Texas Tech plays in the National Championship Series tonight at the Women's College World Series. Let me say that one more time... TEXAS TECH PLAYS IN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES TONIGHT AT THE WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES!
And to add to the drama they do it after ending Oklahoma's quest for a fifth straight National Championship and will be taking on their in-state rival Texas in the champ series. All anyone said outside of the Red Raider bubble and heck some haters inside of it after Texas Tech won the Big 12 was "it's just because OU and Texas left." Well one down.....one to go I guess and Texas Tech can call themselves Big 12 Champs and NATTY Champs taking them both down. This will be the first trip to the WCWS Champ series for Texas Tech (in their first trip to the WCWS ever) while Texas is playing in the champ series for the third time in four years, still searching for their first National Title. Either way this goes a first time champion will be crowned.
It won't be easy. But none of this has been. In the words of Gerry Glasco to his team before the seventh inning walk-off of Oklahoma:
“We didn’t want it to be easy, you knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Let’s go win this...”
Best of three series awaits with game one tonight at 7 pm CT on ESPN. Radio on Double T 97.3.
Setting the Scene
By the stats alone this is a true battle of pitching vs. offense with Texas Tech coming in first in the nation in ERA and Texas second in the nation in team batting average. Texas is no stranger to fans and no stranger to this team both this year and in previous years. While there are only three returners on this Tech team that played Texas in the Big 12 days.....NiJa Canady has faced them over the years while at Stanford and the five Louisiana transfers have played them a few times in the non-con while there. And yes of course in the second week of the season this year Texas Tech made the trip to Austin playing two games with then #1 Texas, the first being a 9-inning thriller and easily one of the best non-con games of the college softball season this year ending in a 2-1 Texas victory. Both teams will tell you they are very different from then but it's hard to argue that any team has grown as much as Texas Tech since the beginning of the year.
"We weren't real good at the beginning of the season if you go back, watch our games, we just lost. We were 0-0 to Mississippi State, and we lost. 1-1 against Texas and lost late in the game," said Gerry Glasco. "That's the difference between then and now. We now know how to finish a game, and we're mentally tough enough to finish a game."
Texas Coach Mike White was also asked how he thinks Texas Tech is different from that matchup to which he quipped:
"Well they steal home now." 😂
Texas Hitters of Note
Mia Scott - .438 avg, 18 2B, 2 3B, 8 HR, 55 RBI, 5 SB
Ashton Maloney - .423 avg, 9 2B, 2 3B, 0 HR, 23 RBI, 61 R, 11 SB
Reese Atwood - .398 avg, 12 2B, 3 3B, 21 HR, 86 RBI, 6 SB
Katie Stewart - .379 avg, 13 2B, 17 HR, 78 RBI, 2 SB
Texas Pitchers of Note
Teagan Kavan - 2.33 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 192.1 IP, 224 K, 26-5 W/L
Mac Morgan - 3.23 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 73.2 IP, 39 K, 11-4 W/L
Citlaly Gutierrez - 2.57 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 81.2 IP, 69 K, 10-1 W/L
Texas is well balanced offensively with a lot of power but still a good bit of speed espcially at the top of the lineup in Ashton Maloney. Similar to how teams have it atop the game plan to not let Mihyia Davis on to start innings for Texas Tech because of the chaos she tends to create (see Tech's walk off win over OU)....keeping Maloney off the basepaths is key to slowing the Texas offense as well. Atwood was the 2024 Softball America Player of the Year so she faces off with NiJaree Canady who beat her out for the USA Softball Player of the Year award last year in this one. Atwood has struggled a bit in the WCWS but does have a home run off NiJa in her career and is a beast awaiting to erupt.....need to keep her at bay to get the win here.
Team Comparison
| Team | Record | Team ERA | Team Batting Avg | Team Fielding % | Team HR | Team 2B | Team 3B | Team SO's (Batting) | Walks Drawn | Stolen Bases |
| Texas Tech | 53-12 | 1.75 | .320 | .974 | 60 | 92 | 14 | 217 | 172 | 108 |
| Texas | 54-11 | 2.64 | .355 | .973 | 91 | 95 | 16 | 216 | 224 | 80 |
Creating chaos on one side and staying calm in the chaos to avoid mistakes is the key to this series for both teams in my opinion. When you have aces in the circle on either side like Kavan and Canady....the smallest of windows created from a mistake, missed sign, or loss of focus may be all that is needed to decide a winner.
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