Texas Tech softball survives Arizona State’s home run surge to clinch series

Gerry Glasco and the Texas Tech softball team are probably feeling pretty happy that the Arizona State Sun Devils managed to commit four errors when facing the Red Raiders on Saturday. Because there’s no way that those errors didn’t hinder Arizona State’s ability to upset the Red Raiders in what was a surprisingly close Saturday afternoon matchup.

Game 2 between the Red Raiders and the Sun Devils was certainly much more competitive than what we saw in Game 1 on Friday as the Arizona State and Texas Tech softball teams managed to trade scores back and forth throughout the contest. 

Texas Tech wound up winning 7-5, and NiJaree Canady earned the win, but this one was full of extra base hits and fireworks. Texas Tech gave up three home runs to the Sun Devils and that really made things a little tense for the Red Raiders.

NiJaree Canady and the Texas Tech softball team manage to escape Game 2 against Arizona State to snag a Big 12 road series win

What’s interesting is that both offenses were pretty quiet through the first two innings of the game. Nothing really significant happened early on.

But that definitely changed a bit in the third and fourth innings. Texas Tech managed to score four runs in the top of the third inning as the floodgates opened a bit. You remember that batch of errors that the Sun Devils had? It allowed Texas Tech to score three unearned runs in the top of the third.

And while Texas Tech found itself up 4-0 heading to the bottom of the third, the Sun Devils found a way to get on the scoreboard via a couple of home runs that put three runs up in response. 

In the top of the fourth inning, Texas Tech was able to build a couple of runs onto its 4-3 lead thanks to some timely hitting and a passed ball, but that 6-3 advantage over Arizona State didn’t last long as the Sun Devils managed to hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Texas Tech did get the chance to add another run onto the board to get a little bit of breathing room in the seventh inning and then held on to win 7-5. 

Canady managed to strike out nine batters and only yielded three runs (all of which were earned) as she faced 28 batters on Saturday. Texas Tech is now 46-4 on the season overall and 18-2 in Big 12 play. The Sun Devils sit at 35-15 overall and 8-12 against Big 12 teams.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow