Behind pitcher Teagan Kavan, Texas softball tops Northwestern to advance in NCAA Tournament

Bring on the Aggies. Or Texas State.

The way top-seeded Texas played this weekend in the NCAA Tournament’s Austin Regional; it may not matter who the Longhorns meet next. Texas (50-7) beat Northwestern for the second straight day Sunday to secure its spot in the super regionals, this time leaning on freshman pitcher Teagan Kavan in a 7-0 win. They’ll face either Texas A&M or Texas State in a best-of-three series next weekend at McCombs field.

Texas A&M and the Bobcats played later Sunday, with the winner advancing to Austin.

More: No. 1 Texas softball leaning on deep pitching staff to make its NCAA Tournament run

During its dominant weekend, Texas outscored Siena and Northwestern by a combined score of 26-2.

“We're on a roll now,” said shortstop Vivi Martinez, who went 6-for-9 at the regionals with three RBIs. “I think we're in a groove, and we can just keep going and getting better from here on.”

Martinez won’t get any argument from Northwestern coach Kate Drohan, whose team played a challenging nonconference schedule that included games against ranked teams in UCLA, LSU and Auburn.

“I think it's safe for me to say that this is probably the best team we've played this year,” she said.

Two days after Texas’ Mac Morgan threw a no-hitter in a tournament-opening 5-0 win over Siena, Kavan flirted with the 56th no-hitter in school history and just the fourth complete-game no-hitter in an NCAA Tournament game. She fanned a career-high 12 batters while improving to 18-2 on the season but had a no-hit bid broken up in the sixth inning when Angela Zedak launched a two-out double into left field.

Kavan survived a rocky start to her first NCAA Tournament game, walking the first batter she faced and plunking Northwestern’s Hannah Cady in the first inning. But she settled in and dominated a lineup that helped Northwestern (35-13) win the Big Ten regular-season title.

“I think I was a little amped up in general,” she said. “I just knew for them, especially, they're going to come out firing with their season on the line. So I think it just got all amped up, overthrew a little bit, but we got to talk in the dugout and I just kind of chilled from there and settled in.”

And what message did Texas coach Mike White give Kavan?

“Coach just instilled some confidence in me,” she said. “He just said there’s nothing to worry about.”

Fellow freshman Katie Stewart certainly eased some worries for Kavan and Texas when she gave the Longhorns a 2-0 lead in the top of the first with a two-RBI hit. Third baseman Mia Scott launched a three-run homer into the right-field bleachers in the second frame, and those early runs proved plenty enough for Kavan, the Big 12’s freshman of the year.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: No. 1 Texas softball tops Northwestern to advance in NCAA Tournament