2025 Year in Review: Women’s College Softball

[Editor’s note: This article is from Athlon Sports’ 2025 “Year in Review” magazine, which celebrates the year’s champions and relives the biggest moments from across the world of sports. Order your copy online today, or pick one up at retail racks and newsstands nationwide.]

After years of knocking on the door of a championship, Texas finally kicked through for the program’s first NCAA softball national title.

In June, Texas topped in-state rival Texas Tech 10-4 in the final game of the best-of-three Women’s College World Series championship round to grab the elusive crown. The victory not only ended years of frustration for the Longhorns, but it also capped the program’s ascent under head coach Mike White, who took over in 2019.

Prior to 2025, the Longhorns had played in 24 NCAA tournaments with seven appearances in the Women’s College World Series since starting up their program in 1997. They reached the WCWS championship round twice, falling to dynastic Oklahoma in 2022 and 2024.

But the 2025 squad would not be denied, even against a Texas Tech team led by NiJaree Canady, arguably the best pitcher in college softball. Canady gave up five runs in the first inning of Game 3, the most runs she’s allowed in a single inning over her three collegiate years.

Texas second baseman Leighann Goode capped the opening frame with a three-run home run, and third baseman Mia Scott put the game away with a grand slam in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Texas pitcher Teagan Kavan received the WCWS Most Outstanding Player award while ascending to stardom. In Game 3 against Texas Tech, the stoic sophomore picked up her fourth complete-game win of the 2025 tournament as well as her sixth career win in the World Series. That broke a school-record tie with National Softball Hall of Famer and U.S. gold medalist Cat Osterman, a softball legend who set virtually every Texas pitching record in her collegiate career in the 2000s but never won a national championship.

The win over Texas Tech capped a historic season for Texas (56-12), which competed in the Southeastern Conference for the first time after playing its previous 28 years in the Big 12 Conference. The Longhorns finished third in the country’s toughest conference and were one of the seven SEC teams in the top eight seeds of the NCAA Tournament.

But the conference competition seemed to steel Texas for its postseason run. The Longhorns walloped Eastern Illinois, Michigan and Central Florida to advance to the NCAA Super Regionals, where they survived a taut three-game series against Clemson. Texas then won three straight games at the WCWS, including a victory over nemesis Oklahoma, to reach the championship round against Texas Tech.

The rest, literally, became Longhorn history.