OKLAHOMA CITY — Joley Mitchell homered twice and Teagan Kavan allowed only two hits to lead sixth-seeded Texas past No. 3 seed Florida 3-0 on Thursday to open play at the Women’s College World Series.
Mitchell homered in the second and sixth innings off Florida ace Keagan Rothrock, becoming the first Texas player to hit multiple home runs at the WCWS.
“Kind of a clean slate for me,” said Mitchell, who didn’t face Rothrock in last year’s WCWS game between the teams. “I knew I needed to be on time, and that’s kind of just the forefront of my thoughts.”
Texas (52-11) will next play on Saturday vs. Oklahoma, which beat Tennessee with a dramatic three-run walk-off home run. Florida (48-16) will play the Lady Volunteers on Friday in an elimination game.
Kavan tossed her third shutout in two years of WCWS action at Devon Park.
“I mean, it’s the place to be,” Kavan said. “There’s no other place I would rather be. A lot of people would give a lot to be here. So I’m grateful to be here to give my all for my teammates and come out with some wins for us.”
Back-to-back home runs by Mitchell and Katie Stewart in the sixth ended Rothrock’s day. She was pulled after throwing 105 pitches. Three of the five hits she allowed were home runs.
Mitchell’s first home run traveled 250 feet to left field.
The Gators were hitless through three innings against Kavan, who improved to 25-5. Florida finally broke through in the fourth inning when Korbe Otis lined a base hit off Mitchell’s glove at first base.
“I mean, she’s a good pitcher,” Otis said. “Everybody that we’re going to face at the College World Series is going to be a good pitcher. She just made a few better pitches than we were able to hit, so she did a good job.”
Texas led 1-0 in the fifth but threatened against Rothrock, putting runners on first and second with two outs. She struck out Reese Atwood looking to end the inning.
Now the Gators, who reached the semifinals of last season’s double-elimination tournament, are playing to extend their season.
“Obviously, it’s a huge letdown to lose the first game of the College World Series, and the way they go about their business just tells me everything I need to know about the people that I coach,” Florida coach Tim Walton said. “They take it serious. They compete. They work hard, and they enjoy what they do. So to me, no matter what we do tomorrow, today was a learning opportunity.”
Texas Tech 1, Ole Miss 0
Nijaree Canady pitched a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts, and the No. 12 seed Red Raiders edged the unseeded Rebels in the first WCWS appearance for both teams.
Canady, last year’s USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, led Stanford to the national semifinals two straight years before transferring to Texas Tech. She led the Red Raiders to their first Big 12 regular season and tournament titles.
Canady was dominant against Ole Miss in a game delayed 75 minutes by lightning and rain. She retired the first 16 batters she faced, and struck out the side in the first and seventh innings. She blew a fastball by Rebels’ slugger Lexi Brady for the game’s final out.
Texas Tech (51-12) will play either Oregon or UCLA on Saturday for a spot in the semifinals. Ole Miss (42-20) will face the loser of Oregon and UCLA in Friday’s elimination game.
Angelina DeLeon ended Canady’s run with a sixth-inning single up the middle for Ole Miss and moved to second on an infield single by Taylor Malvin. But Canady struck out Jaden Pone looking and got Lair Beautae to foul out to third.
Texas Tech’s Lauren Allred got the game’s first hit in the fourth inning, singling inside the third base line off the Rebels’ Aliyah Binford. Allred scored on a double by Alana Johnson and a throwing error by the left fielder to give Canady all the run support she needed.
Binford only allowed four hits and did not give up an earned run.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
