Late homers propel big comeback win for Longhorns in Big 12 softball tournament

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Down four runs with two outs in the sixth inning, the No. 7 Texas Longhorns softball team decided to hit the ball out of the park.

Three home runs worked the game back to a 6-6 tie, and then the Longhorns took care of Texas Tech 7-6 in eight innings in the opening round of the Big 12 Conference softball tournament Thursday in Oklahoma City.

"Well, our backs were against the wall — a little bit like they were last year — and the team just showed a lot of resilience in fighting back," Longhorns head coach Mike White said. "We were just getting a bit unlucky there in the first few innings. We were hitting (pitches) right at people and (Texas Tech) was finding holes. But we stuck in there and held them there late and found back."

A wild pitch by Texas Tech relief pitcher Erna Carlin with the bases loaded allowed Bella Dayton to score the game-winning run, but the real fireworks happened in the sixth and seventh innings.

Dayton started the comeback bid with a line-drive 2-run home run that hugged the right-field line to cut the deficit to 6-4 in the sixth inning. After a clean top of the seventh for Texas, Katie Cimusz and Vanessa Quiroga blasted back-to-back home runs to tie the game at 6-6. Cimusz hit an 0-2 pitch from Red Raiders pitcher Sage Hoover over the left-field wall, and then Quiroga hit another 2-strike pitch from Hoover to the same area of the field.

Cimusz was familiar with Hoover and used the knowledge to her advantage.

"I think just trying to stay within myself and keep the “see ball, hit ball,” mentality and try not to overthink the at-bats," she said. "I knew (Sage Hoover) was an up-ball pitcher and with the first two pitches, I was just trying to see how the ball would move and then it got to 0-2 and I just wanted to make small adjustments and try to get on top of the ball."

Hoover was able to pitch her way out of the inning after the two homers to send the game to an extra inning, but Texas relief pitcher Citlaly Gutierrez got the Longhorns through the top half of the eighth to get the bats back to the plate. Dayton singled and Reese Atwood was hit by a pitch to put two runners on, then Viviana Martinez moved both into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Cimusz was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and then Carlin skipped a pitch in the dirt that got by the catcher and Dayton scampered home to complete the 5-run comeback.

With the game tied 2-2 after three innings, Texas Tech's Riley Love delivered with her first home run of the season on the ninth pitch of the at-bat to give the Red Raiders a 5-2 lead. Texas Tech added another run on a Peyton Blythe RBI double, her second of the game, to stretch their lead before the Longhorns' longballs brought it back to even.

Dayton, Quiroga, Cimusz and Leighann Goode each had two hits for Texas as the Longhorns outhit Texas Tech 12-9. Gutierrez was credited with the pitching win following 1.2 innings of relief, getting the final two outs of the seventh and a complete eighth.

The win snaps a 3-game losing streak for the Longhorns and moves them into the tournament semifinals against either Oklahoma State or Kansas at 4 p.m. Friday.