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Texas's Cat Osterman has just pitched her fifth no-hitter of the season and 20th of her career. It occurred earlier this afternoon in a 2-0 Longhorn victory over Oklahoma, in a game televised by ESPN. So commonplace has an Osterman no-hitter become, apparently, that UT's celebration after the final out was indistinguishable from what you'd see a team exhibit after any routine win; Cat's teammates just exchanged high-fives with her as they walked off the field. (I neglected to mention earlier that Texas also beat OU in the Friday series opener.)

I'll have more about Osterman and the Longhorns in a couple days, as I preview the Texas at Texas Tech double-header coming up this Thursday (April 20) at 4:00 and 6:00 pm. As I discussed a couple of entries ago (below), softball pitchers are certainly capable of throwing in both games of a twin-bill, but it's conceivable Osterman could just pitch in one of the two games against the Red Raiders. Looking over the box scores from previous Longhorn double-headers (see link to UT softball site on the right-hand side of the current page), Coach Connie Clark has tended to start Osterman in one game and Meagan Denny in the other.

Meanwhile, Texas Tech has lost the opener of its weekend series at Kansas, 1-0, on a first-inning run (box score).

In other softball news so far this weekend...

Alabama suffered its first conference (SEC) loss this season.

In the Pac 10, UCLA took the opener from Washington, whereas Arizona lost its opener to intrastate rival ASU.

Michigan lost the Saturday game to Iowa, after besting the Hawkeyes on Friday. Big 10 leader MSU split with Wisconsin.

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