelle Czech 24 13 10 4 87.1 70 42 32 21 79 1 2.56
Sophia Simpson 26 7 4 1 62.0 49 29 23 38 86 2 2.60
Legend
  GP  Games played   GS  Games started  AB  At-bats
  H  Hits  Avg.  Batting average  2B  Doubles
 3B  Triples  HR  Home runs  RBI  Runs batted In
  IP  Innings pitched   W Wins  L  Losses
 ERA  Earned run average  SO  Strikeouts  BB  Base on balls
 SV  Saves  SB  Stolen bases  High  Team high

Source:[24]

Rankings

See also: 2023 NCAA Division I softball rankings
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
Week
PollPre123456789101112131415Final
NFCA / USA Today699991110998755108
Softball America916181514141410141310861010
ESPN.com/USA Softball91313111098810875578
D1Softball14161715111114101299551111

References

  1. ^ "Big 12 Softball Standings". Big12Sports.com. Big 12 Conference. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  2. ^ "2022 Softball Schedule". Texas Sports.
  3. ^ Scarborough, Alex (June 7, 2022). "Texas Longhorns first unseeded team to reach Women's College World Series finals". ESPN.
  4. ^ "2023 Softball Roster". Texas Sports.
  5. ^ "2022 Softball Roster". Texas Sports.
  6. ^ "2022 Softball Roster". Texas Sports.
  7. ^ "No. 17/14 Softball drops "Senior Day" contest to Baylor". Texas Sports. May 7, 2022.
  8. ^ "It's official! Brianna is coming home". Twitter.
  9. ^ Smith, JJ. "San Mo you ready for this??". Twitter.
  10. ^ O’Leary, Shealyn. "After a lot of prayer and consideration, I am excited to announce that I have committed to play softball at UT Tyler and to continue my pursuit of becoming a nurse! This was the perfect fit for both!!!!!". Twitter.
  11. ^ Davis, Danny. "Arizona State hires Texas assistant Megan Bartlett as its next head softball coach". Austin American Statesman.
  12. ^ "Softball inks five players to its 2022 signing class". Texas Sports.
  13. ^ "another addition to the Longhorn Fam". Twitter.
  14. ^ "Mac Morgan". Texas Sports.
  15. ^ "Softball announces Kristen Zaleski as new assistant coach". Texas Sports. July 1, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  16. ^ "2023 Softball Preseason National Honors". Big 12 Sports. January 25, 2023. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  17. ^ "Sooners Top Big 12 Softball Preseason Poll". Big 12 Sports. January 18, 2023.
  18. ^ "2023 Big 12 Softball Preseason Team Announced". Big 12 Sports. January 19, 2023.
  19. ^ "2023 NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic" (PDF). NFCA. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  20. ^ "2023 NFCA DIVISION I LEADOFF CLASSIC". NFCA.
  21. ^ "2023 NFCA DIVISION I LEADOFF CLASSIC". NFCA.
  22. ^ "2023 NFCA DIVISION I LEADOFF CLASSIC". NFCA.
  23. ^ "2023 Softball Schedule". Texas Longhorns. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  24. ^ "2023 Softball Cumulative Statistics". Texas Sports. Retrieved February 17, 2023.