Well, Game 1 of the 2025 Women’s College World Series Finals certainly didn’t go the way Texas Tech softball fans were hoping for. In a fantastic pitchers’ duel between Texas Tech’s NiJaree Canady and UT’s Teagan Kavan, the Longhorns were able to come out on top as a mistake on an intentional walk attempt gave Texas a poorly placed pitch to hit a 2-RBI hit late in the game.
And this truly was a fairly evenly matched game. We saw the Longhorns and the Red Raiders go toe-to-toe thanks to some of the most dominant pitching talent in the country.
Canady, who has been fantastic all season, had one notable mistake. Other than that, she managed to yield a grand total of four hits across six innings while also striking out seven batters in this outing. That’s a really impressive performance.
It’s just really frustrating to see all of that effort get overlooked and overshadowed (and understandably so) because of a really bad pitch.
Texas Tech comes up short in Women’s College World Series Finals Game 1 against Texas Longhorns
With a 1-0 lead, a couple of runners on base, and two outs in the bottom of the 6th inning, Canady and the Red Raiders attempted to intentionally walk Reese Atwood. And then Atwood did this on a pitch that clearly did not go where it was supposed to:
LONGHORNS TAKE THE LEAD 🤘#WCWS x 🎥 ESPN / @TexasSoftball pic.twitter.com/jDxdkzX5y0
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) June 5, 2025
It’s just so disappointing. This is a game that Texas Tech was in a pretty good position to be able to claim. That isn’t the case though. It didn’t work out the way the Red Raiders needed it to. And to be completely honest, it seemed like Canady was a little off throughout the entire at bat.
I mean, we’re talking about arguably the most dominant and one of the most accomplished pitchers in the county. And she struggled to throw it to where the Longhorns couldn’t hit it. The whole deal is a bit odd and frustrating.
Now UT and TTU are on to Game 2. The Red Raiders will need to win that matchup and force a Game 3 if they’re going to cling to hopes of winning a national title this season. Otherwise, it's back to Lubbock as the second best team in Texas (and also the country).