No. 11 Tech finishes as national runner-up

Thursday, June 4

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

7 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

61-10

Texas

53-12

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Texas	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	4	8	0
Texas Tech	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	4	1

Photo by: Gabby Hutter / Texas Tech Athletics

No. 11 Tech finishes as national runner-up

June 04, 2026 | Softball

Box Score Press Conference Box Score (PDF)Tournament Central Postgame Quotes Highlights

By: Wes Bloomquist

OKLAHOMA CITY – No. 11 Texas Tech finished as the Women's College World Series runner-up for the second straight season after a 4-1 loss to No. 2 Texas on Thursday at Devon Park.

The Red Raiders (61-10) established program records for wins (61), hits (679), runs (639), doubles (122) and home runs (145) in another historic season that ended in the WCWS Finals against the Longhorns (53-12) who claimed their second consecutive national championship. Tech, which dropped a 7-3 decision on Wednesday in the WCWS Finals opener, fell in back-to-back games for the first time all year to see their season end.

"For my team, I want to say I couldn't be prouder of this team," said Texas Tech head coach Gerry Glasco who has led the program to a 115-24 record in his first two seasons. "You always want to win one more, and you want to win the championship, and you want to see the career of NiJa Canady end with a championship. I think that when I look at this century, the last 26 seasons, you've got the greatness of Monica Abbott, Cat Osterman, and now NiJaree Canady. I thought we just come up short tonight. I thought we had it right where we wanted. We had a play where we could have got that forced out and kept it 1-0. We only had six outs to go at that point. We could have just got that out, and we couldn't make the play."

Tech led the game 1-0 through four innings after Lauren Allred delivered an RBI single in the third inning and NiJaree Canady showed her dominance. The Longhorns went quietly through those four innings but would strike for their first two runs in the fifth on an error that brought two in. Texas added two more runs in the top of the seventh inning with Kayden Henry hitting a solo home run to left field and then Leighann Goode delivering an RBI single to right field.

Canady (29-7) took the loss after allowing two earned runs on eight hits while Citaly Gutierrez (11-3) earned the win for the Longhorns after throwing 4 1/3 innings and allowing just one run on three hits. Teagan Kavan, who was named the WCWS Most Valuable Player, recorded her fifth save of the season after striking out five and facing the minimum in two innings to close out the game.

The Red Raiders finished the game with four hits and stranded seven runners on base in the loss with Jasmyn Burns going 2-for-3 to lead the team and Mihyia Davis and Allred each having one hit. Davis finished the season as the NCAA hit leader with 102 hits this season and scored on Allred's single.

Canady, Davis, Kaitlyn Terry and Mia Williams were each named to the WCWS All-Tournament Team.

"I thought we just come up short tonight," Glasco said. "I thought we had it right where we wanted. We had a play where we could have got that forced out and kept it 1-0. We only had six outs to go at that point. We could have just got that out, and we couldn't make the play. Then give Texas credit. They kept attacking. They kept attacking. I thought Logan Halleman made two phenomenal catches in left field. That was the kind of effort you have to have in the World Series, and we just come up short on some other plays."

HOW IT HAPPENED:
Canady started the game by working around a leadoff single to get out of the first inning with a Longhorn stranded at second base. Tech would also strand a runner on base in the bottom of the first inning after Davis was hit by a pitch with one out and stole second. A strikeout and lineout ended the scoreless first inning. Canady put the Longhorns down in order in the second inning with a strikeout between a pair of strikeouts before Tech put two more runners on base but would go scoreless again with two left on base. Through two innings, Texas and Tech had one hit each in the scoreless game.

Canady worked her second straight perfect inning with a pair of groundouts and a lineout to Toney at shortstop to bring the Red Raiders back to the plate in the third inning. Tech would take the 1-0 lead on an Allred single through the middle of the infield to score Davis who had a one-out single and stole second base to get into scoring position. The Red Raiders stranded their fourth runner of the game but not before grabbing the lead going to the fourth inning.

Texas threatened in the top of the fourth with Atwood hitting a two-out double and was followed by a hit batter. That's as far as it went though with Canady escaping the frame with a popup to Williams at second base to maintain the lead. Through four innings in the pitching circle, Canady had two strikeouts and only two hits allowed. The Red Raiders loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth with a Burns single, Canady walking and Williams getting hit by a pitch, but three more would be left on base to take the game to the fifth with Tech still leading 1-0. The Red Raiders had stranded seven runners on bases and the Longhorns three through four innings.

Texas would take a 2-1 lead with two runs scored in the top of the fifth inning after an error by Toney trying to get an advancing runner at third went array and brought home a pair. The inning started with singles by Altmeyer and Maloney and included a leaping catch by Halleman for Tech in left field for the second out of the inning to save runs before the Longhorns were able to bring two home. Tech would go down in order in the bottom of the fifth as the game moved to the sixth with the Longhorns leading 2-1 and both teams with four hits each.

Another Halleman web gem in left field helped to thwart a Texas surge in the top of the sixth where Canady would strand one in a scoreless frame. Halleman, for the second straight inning, made a catch that could have scored a run with this one coming with her making the catch at the left-center field wall to send a Longhorn runner who had the potential of coming around back to first base. With Kavan entering the game in relief, Tech went down in order in the bottom of the sixth with her striking out the side.

Texas added two runs in the top of the seventh inning with a leadoff home run by Henry to left field and then scored its fourth run of the game on a single by Goode to right field. Kavan would put the Red Raiders down in order again in the final inning, getting a groundout and then two strikeouts to end the game.