The Lady Vols drew reigning national champion Texas to open the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.

Also on the opposing dugout will be Russellville native and Cherokee High School graduate Pattie Ruth Taylor, who is in her third season as the Longhorns’ pitching coach.

In 2025, Taylor – the daughter Alice and Sammie Taylor, a legendary local elementary basketball coach – was part of a Texas coaching staff that earned the ATEC/NFCA National Coaching Staff of the Year after guiding Texas to the program’s first WCWS National Championship. The Longhorns finished the season 5612 – capturing a program-record 56 victories. Taylor spearheaded a dominant pitching staff that ranked 10th in the nation in shutouts with 15, 12th in strikeoutto- walk ratio (3.07), 15th in ERA (2.55) and 15th in WHIP (1.18). She helped sophomore RHP Teagan Kavan earn Most Outstanding Player at the Women’s College World Series, setting a WCWS record after not allowing an earned run across 31.2 innings of work while compiling four wins and a save. Kavan landed on the NFCA’s All-America Second Team.

Taylor was a four-year letterwinner (2015-18) at Middle Tennessee State, where she was a National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-American Scholar Athlete, two-time C-USA Honor Roll honoree and a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. She earned a bachelors degree in marketing and a masters in leisure and sport management from MTSU.

Taylor began her coaching career at UConn, where she was a volunteer assistant in 2020-21. With the Huskies, Taylor coached an AAC Player, two BIG EAST Pitcher and one BIG EAST Freshman of the Week selections, according to the Texas softball official website. The pitching staff posted a 2.01 ERA, .208 opponent batting average, six shutouts, a no-hitter and a combined no-hitter during the 2020 campaign. The following year, the Huskies struck out 247 batters while posting a 3.24 ERA and a .241 opponent batting average.

Following her stint at UConn, Taylor spent two seasons (2022-23) as an assistant coach who oversaw the pitching staff of the Lehigh University softball program.

In her first season at Lehigh, Taylor guided a pitching staff that helped Lehigh win its 15th Patriot League tournament championship and first since 2017. Gabriella Nori, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player, allowed just one run over her last 20 innings pitched heading into the NCAA Seattle Regional. In 2023, the Lehigh pitching staff posted a 2.73 earned run average (ERA) as the program won 40 games, including a 7-4 win over then-No. 7 Alabama as well as winning 16 of 18 Patriot League contests.

Taylor joined the Longhorns in 2024 and has played an instrumental role in back-to-back national championship appearances.

Taylor and the Longhorns are scheduled to face off with the Lady Vols on Thursday, with first pitch slated for 2:30 ET.