What Went Wrong for Alabama Offense Against NiJaree Canady in Game 2

Less than an hour after facing the Texas Tech ace in the first semifinal, Canady completely shut down the Crimson Tide to eliminate Alabama at the WCWS.

Alabama infielder Brooke Wells (15) is hit by a pitch in the sixth inning of the second softball game between Texas Tech and Alabama at the Women’s College World Series at Devon Park in Oklahoma City, on Monday, June 1, 2026. | NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

OKLAHOMA CITY–– With the season on the line, Alabama's offense got shut down for the second time all season.

Less than an hour after facing NiJaree Canady in the circle in the first semifinal game in which Alabama collected three hits and a run off the Texas Tech ace, she was nearly unhittable against the Crimson Tide's offense in Game 2 in the 2-0 loss.

Alabama only had two hits in the game: a one-out single from Salen Hawkins in the third inning and two-out double from Audrey Vandagriff in the seventh inning to bring the tying run to the plate.

Crimson Tide catcher Marlie Giles hit a home run off of Canady in Game 1, but went 0-for-2 with a walk in the second game. She explained what made it so challenging to hit Canady in the second game.

"I think she just controlled the zone really well," Giles said. "She started off getting a lot of first pitch strikes and then would make us chase, whether that was change, whether that was up in the zone. She's a really good pitcher, and she had a really good game against us, and we just didn't adjust fast enough."

The Alabama offense ran out of time to adjust to Canday. The senior pitcher is famously the first million dollar player in college softball and has pitched at the Women's College World Series every year of her career. She was also part of a shutout in 2023 to eliminate the Crimson Tide from the WCWS while she was still at Stanford.

More chances to see Canady's pitches should have created better at-bats for the Crimson Tide, but Canady seemed to get better as the game went along.

"Like Marlie said, you try to pick something," Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy said. "Her change-up was really good. She got a couple on that today with two strikes. Screwball, you try to look back up at the scoreboard to see whether it was a strike or not. It moves, so it was about seven to eight inches off the plate, and we swing and miss by six inches. And that's what a good pitcher does, you know.

"When somebody is moving the ball that much, it's very difficult to square up. If she throws a mistake, you cannot miss it. You cannot foul it back, and we had a couple of those. She's only going to probably throw four mistakes a game, and you've got to capitalize. You can't take it either because, if you take it, she's probably going to throw a rise, drop, screwball, curveball, change-up after that, and it's not going to be a strike."

Alabama was not able to capitalize on any mistakes in the elimination game, and the Crimson Tide fell short of a trip to the championships series. Jocelyn Briski and Vic Moten gave Alabama a chance to win, but Canady would not be denied in her senior season.

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