Teagan Kavan threw a one-hitter, and No. 1 seed Texas defeated Stanford 4-0 on Thursday in the Women’s College World Series opener for both teams.

Kavan, a freshman, struck out eight and walked four in seven innings. She won the pitching matchup against Stanford’s NiJaree Canady, the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. Canady allowed four runs on five hits and struck out five in six innings.

Kayden Henry had two hits and scored a run for the Longhorns (53-8).

Ava Gall had the only hit for No. 8-seed Stanford (48-16).

Texas will play the Oklahoma State-Florida winner on Saturday, with the winner of that game reaching the semifinals. Stanford plays the Oklahoma State-Florida loser Friday in an elimination game. The event has a double-elimination format in bracket play before shifting to the best-of-three championship series.

Texas got to Canady in the third. Bella Dayton’s RBI single opened the scoring. Mia Scott singled and Dayton avoided a tag at the plate to give Texas a 2-0 lead.

Stanford got two on with one out in the fifth, but failed to score.

Texas got insurance in the sixth when Henry knocked in two on a single with the bases loaded to make it 4-0.

It was the second straight year Canady got stuck facing the No. 1 seed and the top hitting team in the nation in her team’s first World Series game. She lost to Oklahoma 2-0 in the opener last season.

There’s hope for the Cardinal. With Canady leading the way, they reached the semifinals last year after losing their opener.

___

AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports