NiJaree Canady threw a two-hit shutout, lifting 11th-seed Texas Tech into the Women’s College World Series championship series with a 2-0 win over top-seeded Alabama on Monday in Oklahoma City.
The Red Raiders (61-8) will take on second-seeded Texas (51-12) in the best-of-three championship series beginning Wednesday.
It will be a rematch of last year’s championship series, won by Texas in three games.
Both Texas Tech and Texas had to win two games Monday to advance out of the losers bracket into the finals. The Red Raiders earned a 5-4 win over the Crimson Tide (56-9) in the earlier Monday matchup.
Canady retired the first two batters she faced in the seventh inning on just two pitches before Audrey Vandagriff doubled down the left field line. Canady then got Ambrey Taylor to fly out to end the game.
Canady (29-6) struck out six and walked one.
Texas Tech put runners on base in each of the first three innings off Jocelyn Briski (25-4) but couldn’t push a run across until the fourth, when Jasmyn Burns connected for a home run on Briski’s first pitch of the frame.
In the first matchup of the night, Alabama’s Jena Young hit a game-tying home run off Katelyn Terry in the seventh inning.
In the nightcap, Young came up against Canady with one out in the sixth and worked the count full. On the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Canady got Young swinging on a changeup.
The next hitter, Brooke Wells, hammered a Canady changeup down the right field line with plenty of distance, but it hooked just foul to keep the Red Raiders on top. Canady escaped the inning.
Texas Tech added an insurance run in the seventh on Lauren Allred’s single to center.
Mihyia Davis raced from first to third on the hit, then came around to score when Kristen White’s throw to third wound up in the dugout.
The Red Raiders loaded the bases but could not add another run, and stranded 11 runners in the game.
–Field Level Media
