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Texas' Joley Mitchell escapes home run robbery to take 2-0 lead in Women's College World Series

On3 imageby: Dan Morrison05/29/25dan_morrison96
Joley Mitchell, Texas
Joley Mitchell, Texas - © BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Texas Longhorns infielder Joley Mitchell decided to have herself a day to open the Women’s College World Series against the Florida Gators. She opened the scoring early with a solo shot. Then, in the sixth inning, she was able to add to that mark with her second deep shot of the game.

That second home run ended up being a wall-scraper. Florida outfielder Kendra Falby made a valiant effort to rob the home run. She got over the wall, and for a second, it looked like she came down with the ball, before falling to the ground in frustration. You can watch the play here:

For Mitchell, it was a historic home run. She became the first Longhorn in program history to have a multi-home run game at the Women’s College World Series. In a game that had been a pitcher’s duel besides what she provided, it was desperately needed to create some breathing room.

Mitchell brings plenty of experience with her. A graduate student, she came to Texas from Notre Dame ahead of the 2024 season. Since then, she’s become an incredibly important player in the lineup for Texas. She’d be named to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team in 2024, before going on to be an All-SEC First Team selection in 2025.

For the season coming into the Women’s College World Series, Mitchell is hitting .385 with a .497 OBP. She’s also slugging a massive .750 for the year. She had 14 home runs, 60 RBIs, and 10 doubles coming into the day on Thursday.

Texas wasn’t done there, though. The next batter, Katie Stewart, would hit another solo shot in her at-bat. That made it 3-0 and ran Florida starting pitcher Keagan Rothrock from the game. The bullpen got into some more trouble from there but made it out of the top of the 6th with the score still 3-0 and in striking distance late in the game.

The Women’s College World Series is a double-elimination format. That means nobody is going home with a loss in this game on Thursday. However, the loser does have to go into the loser’s bracket, playing again on Friday against the loser of Game 2. The winner, meanwhile, won’t play again until Saturday, when they’ll take on the winner of Game 2. That’s a game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Oklahoma Sooners, making for plenty of SEC familiarity.