Lady Vols know their WCWS Game 1 opponent: the Texas Longhorns
The Tennessee Lady Vols now know their opponent for Thursday’s Women’s College World Series opener.
The Texas Longhorns took game three over the Arizona State Sun Devils on Sunday, 5-0, to clinch their third consecutive WCWS berth. Southeastern Conference player of the Year Katie Stewart led the Longhorns on Sunday, hitting 2-for-4 with four RBI.
Tennessee and Texas did not meet during the 2026 season. They last met on June 2, 2025, in an elimination game at the WCWS, where the Longhorns defeated the Lady Vols 2-0. However, being SEC opponents, they split the 2025 season 2-2.
Texas comes into OKC with an overall record of 47-11, winning nine of its last 10 contests. The Longhorns feature four players with double-digit home runs, led by Stewart with 27.
Reese Atwood (18), Hannah Wells (15), and Leighann Goode (11) join her in double digits.
The Longhorns are led in the circle by junior right-handed pitcher Tegan Kavan. Kavan, who was 2025’s WCWS Most Outstanding Player, comes off a complete-game, five-hit shutout win Sunday over the Sun Devils. In the Super Regional, Kavan threw 14.0 innings across three appearances.
Citlaly Gutierrez has tossed 69.2 innings across 22 appearances for Texas and has a 9-3 record. Gutierrez has a 2.21 ERA and took game two’s win in the Austin Super Regional after pitching 5.0 innings of one-run ball on three hits and six strikeouts.
First pitch is set for 2:30 p.m. ET, Thursday on ESPN.
