After a long Monday, everyone got the rematch they were hoping for in the Women’s College World Series.
Like last year, the Texas Tech Red Raiders will take on the Texas Longhorns in the best-of-three championship series to determine the national championship. The Red Raiders are hoping for a different outcome.
Last year, in their first WCWS appearance, the Red Raiders lost to the Longhorns in three games. This time around, both teams are coming off an incredible elimination round.
On Monday, both Texas Tech and Texas faced elimination in their respective parts of the bracket. Both had to win games back-to-back to reach the championship series. Both did it. Tuesday was a hard-earned rest today. The series begins Wednesday night in Oklahoma City.
From Texas Tech’s perspective, here are three reasons why the Red Raiders have a chance to win their first national crown in softball.
The Pitching
Red Raiders head coach Gerry Glasco may be driving everyone nuts with the way he’s using NiJaree Canady and Kaitlyn Terry in the circle. But overall, switching between the two pitchers depending on matchups is working.
Both have given up their share of runs in super regionals and in the WCWS. But both have also gotten big outs in big situations. Last year the Red Raiders had to ride Canady to this point. This year, thanks to pulling Terry out of the transfer portal from UCLA, Texas Tech has been able to split the load between the pair. Canady is fresher than she was at this point last year.
This season Terry is 24-2 with a 1.80 ERA and Canady is 29-6 with a 1.84 ERA. Terry has thrown 148 innings, and Canady has thrown 182.1 innings. If one doesn’t want to buy the “Canady is fresher” argument, consider she threw 240 innings last season. Chole Riassetto was second with 98.2 innings.
Having Terry on this staff has made a difference. It should make a difference later this week.
Mia Williams
Look. There are many great hitters in this Texas Tech lineup so it’s a bit unfair to single out just one. But reflect on last season. In 2025 the Red Raiders hit 60 home runs. Their home run leader was Canady. She had 11. Importing Williams from Florida, along with the other new Red Raiders, has made a huge difference in how this offense operates.
Eight Texas Tech players have 10 or more home runs this season. The team has 143 going into the championship series. But there may be no hitter in the lineup that has a better sense of the moment than Williams. She took a beating against her former team in super regionals and kept on ticking. When the Red Raiders needed something to keep them alive in Game 1 on Monday, Williams delivered a home run to force a second contest.
Because she hits leadoff, Williams feeds the rest of the lineup. Jasmyn Burns homered in Game 2 on Monday and Mihyia Davis drove in the other run on a double, a 2-0 win over Alabama. Williams was 2-for-4. Even without a well-timed home run she created traffic. She doesn’t have to have a big game for Tech to win. But she impacts everything the Red Raiders do as a lineup.
Revenge and Rivalry
This is the game Texas Tech wanted all along. When the WCWS started Texas Tech and Texas were on the same side of the bracket. Had both won their first games they would have played one another. But the Longhorns lost. After the Red Raiders lost their second game, each was fighting to survive. Both did. Now we have the rematch softball fans wanted all along.
Texas is one of softball’s true national powers and the defending national champion. The Longhorns beat the Red Raiders in this series last year. It has been one of the best programs in the country for decades. Much of the country looks at Texas Tech as a nouveau riche softball program, one fueled by NIL and the transfer portal. That narrative was there a season ago and it hasn’t changed now.
Plus, if you’re into talking season, the past couple of weeks have seen Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian take shots at Texas Tech and Red Raiders football coach Joey McGuire fire back. And while football really has nothing to do with softball, there’s always been an undercurrent of rivalry between the two schools, though it could be argued Texas Tech cares far more about that than Texas — except when the two schools are actually playing each other (see Beard, Chris).
All that said, there’s plenty of motivation for the Red Raiders. You can make it about beating your old Big 12 and SWC rival. You can make it about proving your way of building a team works. But Texas Tech should make it about doing something no other softball team has done before. That is motivation enough. Revenge would simply be icing on the cake.
