Canady, Texas Tech face familiar foe Texas for women's softball title

OKLAHOMA CITY — Nijaree Canady and Texas Tech have performed well under pressure at the Women's College World Series. The 11th-seeded Red Raiders won three elimination games, including two against top-seeded Alabama on Monday to earn a return trip to the finals.Canady saved her best for last, pitching a complete-game two-hitter as Texas Tech defeated Alabama 2-0 in the second semifinal matchup of the day Monday."I don't have any doubt that was her best performance of the year, and that's a great confidence builder for our team and NiJa to go into the finals with that effort," Texas Tech coach Gerry Glasco said.Canady is the only active pitcher in college softball with more than 100 wins and 1,000 strikeouts and the first with multiple shutouts at multiple schools (Stanford) in NCAA history.The only achievement eluding the senior right-hander is a national championship.Texas Tech (61-8) will play No. 2 seed Texas (51-12) on Wednesday at Devon Park to begin a best-of-three series. The Longhorns won the 2025 national championship after beating the Red Raiders in three games. It will be the first championship series rematch in WCWS history— with the previous rematches coming in one-game finals.Texas and ace Teagan Kavan traveled a similar path to the final series by winning four elimination games — two of them coming against seventh-seeded Tennessee on Monday.Kavan pitched a complete-game two-hitter and the Longhorns advanced to the championship series by defeating the Volunteers 4-0 on Monday in their second matchup of the day.The Longhorns needed two wins against Tennessee and accomplished the feat with a 5-2 win in the first game, then followed with Kavan's dominating win. Texas will be making its third consecutive appearance in the final series."I think that we've had our ups and downs without a doubt," Texas coach Mike White said. "We had that last year as well. To be able to fight through it and trust in one another and pull the big games out when it really matters."Tech's done the same thing. Their back's been against the wall, and they've been able to pull it through. That's what good teams do. I think that's the main thing I've seen from this program is their resilience."Canady wore down against the Longhorns in the 2025 championship series, but she won't be shouldering the load this time around.Prior to Monday, Canady (29-6) only had two seven-inning complete games all year, with the last coming March 20. She shares time in the circle with junior left-hander Kaitlyn Terry, who won 41 games in two seasons at UCLA before joining the Red Raiders.Terry, who also plays in the outfield, has added 24 wins and valuable postseason innings for Glasco. She drove in the go-ahead run against her former team in Sunday night's extra-inning victory.Glasco hasn't hesitated to replace one ace with another if warranted."Obviously this postseason hasn't gone the way I wanted it to go," Canady said. "I feel like I haven't been my best. But like Coach Glasco said, it's about when you peak. I don't know, if I'm going to be good, at least it's towards the end of the year."Kavan, meanwhile, led the Longhorns to the national title last season. She went 4-0 with a save at the World Series and was named most outstanding player after throwing 31 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run. She was an NFCA second-team All-American last season after finishing with a 28-5 record and a 2.16 ERA. She has a 48-8 career record heading into her junior season."I think I've grown a lot mentally and then also physically with the implementation of more confidence in my other pitches to complement my rise ball that we all know," Kavan said. "But, yeah, I think just the confidence in that piece. I think last year at the World Series was the first time I really trusted my drop ball and was able to use it more. "And so I think I carried that into this whole season. It made me a better pitcher. I think the experience is huge, and experience always helps, and our team is super experienced."