2026 WCWS: Stewart delivers late three-run homer to lead Texas past Nebraska

SEC Player of the Year versus the USA Softball Player of the Year, the moments you dream of in the Women’s College World Series. Jordy Frahm stared down Katie Stewart in the biggest moment of the game. With each team’s season on the line, the crack of the bat signaled Stewart’s victory. Stewart’s three-run blast kept Texas alive at the WCWS, beating Nebraska 3-1.

KATIE FREAKIN' STEWART. NO DOUBTER. 💣#HookEm pic.twitter.com/NF3ZWbqStL

— Texas Softball (@TexasSoftball) May 31, 2026

Texas struggled against Frahm for most of the game. She carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning. Jaycie Nichols’ infield single ended that, and the Longhorns passed the bats. Kayden Henry lined a single into right to set the stage for Stewart. She didn’t disappoint.

Frahm’s pitch to Stewart wasn’t bad by any means. Stewart connected perfectly on the 70 MPH riseball up and in for her 28th homer of the season. Stewart attributed her adjustments to how Frahm threw against her back in February to the game-changing at-bat.

“Just knowing how I got pitched in February, kind of similar this time around,” Stewart said. “Just kind of banking on that, knowing I was starting to see well leading up into the at-bat. Just trusting my process, my plan. I think it all worked out in that at-bat.”

Texas head coach Mike White talked about the adjustments his team had to make when Frahm was throwing so well.

“Yeah, we knew we had to start hunting pitches because she was so good out there really mixing it up,” White said. “The ball was moving both ways. Had the change-up that was throwing us off. You really got to take your opportunities there and sit on something. I think that’s what she was able to do. Got the barrel to it. You always worry about those things going foul. Once I saw the flight of it, it was going to stay fair.”

“It takes risk. She was able to take the risk and hit a good pitch. I’m sure Jordy wishes she had it back. It’s no coincidence that both those pitches are rise balls that went out of the ballpark.”

In the circle, Kavan looked like the arm that carried Texas to a national champion in 2025. After surrendering a leadoff homer to Frahm, Kavan set down nine straight batters until Hannah Coor led off the fourth with a double. That didn’t faze her, quickly retiring the next two batters. Jesse Farrell hit a ball back up the middle of Kavan’s glove. Goode made the play to get Farrell at first to end the inning and prevent Coor from scoring.

The bottom of Nebraska’s order put together a two-out rally in the fifth. Bella Bacon had a two-out single, followed by Lauren Camenzind reaching on an error by Goode on a ball with wicked spin. That brought Frahm back up to the plate. Kavan induced an inning-ending groundout to keep the deficit at one.

Kavan seemed to use her dropball more in this outing compared to her overall season splits and that’s reflected in the 12 groundouts she induced.

“I think we learned a lot from last night’s game that they played (against Alabama),” Kavan said. “The drop ball was effective then. We kind of used that going into today, knew I had to get my drop ball on. Yeah, tried to work my defense with that and help me be more effective and throw less pitches being able to rely on that pitch.”

After the energy felt off on Saturday, Frahm made sure that wasn’t an issue in Sunday’s elimination game, setting the tone from the jump. Frahm hit her 20th home run of the season, leading the game off with a solo home run off Kavan.

Frahm carried that into the circle. She retired 13 straight before allowing a baserunner when she walked Reese Atwood in the fifth inning. Everything was working for the four-time All-American. She was able to take control of both sides of the plate. Frahm generated swing and misses with her changeup, her dropball that had great break and the velocity of her riseball. In Leighann Goode’s first at-bat, Frahm painted a corner with her changeup before getting back-to-back swing and misses on a drop and rise.

Frahm seemed to start missing her spots in the sixth a bit more. The margins are so slim in Oklahoma City that one bad inning can end one of the best collegiate careers in the sport. Frahm and a handful of her best friends came to Nebraska to put the Cornhusker program back on the national map, and they succeeded.

“These girls stand up with such passion for the things that they were saying about this program, I truly believe that this is a stepping stone,” Frahm said. “This is just a stepping stone for the higher places this program’s going to continue to go. I think we have great leaders. One thing that we also talked about in there was, like Coach said, the place our culture is at now, not letting that waver.

“We are losing a lot of girls and we are going to have a lot of new people coming in next year, whether it’s freshmen transfers, whatever. The culture that we have right now is set in a great place to continue growing and to continue building. My confidence is through the roof with our returners.”

Texas moves on to play Tennessee on Monday at 12 p.m. ET on ESPN. They will need to win two straight games against the Lady Vols to move on to the WCWS championship series. Tennessee will have two chances to win one game.