No. 1 Texas softball rolls in Big 12 tournament opener, will face Baylor in semifinals

Texas picked up where it left off with a 13-4 win over Texas Tech in its first game at the Big 12 softball tournament Thursday in Oklahoma City.

And the No. 1 Longhorns hoped to stay hot against Baylor in a Big 12 semifinal Friday night.

Texas Tech, which lost all three of its games in the final series of the regular season against Texas last weekend, took an early 1-0 lead, but UT (46-6) didn't waste any time in gaining the lead at Oklahoma City's recently renamed Devon Park. Freshman Katie Stewart smacked a two-run single in the bottom of the first, and Stewart, Joley Mitchell and Mia Scott all blasted home runs in the second inning as the Longhorns' lead ballooned to 8-1.

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Vivi Martinez added a three-run homer in the third inning as Texas set a program record for the most runs scored in a single game during the Big 12 tournament.

"Obviously, playing Texas Tech for a fourth time in a week, you always kind of worry about those kinds of setups and how things are going to go and being down one run straight away, but we were able to bend but not break and come right back out and score," Texas coach Mike White said. "And we needed that; then we kept the momentum. You have to credit (Texas Tech) for everything, because they were down but never stopped fighting just like they did yesterday. But we were able to push runs across, so I was really happy with the way the ladies played."

Top-seeded Texas, which is ranked No. 1 in the nation in every major poll, will face off with fourth-seeded Baylor Friday night. The Longhorns scored 32 runs while sweeping the Bears in their three-game series earlier in the season.

Second-seeded Oklahoma will face No. 6 BYU in the other Big 12 semifinal after BYU stunned third-seeded Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals.

Big 12 Tournament

At Devon Park, Oklahoma City

Wednesday's first round — (1) Kansas 6, Houston 5; (2) Texas Tech 10, Iowa State 9. Thursday's quarterfinals — (3) BYU 7, Oklahoma State 2; (4) Oklahoma 10, Kansas 1; (5) Texas 13, Texas Tech 4; (6) Baylor 3, UCF 2. Friday's semifinals — (7) Oklahoma vs. BYU, 5 p.m., ESPN+; (8) Texas vs. Baylor, 7:30 p.m., ESPN+. Saturday's final — Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 6:30 p.m., ESPN2