Texas Tech University Athletics
Friday, March 20
Orlando, FL
5:00 pm.
Texas Tech Athletics
28-2, 0
4
at
3
UCF
24-8, 0
1st innning1
2nd innning2
3rd innning3
4th innning4
5th innning5
6th innning6
7th innning7
RunsR
HitsH
ErrorsE
Texas Tech
0
1
0
1
0
2
0
4
7
0
UCF
0
0
0
2
0
1
0
3
6
4
No. 3 Red Raiders take game one against No. 24/25 UCF
March 20, 2026 | Softball
Tech hits three home runs in win over Knights
ORLANDO, Florida – No. 3 Texas Tech (28-2, 6-1) held on to defeat No. 24/25 UCF (24-8, 3-4) 4-3 on Friday night in Orlando as NiJaree Canady improved to 11-2 on the year and three different Red Raiders hit homers.
Jasmyn Burns, Mia Williams and Jackie Lis all left the yard for Tech as they now have 62 home runs on the season, already surpassing the team's total from last year. Canady struck out eight batters on the night including the final two to secure the win.
Both teams used the long ball to score runs as five of the seven runs came off solo home runs. Both pitchers also were workhorses, each throwing more than 100 pitches on the night, Canady with 109 and UCF's Isabella Vega with 130.
How it Happened:
The Red Raiders scored first in the top of the second inning after a fielder's choice of the bat of Jackie Lis led to an error that scored a heads-up Taylor Pannell from second base. Tech went up 1-0 and held that small lead for the next inning and a half.
Burns launched her sixth homer of the season over the left field fence to put Tech up 2-0 before the Knights rallied back with a pair of doubles to tie the game 2-2 heading into the fifth inning. Neither team scored in the fifth inning, but Mia Williams and Jackie Lis launched home runs in the top of the sixth inning to bet Tech back up 4-2.
The Knight's Beth Damon hit her 10th home run of the season to make a 4-3 game and put some pressure on the Red Raiders going into the final inning. Tech left two on base in its half of the seventh but Canady buckled down and didn't allow UCF any momentum in the final frame, striking out the final two batters of the inning to put the exclamation point on a top 25 win.
UP NEXT: Tech will continue its series against No. 24/25 UCF tomorrow at 4 p.m. CT.
Jasmyn Burns, Mia Williams and Jackie Lis all left the yard for Tech as they now have 62 home runs on the season, already surpassing the team's total from last year. Canady struck out eight batters on the night including the final two to secure the win.
Both teams used the long ball to score runs as five of the seven runs came off solo home runs. Both pitchers also were workhorses, each throwing more than 100 pitches on the night, Canady with 109 and UCF's Isabella Vega with 130.
How it Happened:
The Red Raiders scored first in the top of the second inning after a fielder's choice of the bat of Jackie Lis led to an error that scored a heads-up Taylor Pannell from second base. Tech went up 1-0 and held that small lead for the next inning and a half.
Burns launched her sixth homer of the season over the left field fence to put Tech up 2-0 before the Knights rallied back with a pair of doubles to tie the game 2-2 heading into the fifth inning. Neither team scored in the fifth inning, but Mia Williams and Jackie Lis launched home runs in the top of the sixth inning to bet Tech back up 4-2.
The Knight's Beth Damon hit her 10th home run of the season to make a 4-3 game and put some pressure on the Red Raiders going into the final inning. Tech left two on base in its half of the seventh but Canady buckled down and didn't allow UCF any momentum in the final frame, striking out the final two batters of the inning to put the exclamation point on a top 25 win.
UP NEXT: Tech will continue its series against No. 24/25 UCF tomorrow at 4 p.m. CT.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Canady, NiJaree (11-2)
L: Isabella Vega (8-4)
Batting:
HR: Williams, Mia 1 ; Burns, Jasmyn 1 ; Lis, Jackie 1
RBI: Williams, Mia 1 ; Burns, Jasmyn 1 ; Lis, Jackie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Williams, Mia 1 ; Pannell, Taylor 1 ; Burns, Jasmyn 1 ; Lis, Jackie 1
CS: Davis, Mihyia 1 ; Terry, Kaitlyn 1
HBP: Spearman, Desirae 1
Batting:
2B: Beth Damon 1 ; Sierra Humphreys 1
3B: Samantha Rey 1
HR: Beth Damon 1
RBI: Beth Damon 2 ; Sierra Humphreys 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Coco Jaimes 1 ; Beth Damon 1 ; Taylor Kittleman 1
Game Leaders
rf/lf
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
C
/ Softball
P/UTL
/ SoftballUTL
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INF
/ SoftballINF
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