![Texas Tech celebrates their 16-7 won over Florida during game 3 of the super regional of the NCAA Division 1 softball championship at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Sunday, May 24, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_56,w_2714,h_1526/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/production/275/01ksjn0xd2dejzzbvmm4.jpg "Texas Tech celebrates their 16-7 won over Florida during game 3 of the super regional of the NCAA Division 1 softball championship at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Sunday, May 24, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]")
As Gerry Glasco and the Texas Tech softball team looked to take down the Florida Gators and advance on from the Gainesville Super Regional, things got off to an interesting start between the two teams. Texas Tech started with a scoring burst, jumping out to a 3-0 lead and Florida responded in kind by scoring four, putting seven runs between the two of them in just the first inning.
And then a weather delay paused things. Once things resumed and the weather cleared, NiJaree Canady took the circle, replacing Kaitlyn Terry who started the game for the Red Raiders.
Texas Tech then tacked on four runs of their own in the top of the second inning to take a 7-4 lead. And how did the Gators respond to that? Well, Florida went ahead and added three more runs of their own to tie things up at 7-7. 14 runs between the two teams in just the second inning.
Even though it didn’t totally work out for Texas Tech in the second inning, that pitching change after the first inning was the start of something that helped propel the Red Raiders to the Women’s College World Series.
Inside Texas Tech softball’s pitching changes that helped Gerry Glasco and the Red Raiders win Game 3
Because Gerry Glasco had been doing some math. While Florida had Keagan Rothrock, Texas Tech had two pitchers of the same sort of caliber. And if home runs and hits were going to go flying left and right, Glasco was going to seek out every sort of pitching matchup to possibly give his team a chance at winning.
“It had to be the right situation,” Glasco said. KT gave up a few runs in the first inning, NiJa gave up runs in the second inning. I’ve been talking to them all year about it, but I don’t know that they were desperate enough to trust me. I knew, in this situation, we had so much on the line.”
I think they were more than willing to trust him and his math on this one.
“That hour break gave me the momentum to really think it through,” Glasco continued. “This is the time where I’ve got two All-Americans, Florida’s got one All-American.”
And that sort of advantage was huge for Texas Tech. Because the Red Raiders were able to get the exact sort of matchup advantages that they needed and keep their two star pitchers fresh. And because both Terry and Canady are very capable hitters in their own right, getting them into the lineup didn’t disrupt anything for Texas Tech.
“If I can make the move from pitcher to pitcher on a hot, muggy day, that could play into our advantage,” Glasco explained.
I think it did. Texas Tech was able to get some momentum in the circle and Canady and Terry were able to keep the Gators off the board from the third inning through the fifth inning. Meanwhile, Florida’s pitchers ran out of gas. The Red Raiders scored nine runs in that same timeframe and eliminated the Gators.
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