NIL
Teagan Kavan Outduels the Nation to Become Last Pitcher Standing
The Texas Longhorns entered the 2025 season as the preseason No. 1 team. They ended the season as the national champion with a sophomore from Iowa leading them to the program’s first title. Teagan Kavan was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Women’s College World Series after throwing 31.2 scoreless innings across seven outings […]
The Texas Longhorns entered the 2025 season as the preseason No. 1 team. They ended the season as the national champion with a sophomore from Iowa leading them to the program’s first title.
Teagan Kavan was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Women’s College World Series after throwing 31.2 scoreless innings across seven outings in Oklahoma City.
With most of the talk focused on NiJaree Canady and her multiple $1 million NIL deals, Kavan quietly and confidently outdueled the nation’s best arms.
En route to the title, Kavan earned wins against the Southeastern Conference’s Pitcher of the Year in Tennessee’s Karlyn Pickens. She also earned a victory against Oklahoma’s Sam Landry before earning two wins over Canady in the final series.
Kavan isn’t one to show a ton of emotion in the circle, but she couldn’t hold back the tears once the final out was recorded, although she did deflect and give credit to her teammates.
“I think it’s my team,” Kavan said when asked if she felt like she deserved more credit. “That’s who gets the wins, not just me. It’s our whole team. That’s what we kept talking about, we’re talking about the whole team. I just love this team.”
Kavan battled through grief after losing her grandmother before leading the Longhorns to a 4-2 win over the Sooners and inspired her teammates with every pitch.
“I think it was awesome just watching her do her thing out there,” senior pitcher Mac Morgan said.” Very inspiring. Very proud of you. It’s very fun to be her teammate. Very loving, kind person. Someone you’re going to miss a lot.”
“Even though she’s a sophomore, she plays like a fifth-year,” senior Katie Cimusz added. “Seems like she’s been here a long time. And not many people can go out there their second year and play like a super senior.
“She does that every single game. And like Mac said she’s just a great person. This week, we were kind of playing for her. She had the loss of her grandmother, and I think that just really fueled us a lot was to go out there and play for her and just be able to say that we were able to do it.”
Kavan matured throughout the 2025 season. She had her ups and downs, but by the end she was standing on the mountain top while so many other pitchers who earned more attention for their performances were left looking up.
“Just watching her mature,” White said. “She’s never really been rattled per se. Even when shows giving up some runs, you don’t see the emotion on her face.
“Obviously, she cares about it and she doesn’t want that to happen, but she doesn’t get down. She doesn’t dwell on things. She’s able to bounce back with resiliency, which is great as a pitcher.”