Vivi Martinez was wandering through the toy bin in the kids’ aisles at the local Target store last Sunday morning and came across something intriguing.

She found dinosaurs.

But she really found inspiration. And some fun. And perhaps a calming affect for her and her Texas softball teammates.

“Yeah, I saw them in the $3 section,” the Texas shortstop said. “I thought that’s kind of cute. I got three of them. Got an alligator, a T-Rex, another dinosaur.”

And she brought them with her to the dugout at McCombs Field and helped loosen up herself and her teammates during the crucible that was the NCAA super regional matchup with blood rival Texas A&M. The Longhorns ended up winning two critical games.

When things get tight, the Longhorns turn to a comically oversized Texas hat and other little cowboy caps to break through any of the tension. Or postgame hot dog celebrations. Or Spikeball.

Or dinosaurs.

More: Texas a huge favorite in football opener but do others favor Texas? | Bohls

While dinosaurs are extinct now, the Longhorns are very much alive with an opening game against Stanford in this double-elimination tournament. And very dangerous as a team whose .379 collective batting average leads the nation. The Horns are loose and very confident.

It all figures to be very intense as Texas seeks its first softball national championship after claiming titles in nine other women’s sports. Maybe dinosaurs will help.

“I thought the dinosaurs were hilarious,” said senior designated player Joley Mitchell, who was at Notre Dame when Texas last reached Oklahoma City and has never competed in the WCWS. “But I think we do a great job even without the props. I think we do a great job of lightening up the mood with each other and finding ways to make sure people kind of relax and make sure not everything is serious.”

Seemed to work because the top-seeded Longhorns remained unnerved in a series in which they trailed the Aggies all three games before winning the last two games to advance to this week’s Women’s College World Series for the second time in the last three years.

Seven of Texas’ current nine starters weren’t on the 2022 Texas team that finished as the runner-up to now three-time defending national champion Oklahoma. Third baseman Mia Scott and left fielder Bella Dayton were stars on that team and hit .435 and .350, respectively, in seven WCWS games.

“Yeah, Mia can be the T-Rex,” Martinez said.

More: After softball thriller, Longhorns, Aggies are on baseball collision course | Golden

Second baseman Alyssa Washington played in all seven of those games in 2022 but hit only .136 while backup Katie Cimusz went 1-for-13.

No other regulars in the field on this Texas team has ever played on this stage, which is hardly surprising since four sophomores and two freshmen dot the starting lineup.

Lightning-fast center fielder Kayden Henry and powerful first baseman Katie Stewart may be rookies, but they have contributed heavily to the team’s success.

Henry got four big hits against the Aggies. Stewart’s 12 home runs and 53 RBIs are second on the team behind only team slugger Reese Atwood, who is just a sophomore.

“This is amazing,” said Henry, whose 26 steals in 29 attempts pace one of the fastest teams in the WCWS field. “It puts me in awe.”

More: Four-star RB recruit James Simon commits to Texas football over LSU, Notre Dame

Because this is such a youthful team, some might think Texas is a year away because, with just Mitchell and Dayton as the only seniors in the lineup, the Longhorns will probably be even better next season.

So, has Texas overachieved?

“Yeah, I would say so,” Henry said.

Does head coach Mike White agree?

“No,” he said emphatically. “Who knows what the limits are for these kids? Every time you think they’re maybe not going to produce, they surprise the heck out of you, and that’s what they’ve done.”

More: First things first: Before thinking about Texas A&M, UT faces Louisiana in NCAA Tournament

Oklahoma offers slightly more power than Texas and a better defense and has as many as nine seniors on its second-seeded team, which is in the other side of the bracket from Texas.

But Texas has a lot of pop, too, along with speed and lots of capable arms.

Longhorn senior left-hander Estelle Czech and junior right-handed reliever Sophia Simpson have been in the circle at Oklahoma City and had some success. But they are not the mainstays in what is probably the deepest pitching staff in the Series.

Czech has had some clutch moments, but White mostly relies on freshman Teagan Kavan, sophomore Citlaly Gutierrez and junior workhorse Mac Morgan, who had a tremendous super regional when she pitched Texas out of jams with a 1.60 ERA over 13-plus innings.

“Obviously, we know our pitching needs to get a little bit stronger if we’re going to go down the road a little bit longer,” White said, knowing Gutierrez and Kavan weren’t great in the super regionals. “We’ve got to be able to shut some teams out. We can’t expect to score five or six runs every game.”

Then again, maybe they can since they have the best top-to-bottom offense in the field, even if most of them will be new to this environment.

Kavan has attended WCWS games there as a child and said she has been dreaming about playing in this arena since she was 10.

Many of her Longhorn teammates have been dreaming of such as well.

In fact, the Daytons and Scotts have spent a lot of time this week engaging their underclassmen on the perils and perks of competing with such high stakes.

“Some of us have been there before,” said Washington. “And we’re trying to be a guide for our younger players. We want to embrace the moment and show the world who we are.”

Martinez and her younger teammates have been all ears.

“They’ve told me how crazy it is,” she said. “They’ve said it’s ten times the environment of the Big 12 Tournament. “I just want to soak in everything. It is a business trip, but also, I just want to enjoy everything that I’m surrounded by.”

The team isn’t above ragging on its coach either. In fact, the players dissed White big-time for wearing a new shirt on the Friday that Texas played A&M. The Longhorns lost that game and good-naturedly blamed White, who resists most all superstition.

“Yeah,” he explained. “I have a superstition that I try not to be superstitious.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas softball title chances anything but extinct