In the third decisive game of the Women’s College World Series final series, Texas defeated the Red Raiders 10–4 on Friday, ending Texas Tech’s historic season just one victory away from winning the national championship.
The defeat concluded an incredible season for the Red Raiders (54-14), who not only won their first Big 12 regular season and tournament crowns in school history but also made their first appearance as WCWS players at the hallowed grounds of Devon Park in Oklahoma City. When Texas Tech defeated Florida State in two games in the Tallahassee Super Regional, they also hosted the NCAA Regional tournament for the first time ever.
“For these kids to come out and do what they did, have a new coach, a new coaching staff, three returning players come back from last year, go to work in the first of August and start grinding and grinding and trying to learn how to play for a new coach and a new staff, and then to end up in this position, playing for the national title, making it go all the way to three games, just a historic season,” Gerry Glasco, Texas Tech’s head coach, said. “I’m really proud of my team and the effort that they give us from top to bottom.”
Texas won its first-ever softball national championship after scoring five runs in the first inning and with a solid start from Teagan Kavan in the circle. After the first inning, the Longhorns (56-12) took advantage of consecutive RBI singles from Reese Atwood and Katie Stewart, followed by a three-run homer from Leighann Goode, to chase off National Pitcher of the Year NiJaree Canady.
In the fourth inning, Mia Scott hit a grand slam to centerfield to increase the advantage to 10-0, the first of two big balls the Longhorns would have that evening. In order to support the core of a Texas lineup that had its 2-5 hitters combine for nine of its 12 hits, Scott went 2-for-3 at the plate. Leading the way with a 3-for-4 night, Kayden Henry started a streak of four straight base knocks for the Longhorns with an infield single in the first.
After coming on in the fourth, Samantha Lincoln calmed the Texas bats by throwing 3.0 shutout innings with no hits and four strikeouts. For the first time since the NCAA Lubbock Regional final, the Red Raiders had to use the bullpen, as Chloe Riassetto started the second inning in lieu of Canady.
Before that, Canady (34-7) had thrown 49.0 consecutive innings for the Red Raiders, including all inning of Texas Tech’s run in Oklahoma City. He was joined on the WCWS All-Tournament Team by leadoff batter Mihyia Davis. The National Pitcher of the Year simply ran out of gas after one of the most impressive pitching performances in recent WCWS history, in which she combined to throw 35.0 innings with 40 strikeouts to just five walks. The five-run first inning tied the most earned runs allowed by Canady in her illustrious career.
Glasco remarked, “I think that we pushed it to the very limit,” in reference to Canady’s third consecutive day back in the circle. “The child gave us everything she had, in my opinion. And I believe the first inning was just the product of a well-prepared, well-coached, and excellent hitting team against a team they had faced three days in a row. You only needed to compare the velocity from the first night to tonight and the second night. It was also gradually slipping away. However, you can’t let her pitch all year long and take the ball away from her because she’s a fierce competitor.”
With a two-run single in the fifth and an RBI single in the sixth, Hailey Toney drove in three of Texas Tech’s four runs and finished 3-for-4 overall. She and Davis combined for five of Texas Tech’s eight hits from the top of the lineup, including a leadoff single in the fourth that gave them their first hit of the evening.
With Toney’s single in the fifth after her own infield single earlier in the inning, Davis was 2-for-4 at the plate overall. During the WCWS championship series, Davis tied Oklahoma’s Jocelyn Alo for the most hits ever with a total of seven hits.
Against Kavan (28-5), who put on a full game performance to dominate the Longhorns in the circle, the Red Raiders were only able to get a hit-by-pitch to Lauren Allred in the first over of the first three innings. In addition to pitching around eight hits and three Texas fielding errors that resulted in four unearned runs, Kaven struck out three in the victory.
The Red Raiders had an outstanding debut season under Glasco, the Big 12 Coach of the Year and a contender for National Coach of the Year, which culminated in Texas Tech’s first-ever WCWS berth. The Red Raiders are anticipated to bring back the nucleus of their WCWS squad, which includes younger players such Bailey Lindemuth and Toney as well as Canady and Davis.
According to Canady, “so many teams here have had to kind of get to the World Series first and learn a lesson and then go back and obviously learn,” on the WCWS run and the prospects for the upcoming season. “Texas did it last year, for example. Oklahoma, of course, had their amazing run. Thus, it’s true that this year didn’t turn out the way we had hoped. However, I believe it means a lot to be able to take a team that didn’t even qualify for a regional the previous year and advance it to the third game of the national championship series. Although that wasn’t the result we were hoping for, I think we’re all rather happy of what we accomplished in just a year.”
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