Junior first baseman Katie Stewart had a weekend that Longhorn fans will remember for a long time. Over two games at John Cropp Stadium in Lexington, she tied a program record, then broke it — helping No. 4 Texas sweep the Kentucky Wildcats and position the Longhorns firmly in the national seed picture.
Saturday, Stewart crushed a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning to tie the Texas single-season home run record at 23 — a mark shared with Reese Atwood, who set it just last year in 2025. Texas won that game 6-1.
Sunday, she went one better. Her 24th home run of the season gave Stewart sole possession of the program record outright, and Texas put away Kentucky 11-2 in six innings to complete the sweep.
The record was broken at the same stadium that will host the SEC Tournament from May 5-10 — a poetic detail that didn’t go unnoticed.
The Record in Context
Stewart’s 24 home runs lead the SEC among junior players and rank among the top totals in the country in 2026. She hit them at a critical stretch of the schedule — including a walk-off home run against Oklahoma on April 12 — demonstrating that her power isn’t just a product of soft competition.
The previous record holder, Reese Atwood, is still on the Texas roster as a senior catcher. Atwood has 16 home runs this season — second on the team — and watched from the dugout as her former record fell. With postseason games still ahead, Stewart has time to extend the mark even further before her junior season concludes.
Texas head coach Mike White was ejected during the series, a sideline storyline that added a bit of drama to what was otherwise a dominant Longhorn weekend on the road.
Where Texas Stands
The sweep pushed Texas to approximately 40-9 overall and 14-7 in SEC play, a record that puts the Longhorns comfortably in national seed contention. The top-8 national seeds receive home hosting rights for the NCAA Regional and Super Regional rounds, and Texas’s combination of overall record, strength of schedule, and now a road sweep at a conference program makes a strong case for that status.
Texas’s schedule down the stretch includes the SEC regular-season finale before the conference tournament begins. The Longhorns have already beaten No. 2 Oklahoma in extra innings this season (April 12, Stewart’s walk-off homer), meaning they’ve proven they can beat the best in the country.
What’s Next
Texas returns home this week to prepare for the final leg of the regular season before conference tournament play. Stewart, sitting at 24 home runs with postseason games remaining, will have every opportunity to push the program record even higher. She’s one of the most dangerous hitters in college softball heading into May — and the Longhorns’ national championship hopes run largely through what she does at the plate.
