Texas Tech extends WCWS to Game 3 with 4-3 victory

Thursday, June 5

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

7:00 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

54-13

Texas

55-12

TEXAS

TEXAS TECH

Texas Tech extends WCWS to Game 3 with 4-3 victory

June 05, 2025 | Softball

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Red Raiders will look to win their first softball national title at 7 p.m. Friday night on ESPN

By: Texas Tech Athletics Communications

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Texas Tech broke a scoreless tie with two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings and withstood a late rally from Texas to extend the championship series of the Women's College World Series to a third and deciding game after a 4-3 victory Thursday at Devon Park.

The win sets up a third game Friday of the WCWS championship series for the first time since 2021 and only the seventh time since the finals started in 2005, a fitting final matchup between two in-state rivals who are both competing for their first softball national championship in history.

"I think we're going to play really hard-nosed ball tomorrow," Texas Tech head coach Gerry Glasco said of Friday's finale. "I think my kids got some confidence tonight, and I expect the momentum to really be in our dugout at the beginning of the game tomorrow, kind of like theirs was today. It won't matter. Somebody's got to take it, and they're going to do something during the game, whichever team wins."

The Red Raiders (54-13) took a 4-1 lead to the seventh, only for the Longhorns (55-12) to put the tying run on third following an RBI double from Leighann Goode and a sacrifice fly from pinch hitter Katie Cimusz. NiJaree Canady recovered, however, inducing a ground ball to third base from leadoff hitter Ashton Maloney followed by her sixth and final strikeout to end the rally and send the Red Raiders to a Friday night showdown for the title.

Canady (34-6) went the full 7.0 complete innings for the fifth time already at the WCWS and the seventh-consecutive game overall as she allowed only a Mia Scott solo home run in the sixth until Texas' two runs in the seventh. The Longhorns mustered only six hits against Canady, who escaped trouble in the first and fourth innings to improve to 5-0 this season (with one save) in appearances immediately following a loss.

"We did what we wanted to do," Glasco said of the series-tying win. "I thought controlling the emotion and controlling the momentum in the first two to three innings was critical. I thought we had to really be careful in the early innings and not let any momentum get in their dugout because they took plenty from last night at the end. I thought (Victoria Valdez) throwing out the runner in the first inning was absolutely huge. That was a huge momentum breaker for them and put a little bit of momentum in our dugout. I thought NiJa was huge. She went out there and just pitched her tail off and kept us in the position that, when we finally could make a move, we could really get that momentum in our dugout."

The Red Raiders, who had alumnus Patrick Mahomes II and his wife Brittany in attendance, were able to break through with two unconventional runs in the fifth after loading the bases for Alana Johnson, who was plunked by a 1-2 pitch, which was followed by a wild pitch that easily scored Mihyia Davis from third. Raegan Jennings trotted home on the hit-by-pitch to Johnson after she delivered a pinch hit single to start the inning and later moved to third shortly after on a double from Davis to deep left center.

After a slow start to the WCWS, Davis has recorded a multi-hit performance in both games thus far against the Longhorns as she finished 2-for-4 with a leadoff single in the third. She eventually helped provide the game-winning run for the Red Raiders in the sixth, knocking a tough grounder off Texas first baseman Joley Mitchell's glove that bounced slow enough to allow Victoria Valdez to scamper home from second base.

Bailey Lindemuth pushed Texas Tech's lead to 3-1 earlier in the sixth on a sacrifice fly that was deep enough in centerfield to score Makalya Garcia, who was running for Demi Elder after she walked to lead off the inning. The fielding error to score Valdez moments later was one of two in the inning for the Longhorns as Elder previously moved to third on a misplayed slow grounder to the right of the circle from Valdez.

"I thought it was really good for our kids," Glasco said. "We didn't get down about it. We didn't lose our fight. We kept fighting. We were a hard-nosed ball club. And we take great pride in that. It's something we worked really hard to become a really hard, mentally tough team."

Both runs in the fifth were charged to Texas reliever Cambria Salmon (7-2), who took the loss after giving up two runs off three hits, a walk, a hit-by-pitch and a strikeout in 3.0 complete innings. She previously relieved Texas starter Mac Morgan to start the third after two shutout innings from the right-hander.

Texas Tech loaded the bases in the opening frame for the second-straight night, only for Morgan to escape trouble thanks to a pair of ground balls induced by Texas starter Mac Morgan. The Longhorns sent four pitchers to the circle on the night, eventually turning to Wednesday night's starter Teagan Kavan with one out and runners on the corners in the sixth. Citlaly Gutierrez previously recorded the first out in the sixth before giving way to Kavan.

The two in-state rivals will decide the national champion with a 7 p.m. first pitch Friday evening on ESPN.