Texas Tech sports roundup: Softball, baseball drop openers in Arizona, more

Here is your Texas Tech sports roundup for Friday, April 18, 2025.

Texas Tech softball loses series opener at Arizona

This weekend, the top two teams in the Big 12 are squaring off as Texas Tech faces Arizona. Unfortunately, the first-place Red Raiders dropped the opener of the three-game set 2-1.

All of the runs in the game came in the first inning as a pitchers' duel broke out after that. Tech's NiJaree Canady allowed a two-run homer in the bottom of the frame after her team had jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the inning. Canady pitched a complete game, racking up seven strikeouts to reach the 200-strikeout threshold for the third season in a row.

Tech now leads the Big 12 race by two games and will look to get back in the win column tonight. The game can be seen on FS1 at 7 p.m.

Texas Tech baseball falls to Arizona State

The Texas Tech baseball team's dreadful season continued down the wrong path on Thursday night in a 10-4 loss to Arizona State. The Red Raiders are now just 11-22 overall and 7-9 in Big 12 play.

The game was tied at 3-3 when the Red Raiders scored three runs in the top of the third. However, Arizona State would storm to the win by two in the bottom of the seventh and five in the eighth.

The teams meet for game two tonight at 9 p.m. Central. It can be seen on ESPN2.

TJ Pompey out for the rest of the season

More bad news for the Texas Tech baseball team arrived earlier this week when star infielder TJ Pompey was ruled out for the rest of the season. Pompey was hit by a pitch on March 30 in a game at Kansas State and he has not played since.

In 18 games this season, the sophomore was batting .348 with 5 home runs, 15 runs batted in and 5 stolen bases. Needless to say, this was not the type of news that the struggling Red Raiders needed during what has been a woeful 2025 season.

Former Texas Tech Lady Raiders star finds new home in portal

The Texas Tech Lady Raiders will have a big hole to fill in 2025-26 as arguably their best player from this past season, Jasmine Shavers, has committed to Florida State. She made the announcement on social media.

Shavers appeared in 104 games for the Red Raiders, starting 80, averaging 12.7 points per game. While in Lubbock, she scored 1,323 points, ranking 14th in program history. This past season, she put up 14.9 points per game to lead the Lady Raiders.

Texas Tech baseball alum gets Major League call-up

A Lubbock baseball product and former Texas Tech catcher, Braxton Fulford, made his Major League debut this week for the Colorado Rockies. He became the 40th Texas Tech alum to reach the big leagues.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a great debut for Fulford as he went 0-4 with four strikeouts. Still, it had to be a thrill for him to get his first MLB action at legendary Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

Fulford played for the Red Raiders from 2018-21, hitting .262 with 19 homers and 93 RBI. The Rockies took him in the sixth round of the 2021 MLB Draft. Now, he's getting a taste of life in the majors.

Texas Tech Lady Raiders add two transfers

Back to the Lady Raiders, they did some work this week by adding a pair of transfers to the roster. One is Gemma Nunez, a 5-foot-7 junior who played for Campbell last season. She averaged 7.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game.

The other is Jada Malone, a transfer from Texas A&M. Set to be a senior next season, she put up 8.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game this past season.

What's more, the Lady Raiders got more good news this week when starting guard Bailey Maupin announced her intention to return for her final season. The Gruver, Texas native put up 13.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game as a junior for the Lady Raiders.