Has Texas ever won a WCWS title? Top-seeded Longhorns in search of first in program history

Texas softball has put together one of its best seasons to date this year, but one order of business remains unaccomplished for Mike White's squad: winning the program's first-ever Women's College World Series title.

Led by star hitting catcher Reese Atwood and star pitcher Teagan Kavan, the Longhorns were the "unanimous" selection for the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Softball Tournament by the NCAA Selection Committee on Sunday, despite losing to conference foe Oklahoma in the Big 12 Tournament.

With that seeding, on top of being the top-ranked team in national polls for the majority of this season, Texas is one of the favorites to win the WCWS. If and when that does happen, it could mean another heavyweight matchup with the Sooners, who are looking to make history themselves, which could provide some entertaining softball for fans to watch.

MORE: Watch the 2024 NCAA Softball Tournament (free trial)

But to get there, the Longhorns will have to get past Siena College on Friday at 3 p.m. CT at home at Red & Charline McCombs Field in the opening game of the Austin Regional. Here's what you need to know about the Longhorns' history in the Women's College World Series as the NCAA Softball Tournament begins on Friday:

Has Texas ever won the Women's College World Series?

No. However, the Longhorns came close to running the table in 2022 after losing to No. 1 Oklahoma in the second game of the Women's College World Series. Texas won out in the loser's bracket (sweeping Big 12 foe Oklahoma State in the semifinals), but eventually run out of gas when it again went up against the top-seeded Sooners n the championship series, dropping both games.

Here's a full game-by-game breakdown of the Longhorns' runner-up finish in the 2022 Women's College World Series:

• Game 1: 7-2 win over (5) UCLA

• Game 2: 7-2 loss to (1) Oklahoma

• Game 3 (losers bracket, second round): 5-2 win vs. Arizona

• Game 4 (losers bracket, semifinals): 5-0 win vs. Oklahoma State

• Game 5 (losers bracket, semifinals): 6-5 win vs. Oklahoma State

• Game 6 (championship series): 16-1 loss to (1) Oklahoma

• Game 7 (championship series): 10-5 loss to (1) Oklahoma

REQUIRED READING: NCAA Softball Tournament bracket: Schedule, TV channels, streaming, scores for Road to WCWS

Has Texas softball ever made the WCWS?

Yes. Heading into this year's postseason, Texas has appeared in six WCWS appearances on its resume with the last one coming in 2022.

To make the WCWS that season, Texas — which was an unseeded at-large team — pulled out five wins in the regional and super regionals to return to Oklahoma City for the first time since 2013. In the regional round, the Longhorns defeated Weber State and No. 11 ranked/No. 13 seeded Washington twice (in three games). Then it took down No. 4 seed Arkansas 2-1 in the best-of-three Fayetteville Super Regional.

Following a win over UCLA, Oklahoma lost its second game in the WCWS to Oklahoma. Texas then went on a run as it put together wins over Arizona and Oklahoma State (twice) to appear in its first-ever WCWS championship series. However, the short-lived Cinderella run came to an end as the Longhorns were unable to take down their Big 12 rival Oklahoma.

Texas made five of its six appearances to the WCWS under previous head coach Connie Clark, with the first one coming in 1998. That season, the 6-seed Longhorns dropped both of its games to No. 3 Michigan and No. 2 seed Nebraska.

Here's a full list of when Texas has made the trek up to Oklahoma City from Austin for the WCWS:

• 1998

• 2003

• 2005

• 2006

• 2013

• 2022

REQUIRED READING: Texas softball claims No. 1 overall seed in NCAA Tournament, will open tourney against Siena

Texas softball NCAA Tournament history

The Longhorns enter the 2024 NCAA Softball Tournament with a 73-52 overall record (58.4% winning percentage) across 22 appearances in the NCAA Tournament per the school's media guide. Texas made it out of the regional round of the tournament on eight occasions and out of the super regional round on six.

Here's a round-by-round breakdown of Texas's history in the NCAA Tournament, including the Women's College World Series:

• Regional: 51-30

• Super Regional: 11-9

• Women's College World Series: 11-13

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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: How many WCWS titles does Texas have? Longhorns history in NCAA Tournament