Katie Stewart’s reputation as one of Texas’ most dangerous hitters keeps expanding, and the latest proof came in a season-saving moment against Nebraska. Her three-run homer in the sixth inning off national player of the year Jordy Frahm lifted Texas to a 3-1 win and kept the Longhorns alive in the postseason race.
The blast was Stewart’s 28th home run of the season, a Texas record, and it only added to a growing belief around the program: when she connects, the ball leaves with uncommon force. Texas coach Mike White called her “strong as an ox” and said her home runs can be “prodigious,” a fitting description for a hitter whose power has become central to the Longhorns’ identity.
Power that showed up early
Stewart’s strength was clear long before she became a star in Austin. Growing up in a Chicago suburb, she played plenty of whiffle ball with neighborhood kids, and even then her sister Danielle noticed a rare level of pop.
“She would hit moon shots compared to the rest of us,” Danielle said.
Her father, Lance Stewart, says the signs were even more obvious when Katie was 13. After a workout, she was lying on the floor when he challenged her to a pushup while he rested on top of her.
“You ain’t going to get up,” he recalled telling her.
Instead, she pushed him up with no trouble, a moment that convinced him her strength was far beyond average. “She’s always been strong,” Lance said. “She doesn’t need to hit all of it. She just needs to get enough of it — and it’s going to go.”
A lineup anchor for Texas
Stewart has turned that raw power into production since arriving in Austin. She earned freshman All-America honors in 2024 and became an important middle-of-the-order bat during Texas’ championship run last season.
This season, she has taken another step. The SEC Player of the Year leads Texas in batting average at .424 and in RBIs with 75, while also owning the program home run record for a single season. That combination of average, run production and power has made her one of the most feared hitters in the country.
White said Stewart’s impact goes beyond the numbers. He described her as a player who has grown into a bigger leadership role and taken responsibility for carrying the offense. He also joked that some of her homers have done damage to the building behind left field at Texas’ Red & Charline McCombs Field.
The Nebraska homer came with more than power
Sunday’s home run showed another part of Stewart’s game: her ability to stay composed in a high-pressure at-bat. Frahm had not allowed a hit through five innings, and Texas had only just put runners aboard when Stewart stepped in with two on base.
Stewart said she sometimes gets in her own head, so she focused on controlling her breathing and staying in the moment. The approach worked. She squared up the pitch and sent it over the fence to break the game open.
“I can get in my head sometimes,” Stewart said. “Be present one pitch at a time, knowing I was going to get something I could hit, knowing I had to get on it. I got there.”
Danielle, watching from a Buffalo Wild Wings back in Illinois, felt the moment coming before the ball even landed. She did not say anything out loud, but she knew the swing had changed the game.
“I had a feeling,” she said. “She absolutely destroyed that ball.”
A hitter opponents already know well
Stewart’s power is no longer a surprise, even to people close to her family. Danielle saw it firsthand in February when she started for Northern Illinois against Texas and Stewart launched the second pitch she saw for a two-run homer to right-center.
Danielle threw a curveball off the plate, but Stewart still turned it into damage. That kind of swing has become familiar to Texas opponents, who now have to deal with a hitter capable of changing a game with one mistake.
For Texas, Stewart’s presence remains central as the defending national champion tries to extend its run. Another trip to the Women’s College World Series championship series still requires more work, including two wins over Tennessee, but Stewart’s bat has already given the Longhorns the kind of moment that can shape a postseason.
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