Skip to main content
Join Now

2025 WCWS: Texas softball social media trolls umpires over controversial call using Reese Atwood

Barkley-Truaxby: Barkley Truax06/05/25BarkleyTruax
Reese Atwood
© BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

A controversial obstruction call against Texas in the top of the fifth inning led to Texas Tech scoring the first run of Game 1 of the 2025 Women’s College World Series. In the end, however, the Longhorns would take the opening game 2-1 and are now one win away from claiming the national title.

Texas took the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. With two runners of in scoring position, Reese Atwood stepped up to the plate during what was supposed to be an intentional walk from Red Raiders star pitcher NiJaree Canady, and smacked a single past the shortstop’s glove in left field.

The Longhorns took to social media to showcase the highlight. The caption from the Texas softball admin mocked the controversial call made by the umpires on the field during the fifth innings: “After review, this pitch was obstructed by (Reese Atwood’s) bat.”

The two-RBI single was the only hit Atwood earned on the night. Canady’s command limited the Longhorns as a group to four hits across 22 at-bats. However, it took just one swing of the bat to change the tide of the game.

“I mean, it’s a close game. You’ve got to take a risk,” Atwood told ESPN’s Holly Rowe on the field after the game. “The first pitch I thought I could have hit, and that next one, she kind of slowed down on it, so I took my chance and I got it.”

It was Atwood’s first hit of Texas’ entire stay in Oklahoma City. She was previously 0-X heading into the final series — and it couldn’t have come at a more perfect time for her team on Wednesday night.

“I knew all week that the hit was finally going to land at some point,” Atwood continued. “I felt confident I was on and I mean, it’s easy when I have such a good group of girls hitting behind me, so it just makes it a lot more comfortable and takes the pressure off.”

Texas and Texas Tech are scheduled to play in Game 2 of the WCWS final on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET and will air live on ESPN. The Longhorns will win its first-ever national championship with a victory over the Red Raiders. A Texas Tech win would force a deciding Game 3 on Friday, June 6, where a winner will be decided in the best of three series.