1 day ago
6
play
NiJaree Canady dominates as Texas Tech ends Oklahoma's dynasty (1:12)
NiJaree Canady strikes out eight as Texas Tech takes down four-time defending champion Oklahoma to reach the WCWS final. (1:12)
Jake TrotterJun 3, 2025, 03:48 PM ET
- Jake Trotter is a senior writer at ESPN. Trotter covers college football. He also writes about other college sports, including men's and women's basketball. Trotter resides in the Cleveland area with his wife and three kids and is a fan of his hometown Oklahoma City Thunder. He covered the Cleveland Browns and NFL for ESPN for five years, moving back to college football in 2024. Previously, Trotter worked for the Middletown (Ohio) Journal, Austin American-Statesman and Oklahoman newspapers before joining ESPN in 2011. He's a 2004 graduate of Washington and Lee University. You can reach out to Trotter at [email protected] and follow him on X at @Jake_Trotter.
OKLAHOMA CITY - Texas Tech star pitcher Nijaree Canady has been battling a left hamstring injury since late February, her coach confirmed Tuesday, a day before the Red Raiders face Texas in the Women's College World Series best-of-three championship series.
Canady, however, downplayed the injury. She said it wouldn't affect her against the Longhorns, and that the initial medical results "said it was worse than it was."
Canady, the reigning USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, who propelled the Red Raiders to their first WCWS appearance, has pitched every inning for Texas Tech in Oklahoma City. She's the first player to throw every pitch in the WCWS for a team to reach the championship series since UCLA's Rachel Garcia in 2019, according to ESPN Research.
Canady is 32-5 this year with an 0.86 ERA. After leaving Stanford last offseason, she signed an NIL deal worth more than $1 million to go to Texas Tech.
But Canady's injury gave the Red Raiders an early scare. Texas Tech coach Gerry Glasco said that had the injury been to Canady's right hamstring, the Red Raiders would've had to "shut her down" for a significant amount of time.
"We were walking on pins needles for about a month," said Glasco, who noted that they eliminated her bullpen sessions during the week and her batting practice Glasco said they had to scratch her start against South Carolina on March 21 against South Carolina because of the hamstring. Canady pitched the following night, though.
"To still have the results that she did showed what a tremendous competitor and what a tremendous talent she was," Glasco said.
The Longhorns and Red Raiders are both aiming for their first softball national championship. Texas handed four-time defending champion Oklahoma its first loss in the WCWS, and the Red Raiders eliminated the Sooners 3-2 in the final inning Monday night.
The Longhorns twice defeated Canady and Stanford in last year's WCWS, with Texas ace Teagan Kavan picking up the victories in both games to eliminate the Cardinal.
Kavan and Canady are set to square off again in championship opener Wednesday night.
"Obviously she's going to hold offenses off quite a bit and so it's always in the back of your mind," Kavan said. "It's obviously fun, it's a challenge and I like when it's a pitchers' duel. ... it's just to compete in this atmosphere and against the best."
