Everything Texas Tech Softball Said after Eliminating Alabama at WCWS

OKLAHOMA CITY–– Texas Tech softball beat Alabama in back-to-back games in the Women's College World Series semifinals to punch its ticket to the champ series for the second year in a row.

Red Raiders head coach Gerry Glasco, plus student athletes NiJaree Canady, Kaitlyn Terry and Mia Williams spoke with the media after the game. Here's everything they had to say.

Full transcript

Transcript courtesy of ASAP Sports

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Texas Tech head coach Gerry Glasco and players Mia Williams, Kaitlyn Terry, and NiJaree Canady.

GERRY GLASCO: Always a tremendous honor to get to play in Oklahoma City and on this field and on this complex. The beginning of the game and the heat, it really wasn't that many people. I thought it's going to be a small crowd. Then it kept building and building, and it ended up being an electric crowd, even tonight.

I was just shocked how many people were here. I was shocked how many Red Raider people were here, and Alabama had a great turnout too.

Very fortunate to have such an outstanding venue to hold the World Series, and the city of Oklahoma City, it's just they really -- they take care of us everywhere you go -- restaurants, stores, everywhere you go, everyone is excited about the World Series, and here you can feel it when you're out and around.

Next, Alabama, 56-9, what a great season. Congratulations to them. Coach Murphy and his contribution to softball has been enormous. He told me tonight his first time here was 2000. I can remember around 2001-' 2, I was coaching travel ball, and I remember going to Alabama and he showed me all through the locker room and all through the facilities. He was first class promoting the sport and always has been.

It's tremendous to get to play against him here in that setting and a great honor to get to be on the field with him.

56-9 and No. 1 seed in the overall tournament, I tip my hat to them. I know it's a tough way for them to go out, but when they look back and when those girls look back 25, 30 years from now, they're going to realize how good a season they had.

As far as my team, just so proud of my girls. They really bought in in the last -- I feel like the last 30 days that we just have come together and became a whole different team, and they're just playing for each other so well now.

Then they're finding ways. I thought all night we talk about two games, KT and NiJa, were just so outstanding. And then to share the ball and to it do the way they do, amazing. NiJa had 57 pitches at the end of the first game. I thought we can get four or five out of her, and we can go back to KT, who had 70. NiJa, that was the 2025 version of NiJa Canady.

We've been on this plan. We took the whole fall off, and we said we'll peak in May and peak at the World Series. I don't have any doubt that was her best performance of the year, and that's a great confidence builder for our team and NiJa to go into The Finals with that effort.

KT, equally amazing. Such a great competitor the last two days and such a great teammate. When I flip them, she's cheering for NiJa so loud in the dugout and doing whatever the team needs. Her bat has been awful good, really good as well.

Then Mia Williams, what can you say? Like, oh, my goodness, that home run in the bottom of the seventh -- was it the second pitch or first pitch? Right off third, all right. Anyway, first at-bat, first person up with the lead, and just so good, so clutch. She was 0 for 3 at that point, and then the next three at-bats gets hits. It just says so much for her.

Her defense was also absolutely outstanding. Her defense has been tremendous all year, just a greatness. So surrounded by three great athletes and then a whole team in the back. It's just great kids. Super proud of them.

Q. NiJa, what do you think about getting another shot against the Longhorns?

NIJAREE CANADY: I'm just excited to be able to make it to the Championship Series again. It's just a blessing to play them again. It's good for the state of Texas, showing how good softball is in the state, and I feel like we're going to get a good turnout.

Q. NiJa, I'm sure there's been some frustrations over the last couple weeks, but what was your kind of mindset to get you ready for the second game, and why do you think you performed the way you did?

NIJAREE CANADY: Honestly, Coach Tara kept saying to go at hitters. I don't know, I just kept reminding myself timid has no power and God doesn't give the spirit of timidity. So just trying to remember that and remembering anything like that is not from God. Just knowing to go at hitters.

Q. Mia, take us through what you were thinking when you were rounding the bases after you knew it was gone.

MIA WILLIAMS: I don't even know. I was so excited. My glasses were foggy, they were crooked. I was trying to hold my glasses and cheer at the same time. It was amazing.

Q. NiJa, playing in your record 19th game here at the Women's College World Series, can you just talk about -- you got stronger as the game went on in the second game and the finish with the two-hit shutout, you've got to be extremely blessed?

NIJAREE CANADY: Definitely. Obviously this postseason hasn't gone the way I wanted it to go. I feel like I haven't been my best. But like Coach Glasco said, it's about when you peak. I don't know, if I'm going to be good, at least it's towards the end of the year.

Q. Mia and KT, if you can take me through the ups and downs of that first game and being able to finish it off with your home run, but then just how are you regrouping in between games and kind of resetting for the second one with just a short turnaround?

KAITLYN TERRY: This team just stays hype all the time in the locker room. We were playing music, vibing with each other, but also staying locked in. This team can flip a switch real quick and stay locked in, so yeah.

MIA WILLIAMS: They were two really good pitchers. I think just coming out and sticking to our plan. I think some at-bats might not have gone the way it was supposed to, but just sticking to the plan.

Q. Any of you three, Gerry kind of talked about that closeness the last 30 days, but how does that really show in the last three elimination games and really tight games and trusting one another?

NIJAREE CANADY: I think it just shows that we want to fight for each other. I feel like we've gone through a lot, but it's honestly brought us closer together and makes us want to fight for each other.

Q. Kaitlyn and Mia, what's it mean, you made the decision to come to Texas Tech, and what's the feeling now knowing that you're two wins away from the goal that you guys set out for at the beginning of the year?

MIA WILLIAMS: I think it's one of the best decisions I ever made. This is probably the best coach I ever played for. He just believes in me so much, and it makes me emotional talking about it because just having that feeling of someone believing in you is just one of the best things ever, and I love him.

KAITLYN TERRY: Yeah, this is a big reason why we all came here. Like we said, job's not finished, but going off of Mia, Coach Glasco has been the best coach that I've ever played for. Just seeing him at third base, just knowing that he has the confidence in you when you're up at the plate, it's just amazing.

Q. NiJa, I want to ask you because you've been on both teams, but Lauren had the game-winning sac fly to get you to the championship last year, she had the game-winning catch here and the grand slam against Ole Miss. What has she meant to this program and the way she leads and carries herself and produces like that?

NIJAREE CANADY: Lauren is so clutch. If there's anyone I want in the box, it's Lauren Allred. Honestly, her and Mihyia together, I feel like if Mihyia is on base and Lauren is in the box, they're going to find a way to score. I feel like she doesn't get enough credit for the things she does both on and off the field.

Q. Gerry, I know coaching superstars can be very hard, especially this job and this team, but the ESPN cameras kind of caught your interaction with NiJa after she gave up the game-tying home run in the first game. What did you feel she needed to be talked to and worked through and what she needed in that moment?

GERRY GLASCO: I could say I don't remember, but I do, so I'd better not. She shook off a fastball and threw a change-up or vice versa, and I just let her know, like I'm paying a pitching coach a lot of money to call pitches. If you shake it off, it better work. If it don't, you own it. You take accountability. We're in a close game.

I hope I said it in a way, but I don't waste -- like it's kind of shocking to me when the kids talk about I'm a good coach because I'm hard on them. Like I'm a hard coach to play for. People don't realize that when they watch the press conference, but in practice we've got a job to do, and it's a perfect -- you're never perfect, but there's a right way to do things. And I want my kids to -- so she shook it off, but we give her that. We give her that privilege.

If it's a one-run game and we give up the lead, when you shake it off in that moment, you'd better be sure you have the right idea. I remember now what it is, she threw a change-up, and it bounced. Then the batter knows on 3-2, we got to go -- we only have one pitch left, and that's the fastball. You don't want to box yourself in. No big deal, but right there at the end, she shook them off and threw the change-up and struck her out. We were all laughing.

That's the greatness of NiJa, I tore her up about it, I'm getting on her, and she still had the courage to do it a couple times in the game, and I don't mind that at all. I don't think you need to shake off ten. If you shake off ten times, I need to get a different pitching coach. Two times, then maybe that's a great thing.

You see how she responds. She's pure class, extremely intelligent, far more intelligent than her coach, and we want to give her that freedom. We just want to be careful that we don't overuse that freedom because in that moment, there's no way a pitcher thinks, if I bounce this, then they know I got to go fastball on 3-2. Leave that to the pitching coach.

Q. Coach, yesterday you said softball, I love this game. What can you say about getting in your second year, getting Texas Tech into the best-of-three Championship Series?

GERRY GLASCO: It's just a reflection of the greatness I've experienced at Texas Tech University. It's fun. It's just a great university. Everything is fun. Our football team is fun. Our basketball team is fun. Our women's basketball team is fun. Everything I got to do around that campus, the tailgating is just a great environment.

Then everybody in our program, from the janitors to the field crew to the administration to the game day facilities people, everybody gives us full support, and it's just been just a privilege.

Then that allows you to concentrate on your team and have them ready for moments like these.

Q. Three wins in a little bit over 24 hours, all elimination games, each decided by two runs or fewer. Can you speak to the resiliency of this group and fighting through potential fatigue and all that and able to get three wins?

GERRY GLASCO: You just keep going. You can't stop. I think that's where the travel ball background really helps me. I'm used to coaching five, six, seven games in a day if that's what it takes. If you get in the losers bracket on a Friday night, sometimes you might have eight, ten games in a weekend.

I'm used to that. And the kids are used to that when they've been through travel ball. So I can relate to them, and they can relate to me that we understand we have to do the job at hand.

The key today was one inning at a time. Play one inning at a time. Even break it down one pitch and go through. Don't think about 14. Think get the next out, get to the next out, get to the next inning.

We know that against a great team like Alabama there's going to be moments -- I told her before you're going to lose momentum at some point. You're going to face adversity, and when you do, we're going to respond really quickly and get it right back in our dugout.

That adversity happened at the top of the seventh. Just like Oklahoma last year, we lost the lead. Let's win it in the bottom here. Let's not mess around and go eight. Let's get it right now. It took one batter. They're just really a resilient bunch of young women.

Q. You decided to make Mihyia and NiJa and Hailey Toney all captains this year, and they all three came up huge this year. What was it about them that made you want to name them captains this year?

GERRY GLASCO: Great leaders, great students, and then they've been through the wars last year. I thought it was really important to recognize the kids that were in the war here last year on our team and give them the opportunity to be leaders. Even though we had a lot of All-Americans and different people coming in joining the program, I thought it was important that we knew I respected what they did last year and give them my backing.

Q. I'm not sure if you're aware, but the football coaches in Austin and Lubbock have been going at it in recent years. Do you think that will add a little spice to the stands this week?

GERRY GLASCO: I don't know. I don't know much about football, so I don't know. It won't bother me. I'm going to coach softball. I doubt Whitey cares a whole lot about football right now either.

It's going to be a fun series. I bet the fan bases -- if they're fired up, it may be really good in softball. It may be great. Hey, sometimes a little back-and-forth rivalry is a fun thing, right?

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