AUSTIN (KXAN) — The regional tournament round of the NCAA softball tournament is always a tricky one. The host schools, Texas, for example, are expected to steamroll through the double-elimination bracket because other teams are playing in their yard and they’ve had the best season to this point.
But sometimes, it doesn’t work out that way, and that’s what the Longhorns are trying to avoid. After a 14-2 humbling loss at the hands of rivals Texas A&M in the Southeastern Conference tournament semifinals, Longhorns head coach Mike White said he gave a version of the famously fiery “Augie Garrido speech” to his players to bring them back to life ahead of the regional.
White’s words were presumably more appropriate for print than Garrido’s tirade (look it up if you’d like and make sure sensitive ears aren’t around), but he gave reporters the safe version during Thursday’s availability.
“It was about grit,” White said. “It was about finding a way to win, and that your will has to be greater than your skill. We have to challenge ourselves, and someone has to step up and take the moment and make a change.”
Texas senior Katie Cimusz summarized it as, “It’s not a loss if you learn from it.”
“We have to take the lessons from the A&M game and move forward,” she said.
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Texas, the No. 6 overall seed in the tournament, plays Eastern Illinois at 3:30 p.m. Friday at McCombs Field in their opening round game. A win keeps the Longhorns where they want to be, in the winner’s bracket, to face either Central Florida or Michigan on Saturday. If they string together three wins, it’s on to the super regional round and one step closer to the Women’s College World Series.
Before all of that, however, Texas faces the Ohio Valley Conference champions, the Eastern Illinois Panthers. Just because they are a No. 4 seed in the 4-team regional tournament doesn’t mean it’s an automatic win. Longhorns head coach Mike White is approaching the game just like he would if it were an SEC Conference team in the opposing dugout.
The Panthers have relied on two pitchers for the most part, McKenzie Oslanzi and Karlie McKenzie. Both have ERAs around 2.50 and WHIPs around 1.30, and while Oslanzi has had the bulk of the work with almost 200 innings, White has been impressive with both during scouting sessions.
“They are pretty similar, with one throwing in the high-60s, so good velocity, with a nice changeup,” White said. “The other throws a little more up in the zone with riseballs, so it creates a challenge for us. Anytime you get good velocity, it can stretch the strike zone, so it can put some pressure on us if we get behind.”
On the offensive side, White said the Panthers are “pretty good” with their short game, as any national tournament-level team should probably be. The idea is to get on base so their big bat, Kendall Grover, can do damage. She’s hitting .411 with 10 home runs and 16 doubles with 121 total bases this season. She also has a tremendous eye at the plate and terrific bat-to-ball skills, drawing 33 walks with only nine strikeouts.
As a team, the Panthers have walked more than they’ve struck out, 185 walks to 177 strikeouts, so at the very least, they’ll make the Texas pitchers throw strikes.
White said the motivation from the A&M game is one thing, but the senior class getting one last ride through the postseason is something he’s hoping will happen. He doesn’t want the 14-2 loss to be the lasting memory for them, or the fans, for that matter.
“We’ve got to do this for our seniors, for the players that have done so much,” White said. “We’ve got to put on a better performance for our fans, we owe them that.”
