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Canady, No. 10 Stanford hand No. 2 Texas first loss in absolute thriller

Screenshot 2024-07-31 at 7.46.34 PMby: Brady Vernon02/25/24BradyVernon
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Courtesy of Stanford Athletics

Jessica Allister’s smirk said it all. She knew she had pulled a rabbit out of her hat. On a night filled with replays and challenges, everyone questioned why Allister asked the umpire crew to look at Katie Stewart’s failed bunt attempt. Then the camera crew found it.

Bella Dayton started the bottom of the seventh with a bunt single and moved to second on an error. After Mia Scott popped up a bunt, Stewart tried it as well to move Dayton over for a potential chance for the nation’s hottest hitter Reese Atwood to end the game. It was quite clear from the camera behind home plate Dayton left early on NiJaree Canady’s pitch to Stewart and the review secured Stanford the second out of the inning. Canady then struck out Stewart to send the game to extras.

Stanford then had a chance to go back on top in the eighth as the two teams played with the international rule. While Atwood has done no wrong at the plate this season, she had a tough go in extras behind the dish. Estelle Czech threw a wild pitch that Atwood couldn’t quite get enough of it to block, allowing River Mahler to advance to third for free. Dani Hayes then lifted a ball to left and far enough that Mahler was going to try to score. Kayden Henry appeared she was going to make up for her first-inning error – where she dropped a lazy fly ball, allowing Stanford’s first two runs – as she threw a dart to home. The throw was there, but Atwood couldn’t handle it as Mahler slid by to make it 4-3 Stanford.

Canady came back out with a lead to face Atwood. The matchup softball fans could only dream of with the game on the line. The two had already battled throughout the night, more on that later. The tying run stood at second and Atwood only needed a base hit to tie it up again. Though the only thing that got tied up was her. Canady had fed Atwood a high dose of riseballs throughout the night, but on a 0-2 count, she dropped a change that Atwood swung over. She did it again to Joely Mitchell for strikeout 11. Finally, she got Viviana Martinez to pop up and secure the win in Austin.

This very well could be Canady’s most impressive outing to date. It wasn’t a shutout, it wasn’t a no-hitter or a perfect game. But let’s see what was stacked up against her. Texas had a very good game plan from the start. They did a great job laying off the rise, and when they were swinging they stayed on top of it. While a Stanford error allowed another unearned run and extended the inning, Canady threw 30-plus pitches in the first. That also forced Canady to start using her change earlier than she tends to.

Then we factor in the third inning. The speedy Dayton was ruled safe on a great effort by Mahler at short to start the inning. Despite there being a handful of replays already from a Taryn Kern hit-by-pitch coming back or Ashton Maloney’s catch that was certainly a catch – Allister decided not to appeal this one. The TV cameras showed that Allister likely would’ve won that challenge. While she made up for it later in the game, it came back to bite.

Atwood stepped back up to the plate. She “struck out” in the first battle due to a time violation. This go around, she instead took her time going around the bases. Atwood laid off a 1-2 riseball that she thought about swinging at. The next pitch was more in the zone and she belted it for a two-run homer to tie the game.

Figure this. Canady goes on the road to the No. 2 team in the nation that hadn’t trailed all season long going into this game, her defense hands the Longhorns a run, a call doesn’t go her way and that leads to Atwood becoming only the third player of 650-plus players to hit a home run off of her. And yet, the girl that took the nation by storm last season has gotten better. The changeup was incredible and as Amanda Scarborough pointed out she used more downspin on her pitches as well.

Stanford also isn’t in this position without Caelan Koch. She’s been Stanford’s most consistent hitter, as shown in her RBI double in the third. It makes you wonder how she could’ve helped the Cardinal last season in Oklahoma City if she hadn’t been hurt. Hopefully, she gets there healthy with the Cardinal, hopefully we get more Canady vs. Atwood matchups, hopefully we get Stanford and Texas part three because that was an incredible softball game. 

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