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Texas Softball Faces Texas Tech For National Title

by: Josh Florey06/04/25
Teagan Kavan, Texas
Teagan Kavan, Texas - © Bryan Terry / USA TODAY NETWORK

On Monday, Texas defeated Tennessee and Texas Tech beat Oklahoma to move on to the championship series. This is Texas’ third national title appearance in four years, but will be the first against a team not named Oklahoma.

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Paths to Championship Series

Texas was the 6th overall seed in the tournament. They won their regional and beat 11th seeded Clemson in the Super Regional, winning the series 2-1. Then, they defeated Florida 3-0, beat OU 4-2, and beat Tennessee 2-0. 

Teagan Kavan played outstanding in all 3 games, especially against OU, despite having lost her grandma the same morning. 

Texas Tech was the 12th overall seed, and faced 5th seeded Florida State in the Super Regionals after winning their regional. Tech won the series 2-0. Then, in the WCWS, they beat Ole Miss 1-0, UCLA 3-1, and finally Oklahoma 3-2. 

Previous Matchups 

Texas and Texas Tech have already played each other twice this season, with the Horns coming out on top in both matchups. 

Game 1: Texas won 2-1 in 9 innings. Teagan Kavan struck out 18 batters, and the Horns managed to bring in 2 runs on superstar Nijaree Canady. 

Game 2: Texas won 11-0 in 5 innings. The second matchup was very different from the first. Tech did not start Canady, and Texas quickly took advantage, scoring 4 in the first inning. They were able to pour on the runs as the game went on, and hold Tech’s offense in check, leading to a run rule of the Red Raiders. 

Nijaree Canady

Texas Tech paid over $1 million for Canady to transfer from Stanford—and it was worth it. She is arguably the best pitcher in the nation, having amassed 304 strikeouts and a .90 ERA over 226 innings this season. 

As a freshman, Canady recorded a .57 ERA over 135 innings, and as a sophomore had a .73 ERA over 230.2 innings. She also brought Stanford to the WCWS back-to-back years. 

In the WCWS, Canady is the only Red Raider to pitch, becoming the first person to ever do so en route to a national championship appearance. 

Canady also bats very well for Tech, hitting .297 with 11 home runs and 34 RBI. 

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However, Tech is extremely reliant on Canady for success. They don’t have the most explosive offense, and will often only score one or two runs, but most of the time it is enough. If the Longhorns can find a way to force Canady out of the game, their offensive chances go up exponentially in best-of-three-game series.  

Schedule

Games will played Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday night (if necessary) at 7:00 PM CST and will be televised on ESPN.

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