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Texas Tech pulls through late, beats UCLA at WCWS

Screenshot 2024-07-31 at 7.46.34 PMby:Brady Vernon•05/31/25•

BradyVernon

Screenshot 2025-06-01 at 10.37.49 AM
Crash Kamon/Softball America

NiJaree Canady doesn’t require a ton of run support to earn wins for her team. After she yielded her previous one-run lead, her teammates backed her up with two runs in the sixth and the seventh. And that was more than enough for the superstar to close out Texas Tech’s 3-1 win over UCLA.

Canady ended her outing, allowing one run on four hits, while striking out seven batters. She held Jordan Woolery and Megan Grant, UCLA’s biggest hitters hitless. The Stanford transfer attributed that to her previous matchups with the powerful duo.

 “I felt like they helped a lot,” she said. “I know (pitching) coach Tara (Archibald) went back and watched all the games, and two of the best hitters in the game. We were definitely smart about pitching to them, knowing the damage they can do. I felt like we had a decent game against them. All credit to Coach Tara, honestly, for her pitch calling.”

NiJaree Canady celebrates a strikeout at the WCWS (Crash Kamon/Softball America)

Freshman Hailey Toney had her biggest moment of her young career. The Texas Tech shortstop Pinch-hitter Raegan Jennings poked a ball into center for a two-out insurance run in the seventh.

“I thought the second run, the home run, I think it was a 3-2 count, I was looking at the stats this morning, the last ten games, and Hailey Toney is hitting like .480,” Texas Tech head coach Gerry Glasco said. “She’s been an absolute rock star for us in the postseason. I felt so good about, when she got that count to 3-2, I could tell she was really getting on time. That was a huge hit.”

UCLA starter Taylor Tinsley had held Texas Tech hitless for four innings with the lone baserunner erased by a double play. The Red Raiders clearly had keen in on something. Lauren Allred led off with a single on the first pitch. Alana Johnson hit one hard to left field on the first pitch she saw as well, but got under it. Canady sat on a changeup and lined it to the right field for a double.

Glasco tried to send Allred home after putting up the stop sign initially. The next at-bat, she was cut down at home, giving Texas Tech two outs. Glasco got aggressive, knowing one run could be enough. He sent a pinch runner Makalya Garcia home while UCLA catcher Alexis Ramirez was throwing the ball back to Tinsley.

“We had a plan. Coach Glasco told me, hey, we’re going to go, and we’re going to take a chance. I had to trust him in that moment. I trust him. He’s a great coach,” Garcia said. “I was like, you know what, we’re going to do it. It had to work in our favor, and luckily it did, and it got us all the momentum in our dugout to let NiJa do her thing and let the offense take confidence at the plate and start swinging and start hacking.

“So I thought it was just a cool moment. It was just a crazy moment just to slide in between someone’s legs at the World Series, but yeah.”

The Bruins threatened in the second inning. A pair of walks, which had Glasco out of the dugout questioning home plate umpire Steve Gould’s zone, and a perfect bunt from Rylee Slimp loaded the bases. Canady responded with a strikeout of Taylor Stephens and then got Kaitlyn Terry to bounce out to end the frame.

UCLA had put solid contact on Canady for much of the night, but it just wasn’t translating to hits. That was until Kaniya Bragg put bat to ball on a rise, Canady tried to extend out of the zone. Bragg’s liner got over the right field wall for a game-tying home run.

Ramirez and Slimp hit back-to-back singles to open the seventh. Canady proceeded to retire the next three batters.

Texas Tech plays the winner of Oklahoma and Oregon on Monday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2. UCLA flips to the other side of the bracket for a rematch against Karlyn Pickens and Tennessee on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on ABC.

UCLA head coach Kelly Inouye Perez talked about the benefits of having faced Pickens earlier this season with the quick turnaround.

“I think a lot,” she said. “I think we had a great opportunity — it was a lot earlier in the season, but it knocked her out of the game. So there’s experience there.”

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