AUSTIN (KXAN) — No. 12 Stanford avenged an earlier loss this season to top the No. 2 Texas Longhorns 4-3 in eight innings Saturday in the Lone Star State Invitational at McCombs Field.
It’s the first loss of the season for the Longhorns who beat Colorado State 9-0 earlier in the day.
MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than the Score sports newsletter at kxan.com/newsletters
Texas catcher Reese Atwood hit her eighth home run of the season to tie the game at 3-3 in the third inning, and then the teams played even through regulation. Texas had a golden chance to take a walk-off win in the bottom of the seventh with a runner on second and nobody out, but a new replay review rule bit the Longhorns badly.
Bella Dayton reached second base on a bunt single plus a throwing area to open the frame, and after Mia Scott popped up to Stanford pitcher NiJaree Canady, the Stanford coaching staff dipped into the new rules. They challenged that Dayton left second base before Canady released a pitch while Katie Stewart was hitting. The home plate umpire reviewed it and ruled that Dayton left the bag early and called her out, erasing the winning run from scoring position. Canady then struck out Stewart to send the game to extra innings.
A coach being able to challenge if a player has left a base early is new to NCAA softball this season, and it bailed Stanford out of a jam.
The Cardinal scored a run on a sacrifice fly in the eighth and Canady worked a clean eighth to seal the win.
Texas outhit Stanford 6-4 but the Longhorns were 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position. Dayton had two hits and Atwood drove in two runs with her home run.
Against Colorado State, Atwood blasted a grand slam in the fourth to help the Longhorns run-rule the Rams.
Texas (11-1) ends the Lone Star State Invitational against Louisiana at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.