The Longhorns have reclaimed the Lone Star Showdown trophy, the symbol of victory in the varsity men’s and women’s athletics competition between UT and Texas AandM University. For the fourth time in the first six years of this event, the Longhorns have captured the title outright.
Texas sealed its victory for the current season after a pair of Wednesday night home victories by softball and men’s tennis. Softball used a pair of two-run home runs by Nadia Taylor and Lexy Bennett and a complete-game, 14-strikeout performance by Blaire Luna en route to a 4-1 win before a sellout crowd at Red and Charline McCombs Field.
Less than an hour later a few blocks away at Penick-Allison Tennis Center, a standing-room only crowd saw Josh Zavala earn the clinching point with his victory at fifth singles in UT’s 7-0 sweep of the Aggies. The men’s tennis win secured at least a share of the Big 12 regular-season title for the Longhorns, marking the fourth UT program to capture a Big 12 Conference championship during the 2009-10 athletics season (volleyball, football and men’s swimming and diving).
The horns claimed the inaugural Showdown in 2004-05 with a 14.5-4.5 victory. Texas then posted a 14-5 win in 2005-06, before recording a 10.5-8.5 victory in the 2006-07 Showdown. Texas AandM claimed its only outright win with a 10.5-8.5 victory in 2007-08. The two schools posted a 9.5-9.5 tie last season, but the Aggies retained the trophy as defending champions.
The Showdown was created to highlight the rivalry between the state’s two largest public universities in all sports.
