The Texas Longhorns celebrate a home run by Reese Atwood (14) during the NCAA D1 Softball Tournament Regional against UCF at Red and Charline McCombs Field on Sunday, May 18, 2025 in Austin, Texas. Aaron E. Martinez / American Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Momentum Reignited for Texas Longhorns After Regional Win

Originally posted on Texas Longhorns on SI
By Ylver Deleon-Rios | Last updated May 19, 2025 4:00 PM ET

Entering the postseason, a big question hung around the heads of the Texas Longhorns: Will the bats ever come alive again?

The Longhorns battled their way down the stretch of the 2025 season, going 7-7 against SEC competition since April 11, including a devastating 14-2 loss in the SEC Tournament semifinals to rivals the Texas A&M Aggies. In that stretch, the Longhorns struggled, batting 101-362 as a team for a batting average of .279 while striking out 55 times in 14 games.

In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Longhorns batters came alive, outscoring opponents 35-6, accumulating 43 hits, nine home runs, and batting 43-90 as a team at the plate for a combined batting average of .477 across the three games of their Austin Regional victory.

"Coming off the SEC loss, it was a full team mindset of we have to be better, we have to change, and that was what ultimately led to this weekend's offense," catcher Reese Atwood said in a postgame press conference. "It was a mindset adjustment of coming in with confidence, attacking, being ready, and not going up there timidly."

Atwood led by example with the team's change of mindset, capping off the Austin Regional batting 8-11, totaling an incredible .727 batting average to go along with three home runs and 13 RBIs. Increasing her season totals to a .429 batting average, which is currently a career-high, while homering 20 times and 84 RBIs, which are closing in on career highs for Atwood in both statistics.

"We always tell them it's never going to be a straight line, there's going to be some dips and valleys just don't get too high or too low and we were hitting a low spot towards the end of the season and fortunately we were able to regroup," head coach Mike White said in a postgame press conference. "We did a lot on the mental side of things, and just our attitude... It's more about what's going on between your ears, just regrouping, resetting, and coming out with that attack mindset."

The Longhorns will have to harness their newfound mindset if a return to the Women's College World Series finals is in their future. The momentum sparked in the regionals will be vital to turn into consistency for the rest of the postseason.

Texas's next stop in the postseason will be hosting the ACC champions, the Clemson Tigers, for Super Regionals beginning May 22.

This article first appeared on Texas Longhorns on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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