OKLAHOMA CITY — Few things at a wild Women’s College World Series this week were simple. How Texas Tech head coach Gerry Glasco assessed his ace was one of the few no-doubters.
“That was the 2025 version of NiJa Canady,” Glasco said.
In a winner-take-all game against No. 1 Alabama on Tuesday night, Canady pitched her first complete game of the NCAA tournament to lead Texas Tech back into the Women’s College World Series championship series. The Red Raiders needed two wins on the day, first forcing the nightcap with a 5-4 win to give Alabama its first loss of the WCWS.
“We’ve been on this plan,” Glasco said. “We took the whole fall off, and we said we’ll peak in May and peak at the World Series. 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.”
NiJaree Canady allowed two hits with one walk and six strikeouts in a showing that couldn’t touch any other she’s had this postseason. The senior right-hander hasn’t been as dominant, and Glasco continuously opted to swap his aces out for one another throughout the tournament.
He did so in the first game, starting junior Kaitlyn Terry and swapping to Canady in the second inning. When she gave up an inning-opening homer in the fourth that tied the game, he pulled her and dugout cameras caught a tense conversation in the dugout.
“I just let her know, I’m paying a pitching coach a lot of money to call pitches,” Glasco said. “If you shake it off, it better work. If it don’t, you own it. You take accountability. We’re in a close game.
Canady shook off the pitch call, opting for a change-up that bounced. She had boxed herself in, showing her hand. It was too much of a risk in a game they needed. Glasco gives his pitchers that privilege, but not too much or often. She called it off later and threw a change-up for a strikeout. Glasco and the coaching staff laughed.
“That’s the greatness of NiJa,” Glasco said. “I tore her up about it, I’m getting on her, and she still had the courage to do it a couple times in the game, and I don’t mind that at all. I don’t think you need to shake off 10. If you shake off 10 times, I need to get a different pitching coach. Two times, then maybe that’s a great thing.”
The day turned on its head in the bottom of the fifth in Game 1, the score still tied at 2-2. Alabama freshman Vic Moten came in for Jocelyn Briski, who had been near perfect the last few weeks, and was one out away from closing the inning. Texas Tech’s Taylor Pannell took the third pitch to left, and Alabama left fielder Audrey Vandagriff missed a catch over the fence. She approached it as routine rather than jump for the out.
Canady pitched the final two outs of the first game, still tied at 4-4, setting up Mia Williams for a season-saving home run to left center. Canady and Briski took the circle in a pitching duel for a second game that Canady won.
That wasn’t expected a day ago. Briski was arguably the better pitcher this postseason, while the lights-out version of Canady that tore through last year’s field went missing. She allowed 21 runs off of 28 hits over 22 1/3 innings in eight games of the NCAA tournament entering Monday’s semifinals. She hadn’t pitched more than four innings in a game since the regional win over Ole Miss.
“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 toward the end of the year.”
Canady controlled the zone in her start and made Alabama chase. She threw 71 strikes on 99 pitches, moving the ball around in a way she’d missed on prior. The three-time consensus All-American kept reminding herself to go at hitters, instead of remaining timid.
The Crimson Tide, who arrived here with one of the best pitching staffs, couldn’t figure it out even while Briski and Moten combined to allow only two runs off of 10 hits.
“If [Canady] throws a mistake, you cannot miss it,” Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy said. “You cannot foul it back, and we had a couple of those. She’s only going to probably throw four mistakes a game, and you’ve got to capitalize.”
Jasmyn Burns hit a home run in the fourth and Mihyia Davis added an insurance run in the seventh on an outfield throwing error.
Down to Alabama’s final out, Vandagriff scooted one up the right line and turned it into a double. Murphy still held out hope, thinking that yet again the fans would see extra innings late into the night. Canady drew a fly out, watched Lauren Allred snag it and delivered her final circle stomp of the night.
But not the competition. The three-time consensus All-American will play in her record 19th WCWS game on Wednesday chasing a national championship that has eluded her in three straight trips to the final series. She lost the first two playing for Stanford before transferring to the Red Raiders ahead of the 2025 season.
The double wins by Texas and Texas Tech sets up a rematch of the 2025 championship series that went the distance. Texas won the first game 2-1, but lost the second 4-3. The Longhorns sealed their first national championship 10-4 in the winner-take-all final game.
There are slight variations in the roster from a year ago. Canady, given what she showcased in the semifinals, is back to herself.