Texas Tech and reigning champion Texas will meet in a best-of-three Women’s College World Series finals in Oklahoma City, after both teams survived tense, high-stakes games on Monday. NiJaree Canady’s dominant pitching in a win over Alabama helped push the Red
Oklahoma City felt like a pressure cooker last Thursday as the Women’s College World Series finally took center stage at Devon Park. By Monday night, only two teams were left standing—and the road to the championship series had narrowed into moments so specific they barely left room to breathe.
The first game of the finals begins Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, with Texas Tech set to face reigning champion Texas in a best-of-three series. It’s a rematch of last year’s final. but the latest chapter doesn’t resemble a repeat: Texas Tech survived elimination twice on Monday. while Texas punched its ticket by beating Tennessee twice—outscoring the Lady Vols 9-2 across the day.
Texas showed up with the kind of offense that makes late innings feel inevitable. After taking on Tennessee in the WCWS, the Longhorns secured two wins on Monday. Their path to the finals was paved by timely power and control, setting up what promises to be another high-intensity matchup.
Texas Tech’s advance was built around survival. and the most important swing of that storyline came from its pitching ace. In Game 1 against Alabama on Monday, Texas Tech got a walk-off home run from Mia Williams. Then. in Game 2. the Red Raiders needed NiJaree Canady to deliver—and she did. turning a must-win moment into a full-body performance.
Canady. in the biggest stage of her career in her fourth and final WCWS appearance. allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out six batters. She completed the game in a shutout. finishing the matchup with the kind of dominance that changes how teams defend in the next inning. The contrast to her earlier appearances wasn’t lost on anyone watching Texas Tech’s run—she saved her best stuff for when it mattered most.
None of this was happening in a vacuum. Eight teams entered the WCWS last Thursday, but the field shrank quickly until only Texas and Texas Tech remained.
Two standout storylines carried the “winners” forward for Texas. Katie Stewart. the first baseman for Texas. produced the kind of output coaches talk about after games and scouts track long before. Stewart hit homers in both games against Tennessee on Monday. helping secure the pair of wins that sent Texas to its third consecutive WCWS finals. A junior from Frankfurt, Illinois, Stewart is hitting .429 on the season with 30 home runs, 77 RBIs and a .989 slugging percentage. Her home run total stands as a single-season record for the Longhorns. and it’s part of why Texas is aiming for what would be its second national championship.
Texas Tech’s own winner was Canady. but her story on Monday also had a sharper edge: she had already had a few appearances that didn’t go so well before stepping up in the biggest moments. She earned a game-winning strikeout on Sunday against UCLA. struck out four batters in Texas Tech’s first matchup against Alabama on Monday. and then controlled Game 2 like she had been waiting for the spotlight.
The losers list told a parallel story about how fast opportunity can vanish in postseason baseball—even for programs that looked destined to keep going.
The Big Ten’s elimination was one of the clearest reminders. When the NCAA Softball Tournament began. the Big Ten looked like it had two legitimate national title contenders in Nebraska and UCLA. Nebraska had Jordy Frahm. described here as the best two-way player in the sport. powering the Cornhuskers to a Big Ten championship. UCLA, meanwhile, brought an explosive offense anchored by Megan Grant and Jordan Woolery.
But the postseason didn’t reward either team. The Huskers and Bruins were both eliminated on Sunday. The broader trend the league has faced is stark in the numbers: between 2006 and 2011. teams from the old Pac-12 won six consecutive national championships. Since then, UCLA’s 2019 squad is the only team from outside the south to have won it all. With Nebraska and UCLA gone, that south-dominated status quo will continue this year. The Big Ten has not won a national title in softball since Michigan in 2005.
Tennessee’s loss had a different texture—less about a league trend and more about timing. depth decisions. and what happened when Texas refused to let things settle. The Lady Vols entered Monday’s national semifinal matchup against Texas with momentum toward what would have been their third WCWS championship appearance in program history. They opened the WCWS with a win over the defending champion Longhorns, then walked off Texas Tech in extra innings.
On Monday, Tennessee only needed one win to advance to the championship series. Texas would have to beat them twice.
With what’s described as the No. 1 pitching staff in the nation on its side. Tennessee head coach Karen Weekly chose to keep ace Karlyn Pickens in reserve. stashing her for an if-necessary Game 2. Texas forced a winner-take-all game—and when Pickens couldn’t hold off the Longhorns. the semifinal ended with Tennessee’s run cut short.
Even UCLA’s season—full of record-setting offense—could not fully protect it from the narrow margins of the WCWS. Megan Grant is placed in the “Losers” section because of how the story ends, not because of what she accomplished.
Grant set a new single-season NCAA record with 42 home runs after spending part of the season with the national champion UCLA basketball team. UCLA’s offensive surge was so overpowering it produced multiple NCAA single-season marks: 209 home runs. 672 runs scored. 643 RBIs. 1. 408 total bases. and 334 extra-base hits in 63 games.
The numbers carried UCLA far, but not far enough. UCLA rallied from the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings against Texas Tech at the WCWS on Sunday. driven by a Jordan Woolery two-run home run. In that elimination game, however, the comeback didn’t finish the job. UCLA lost 8-7, but its record-breaking season still stands as one the sport will remember.
The sequence that brought Texas and Texas Tech back to the title stage is clear even without speculation: both teams survived the kind of postseason swings that turn champions into survivors. Texas relied on Katie Stewart’s two-homer performance and the ability to handle Tennessee in two straight games. while Texas Tech leaned on the timing of Mia Williams’s walk-off in Game 1 and NiJaree Canady’s shutout control in Game 2.
Now, with the finals set for Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN and continuing as a best-of-three series in Oklahoma City, the question shifts to what happens when both kinds of pressure collide—Texas’ record-setting power and Texas Tech’s ability to convert elimination moments into wins.
Women’s College World Series Texas Tech Texas NiJaree Canady Katie Stewart Mia Williams Oklahoma City ESPN Devon Park softball finals NCAA softball
Okay so Canady basically carried them huh.
Best-of-three finals means someone could get lucky for one game and steal it. Why do they even make it that short? I swear Texas always has the easier path or whatever.
Wait I thought Texas Tech was the reigning champ too?? The article says rematch of last year’s final but then talks like Texas Tech survived elimination twice like that’s normal. Also “only two teams were left standing” like the rest just disappeared??
NiJaree Canady pitching that hard is wild. I didn’t even realize this was in Oklahoma City already, Devon Park?? ESPN Wednesday at 8 pm better not cut away for commercials or whatever. Texas beating Tennessee twice 9-2 sounds like they already won but best-of-three still gonna be chaotic.