The Legend of Teagan Kavan: With 2 titles already, Texas' star ace just keeps winning — 'She's unbeatable'

OKLAHOMA CITY — Teagan Kavan wandered the infield slightly hunched over by trophies in each hand. The pockets of people scattered around the dirt clamored for her attention.

>The Atwoods. The children of a Texas sports administrator Sarah Baumgartner. Her family and friends, one in a Longhorn burnt-orange T-shirt reading “Teagan Kavan is my hero.”

>To maneuver her hardware around those insisting on photos was more difficult for Kavan than anything she did to earn the honors.

>After throwing a complete Game 1, the junior right-hander struck out five of the six batters she faced to secure a 4-1 win over Texas Tech in Game 2. She finished the tournament with a 1.47 ERA, allowing seven runs off 16 hits in a tournament-high 33.1 innings. Her 30 strikeouts also led the field.

>The repeat title proved for good that last year’s win over the same opponent was no fluke, and cemented her amongst legends at the ballpark that creates them.

>Just ask Texas head coach Mike White.

>“You'd have to say yes on that,” White said. “And she does it in a different way.”

>Or her pitching coach.

>“She's out there at the top with everybody,” Pattie Ruth Taylor told Yahoo Sports. “She only keeps getting better and better, and especially in those big moments. Her legacy is one of its own.”

>And for a more objective take, Texas Tech’s Gerry Glasco.

>“If you know softball,” he said, “you know how rare and special a talent she is.”

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>The moment was picture-perfect for his own elite pitcher NiJaree Canady, softball’s first $1 million player and easily the sport’s face. The series wasn’t about defeating Texas after losing to them on this stage a year ago, Canady said this week. The dream was simply winning it all — finally — after going 0-for-3 including two seasons with Stanford.

>It’s Canady’s name next to the record for WCWS game appearances.

>It’s Kavan’s next to the one for WCWS Most Outstanding Player awards.

>She became the first two-time MOP in the series history, an extraordinary feat that once announced raised eyebrows of those at field level. No one at powerhouse repeat programs Oklahoma or UCLA over the years had achieved such status.

>Kavan stands as one of one, with another year to add more.

>“She’s unbeatable when she is here at the World Series,” senior catcher Reese Atwood said. “She goes out there, and she throws her absolute best games in the hardest moments to do so.”

Texas pitcher Teagan Kavan throws her glove after throwing the final out to win the national championship against Texas Tech on Thursday.Chris Swann via Getty ImagesKavan launched into her WCWS career as a freshman by throwing 14 consecutive innings, becoming the first Texas player to throw a complete game shutout in her WCWS debut. The emerging Longhorns lost to four-peater Oklahoma in the championship series.

>As a sophomore, she threw a three-hit seven-inning gem in Game 1 of the championship series against Texas Tech, came in for two outs to try and secure Game 2, and took the circle again in a runaway Texas victory that sealed the win. She earned Most Outstanding Player with 31 ⅔ scoreless innings across seven outings.

>If you recall the name from championship series past, yes, she did overlap with Caitlin Clark as students at Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, Iowa. The thread was connected repeatedly when she was a freshman. Not so much anymore as Kavan stands on her own name. There is no doubt she will be the one leading a new era after pitchers Canady, Jordy Frahm and Karlyn Pickens; and UCLA’s home run hitters Megan Grant and Jordan Woolery move on to the pros.

>Kavan’s greatest skill has always been rising to the occasion. She earned second-team All-American status this year, and Glasco felt she never received the respect she deserved this season.

>But sometimes, White said, it’s like she gives up leads “almost like she feels sorry for” the opponent, as if it’s a game in the game to level up.

>The WCWS was not the time for that. Since Kavan was tired and tight after throwing 115 pitches the prior night, White and Taylor weren’t sure she could go seven. And if they lost that way, she wouldn’t be available for a winner-take-all Game 3.

>They handed the ball to Citlaly Gutierrez. Taylor knew she was confident for the moment as soon as the senior looked her dead in the eye before facing Tennessee in the semifinals and saying she was ready for the first game. White talked her up publicly all week, knowing his team had worked hard since last year’s title to fill the pitching void between Kavan and Co.

>Gutierrez earned the win allowing one run off three hits in 4 ⅓ innings, none bigger than the fourth with the bases loaded. She came back in to relieve freshman Hannah Wells, who pitched once between May 1 and Game 2, and shut down the threat to preserve a slim 1-0 lead.

>“She got the biggest out in the whole tournament for us because without a doubt that could have gone the other way,” White said.

>

>It set up the desired return of Kavan, who came in for the sixth with MOP votes already secured in the electronic ballot box. Throwing 21 strikes in 28 pitches to finish off one of the most dangerous and definitely the most expensive offenses in the country was merely an accoutrement to elevate the point. It was her third WCWS save, tied with Oklahoma’s Paige Lowary for most in a WCWS career.

>“When she came in and she smelled the win, she was not giving that up,” White said. “She was a killer. She was an assassin out there on the mound today and just really didn’t give them an opportunity to come in, and shut the door so hard.”

>Kavan’s elevation in such a scenario stood starkly against Glasco and his baffling pitching decisions. Unlike earlier in the tournament, these ones went against his normal circus — and didn’t work out. He yanked both his All-Americans, Canady and Kaitlyn Terry, by the third inning of Game 1. And instead of going back to swapping them out, he stuck with Canady despite Texas scoring two runs off two hits and an error in the sixth.

>Everyone knew Kavan would soon head to the bullpen. She took the circle as dusk fell, the 12,308 in attendance swaying alongside their phone’s flashlights to Ella Langley’s “Choosin Texas.”

>Considering the two-time MOP has one final year of eligibility, it tracks to select the same. Thoughts of a three-peat and more trophies are on the horizon.