Tennessee softball has a rematch from last year’s semifinals to open the 2026 Women’s College World Series.
The No. 7 seed Lady Vols (47-10) will play No. 2 seed Texas (47-11) at Devon Park in Oklahoma City on May 28 (2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). Tennessee and Texas met in the 2025 WCWS semifinals, which the Longhorns won 2-0 to eliminate the Lady Vols en route to the program’s first national championship.
Tennessee’s double-elimination bracket also includes No. 11 seed Texas Tech (57-7) and unseeded Mississippi State (43-19), which upset No. 3 seed Oklahoma to advance. The winners of the two opening games will play May 30 (3 p.m., ABC), and the losers will play May 29 (7 p.m., ESPN2).
Here’s what you need to know about the rematch with the reigning national champions.
Texas led be SEC Player of the Year Katie Stewart
Longhorns first baseman Katie Stewart set a program record in home runs this season with 27 home runs and counting. She leads Texas with 72 RBIs, a .436 batting average, a .988 slugging percentage and .559 on-base percentage.
After the junior was held hitless in a Game 1 loss to Arizona State, Stewart had five RBIs in the next two games. Four of them were in the decisive Game 3. Stewart’s slugging draws the attention, but in a game with the season on the line, she got the job done with a pair of two-RBI singles in the 5-0 win.
The Longhorns also have strong hitters around Stewart like Kayden Henry (.417 batting average, 47 RBIs), Viviana Martinez (.387 batting average, 43 RBIs) and Reese Atwood (.337 batting average, 18 home runs, 59 RBIs).
Teagan Kavan having another stellar year in the circle
Junior pitcher Teagan Kavan, who was the 2025 Most Outstanding Player at the WCWS, is having another fantastic season.
She leads Texas’ staff with 230 strikeouts – which was how many she had during the entire 2025 season – and 195⅓ innings. Kavan is 24-5 on the season with six shutouts and three saves. Her 2.47 ERA is only slightly higher than her sophomore mark of 2.16.
Kavan ranks No. 18 in the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.11) and No. 28 in strikeouts per seven innings (8.2). Texas’ No. 2 pitcher is senior Citlaly Gutierrez, whose ERA is down to a team-high 2.21 from 2.56 last season. Her strikeout-to-walk ratio is also up to 2.78 this season from 2.03 last season.
What a win to open WCWS would mean for Tennessee
The last two trips to the WCWS, Tennessee has fallen into the losers’ bracket. Last year, the Lady Vols lost to Oklahoma in their first game and in 2023, they lost to the Sooners in their second game.
Both scenarios make it incredibly difficult to make it to the championship series. Tennessee went into the semifinals in 2023 and 2025 needing to beat its opponent twice to advance, and it also played an extra game to get there.
Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said last year the key to a successful run is taking care of business and staying in the winners’ bracket. That also means a day of rest between each games, not playing four games in five days.
If the Lady Vols can stay in the winner’s bracket, they have a much better chance to play in their first WCWS championship series since 2013 – which was also the last time Tennessee played in consecutive WCWS.
Tennessee softball vs. Texas in WCWS prediction
Tennessee 4, Texas 2: The Lady Vols have hit another gear in the postseason in every area, and their pitching will be able to hold back Texas’ offense. Tennessee has had just enough offense on its run so far, and that won’t stop in Oklahoma City.
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks: subscribe.knoxnews.com/offers
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Prediction for Tennessee softball vs Texas in Women’s College World Series opener