OKLAHOMA CITY — It wouldn’t be MAYhem without a little drama spiced in, even if it technically comes in June.
More than 2 million people tuned in to watch the Texas Tech softball team’s contest against Texas in Game 1 of the Women’s College World Series on Wednesday night. Those TV viewers were greeted with a tense contest until the final out, a bummer of an outcome for the Red Raiders that put them on the brink of elimination.
Things looked to be heading that same direction in Thursday’s Game 2. Once again, it was NiJaree Canady relatively cruising in the circle until the very end. The Red Raiders added more runs to back Canady this time, taking a 4-1 lead into the seventh.
And once again, Texas mounted a comeback, getting the tying run at the plate with nobody out. If a one-run lead was trouble in Game 1, surely Canady could make a three-run cushion stick 24 hours later, right?
The Longhorns caused more trouble, plating two runs and getting the tying run to third. But Canady had two outs. One more to go and the Red Raiders extend their season another day. At the plate was Kayden Henry, a fellow client of Prestige Management Group, which helped Canady land with Texas Tech a year ago.
“Just go right at her,” Canady said of facing Henry. “I feel like my team, we did a really good job of scoring and getting a good lead, so just having to go right at her.”
Canady threw 88 pitches in Game 1, and the Longhorns made her work into the triple digits in Game 2. But if Canady was tired at that point, she wasn’t about to show it with the game on the line. Three pitches, all over 70 miles an hour, right by Henry for the game-ending strikeout.
About 24 hours after the deflation of letting the late lead slip, Canady and her teammates let out thunderous roars for the 4-3 win to set up the winner-take-all championship game on Friday.
“I think the bottom of the seventh,” head coach Gerry Glasco said, “our fortitude and our determination and the way we reacted there at the end was a testament to the toughness that they’ve acquired by playing these tough games.”
Glasco said he told the Red Raiders after Wednesday’s loss that the team always learns 10-times more from setbacks than triumphs. The lesson from the Game 1 loss? No free bases. Canady attacked Henry from the first pitch and got the job done.
“I was just fighting for my team,” Canady said. “Like I said, last night was on me, so I have to just leave it out on the field just for them.”
Facing an array of pitchers as Texas tried to avoid using ace Teagan Kavan (who wound up coming on in relief in the sixth, giving up a pair of runs from inherited base runners), the Red Raiders scrapped together a pair of two-run innings.
The first came when Texas Tech loaded up the bases for the second time. Alana Johnson, prone to fighting off pitches, went seven pitches deep in an at-bat before getting plunked to drive in one run. A wild pitch on the next offering scored the other.
In the sixth, looking to get some insurance, Glasco again called for Raegan Jennings to pinch-hit. One of three returnees to Texas Tech from a year ago, Jennings missiled a single into center and accounted for one run. Then catcher Victoria Valdez, behind the plate for every one of Canady’s 195 pitches in the two games, ignored Glasco’s sign to stop at third.
Instead, Valdez kept running when Mihyia Davis’ hit got away from the Texas first baseman, sliding in for the fourth run.
“As soon as Mihyia hits a ball I have to go,” Valdez said, “because I was already supposed to be at third and I would have scored anyway. So I had to score from second.”
The Red Raiders have relied on a motto of being selfless and playing for each other. As much of the focus is on Canady, the ace pitcher can’t provide all the scoring as well. It’s taken each member of the lineup coming through at different times throughout the WCWS to be playing on the final day of the season.
“It’s a team effort,” Valdez said. “We all want to be there for NiJa. We want to be there for each other. And like on an off day, you see more than one person going in, and it’s not just one person getting us through.”
In addition to being selfless, the Red Raiders also adopted the motto of “our shot at forever,” adapted from the book “One Shot at Forever” by Chris Ballard. The book, set in Macon, Illinois, — about three hours from Glasco’s hometown — follows the Macon High School baseball team, coached by English teacher Lynn Sweet, during the 1971 season.
The Macon Ironmen became the smallest school in modern Illinois history to make the state final. They did so by taking down a powerhouse team in Lane Tech in the semis, adding a bit more magic to the season.
The parallels between the Ironmen and the Red Raiders are hard to miss. From the opponents in the semifinals — Lane Tech for the Ironmen, Oklahoma for the Red Raiders — to the backstory of their head coach — Glasco, who used to lead quail hunting expeditions in Mexico until the cartel made it too dangerous and Sweet, the teacher who did things a bit differently than his counterparts in the late 1960s.
There is one aspect Texas Tech hopes not to replicate: Macon High lost the state championship to Waukegan High after that dramatic semifinal win. The Red Raiders have their sights set on their own Waukegan High: the Texas Longhorns.
“I’m going to enjoy it either way,” Glasco said. “And I’m going to be proud of my kids either way.”
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech softball forced decisive Game 3 in finals of WCWS vs. rival Texas