Kayden Henry stays hot at leadoff, sparks Texas softball to Big 12 series sweep of BYU
Forced to play three games in two days at McCombs Field because of impending storms, the Texas softball team completed a three-game sweep of BYU on Friday with a pair of Big 12 wins.
After blasting BYU 13-0 in a game shortened to five innings Thursday, the third-ranked Longhorns (24-3, 5-1 Big 12) stayed hot at the plate in 7-3 and 10-0 victories Friday.
More: Texas softball falls to unbeaten LSU in a matchup of top-three national teams
Freshman outfielder Kayden Henry continued to spark the offense from her leadoff spot, starting both games with a hit and a run to give the Longhorns early leads. That’s been a good sign all season for Texas, which moved to 21-0 when scoring first and 16-1 when scoring in the first inning.
Texas coach Mike White said Henry’s versatility at the plate gives the offense plenty of options.
“(Kayden) is able to drop a bunt or hit a good gapper, a triple or a home run,” White said. “She just has that ability to do everything, which is nice because it gives us the ability to do a lot of different things out of that leadoff position.”
Henry also showed her speed with a key run late in the first of Friday’s games. With Texas clinging to a 4-3 lead entering the bottom of the sixth inning, Henry turned a probable single to left field into a double when she motored to second base. That hustle allowed her to reach third on a sacrifice bunt by Mia Scott and then score on Alyssa Washington's sacrifice fly two batters later.
Henry started the second game in similar fashion. After a leadoff double, she scored on a wild pitch, and she later added a two-run double.
Overall, Henry went 7-for-11 with seven runs and four RBIs in the three games against BYU.
“(Setting the tone early) was sort of something I talked about going back to the University of Houston series, being useful for my team and to get those leadoff hits and start off the game right and set the tone and get my team fired up,” she said.
She had plenty of help. Catcher Reese Atwood moved into a tie for ninth on the program’s single-season RBI list with 46 after driving in four runs in Friday's first game. And after retiring the final 15 batters to conclude Thursday’s game, Mac Morgan reentered the circle with one out in the top of the fifth of Friday’s first game and retired eight of the nine batters she faced. In 9⅔ innings of work throughout three appearances on the week, Morgan retired 29 of 31 batters and allowed just a single and one walk while striking out five.
Texas will travel to Florida State for a midweek nonconference game Wednesday before resuming Big 12 play at Central Florida this weekend.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas softball team rolls past BYU in 3-game Big 12 sweep
