Texas Finally get their Horns On the WCWS Trophy

Texas Finally Gets Their Horns on the WCWS Trophy

Friday night was Game 3 of the Women’s College World Series (WCWS). This was the deciding game of the WCWS, a chance for both the Texas Longhorns and Texas Tech Red Raiders to make history. For Texas Tech, this was their first time in the final of a WCWS. In the off-season, the Red Raiders made some moves in the NIL space to get players to transfer to compete. One of those players was former Stanford pitcher Nijaree Canady, who Texas Tech had offered a 7-figure NIL deal to transfer over. With that, the Red Raiders were en route to their first WCWS. On the other hand, the Texas Longhorns had yet another amazing season and were set to make their 8th appearance in the WCWS. In game one, Texas had gotten the best of Texas Tech pitcher Canady, who in the post-game conference said, “That loss is on me and I apologize to my team.”. In game two, Canady took that loss to heart as she was able to fend off a late Longhorn comeback, giving Tech the 4-3 win. The stage was set after the first two games were split; it came down to game 3, also known as the championship game. From the start, the Texas Longhorns’ bats were on fire. In a shock to everyone, Texas was able to get multiple hits off of Tech’s star pitcher Canady, which totaled five runs in just the first inning. In just the second inning, Tech had subbed out Canady in hopes of a fresh arm to help get Tech back into the game. No matter what, Texas just could not be stopped as they scored another five runs combined, bringing the score to 10-0 over Texas Tech. In the end, the Longhorns were just too much to handle. With the help of Texas pitcher Tegan Kavan won the most outstanding player of the tournament, as she set a new WCWS record for going 31.2 innings while giving zero earned runs. Texas third basemen Mia Scott was also playing with a torn ACL and still managed to play lights out. After eight WCWS appearances, Texas was finally able to lift that Trophy and make history.

Coco Gauff makes American History

On Saturday morning, Coco Gauff was set to battle the world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka. The two faced off before, so this was a rematch after Coco got the best of Aryna the first time. From the start, the match was intense. Sabalenka was hitting everything with force and intent while Coco struggled to find her rhythm. After losing the first set 6-7 to Sabalenka, Coco mustered up the strength to battle back and beat Sabalenka 6-2 in the second set. For Sabaleka, it was clear she was getting rattled as she could be heard yelling at her coaching team when she would miss a point. On the other hand, Coco remained calm and collected as she scored point after point. In the final set, the tension in the stadium could be cut with a knife, The weather started to falter as rain started to fall on the clay court, making it harder to play in. The last set game went down to the wire, as Sabalenka was once again trying to come back from behind; every point was a match point. Coco and Sabalenka went back and forth. Sabalenka hit a short ball, causing Coco to stumble slightly before she was able to hit it back. As Coco reset, Sabalenka hit the ball wide and out. Coco Gauff fell to the ground as it sank in that she had won her first French Open and also became the first American to win it since Serena Williams in 2015. For Sabalenka, this was another disappointing loss to Coco again, and she didn’t hesitate to express that frustration in her post-conference meeting. She stated that this final was “the worst final she ever played.”, and she mentioned how terrible the conditions were towards the end of the match. In the end, Coco Gauff was able to weather the storm and battle to get her second Grand Slam trophy.

WNBA Commissioner’s Cup weekend scores:

• Valkyrie 95-68 LV Aces

• Storm 89-77 Mercury

• Fever 79-52 Sky, The Chicago also lost veteran point guard Courtney Vandersloot to an ACL tear. She will now miss the remainder of the season.

• Lynx 81-65 Wings

• Mystics 104-67 Connecticut Suns

NWSL Scoreline:

• Racing Louisville 3-2 Utah Royals

• Seattle Reign FC 2-1 SD Wave

• KC Current 2-1 Gotham FC

• Orlando Pride 1-0 Houston Dash

• Bay FC 1-0 Portland Thorns

• Angel City FC 2-2 Chicago Stars

• Washington Spirit 3-1 NC Courage