No. 1 Texas Tech Softball opens six-game road trip against Utah
The No. 1 Texas Tech Red Raiders (38-2, 14-1) head on the road to Salt Lake City to face Utah (25-13-1, 4-7-1) in a three-game series starting Friday evening at Dumke Family Softball Stadium. This weekend's series with the Utes marks the beginning of a lengthy six-game road trip for the Red Raiders, who will remain in Utah to face Utah State before returning to Texas to face both UTSA and Texas State. Nonetheless, Tech comes into this matchup as one of the hottest and best teams in the country.
The Red Raiders have built one of the largest winning streaks in the nation, spanning 13 straight wins. Tech picked up its 13th win with a 12-4 victory over BYU, which capped off a home sweep of the Cougars Saturday. Tech put up double-digit runs in all three matches of the series as the Red Raiders continued to catch fire at the plate. In the circle, senior pitcher NiJaree Canady finished the series, improving her record to 15-2. Canady eclipsed another major career milestone vs BYU over the weekend. Canady surpassed 1,000 career strikeouts in Tech's first win of the series, becoming the 102nd pitcher to do so in NCAA history. Canady finished the week as the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week, wrapping up her third weekly honor this season.
Tech is extending its win streak to the second-largest in the country, and another major milestone for Canady. Altogether, this helped Tech finish as the No. 1 team in the country this week in three of the four major polls before this week's series vs Utah.
The Utes have blown both hot and cold so far this season. Utah currently sits 6th in the Big 12 with one series win since the start of conference play. Utah knocked off Arizona State in a series sweep to open Big 12 play back in early March, as it has been an uphill battle in the Big 12 for the Utes. Since the end of March and into early April, the Utes have been swept, tied in a series finale with UCF, and won a lone match against Kansas in the second game of the series, which ultimately resulted in a series loss. The Utes have found a silver lining in the pitching circle as a team sits third in the Big 12 with a 2.59 ERA. Junior pitcher Shelbee Jones sits behind both Canady and Tech’s Kaitlyn Terry with the third-best ERA individually across the conference at 1.85. Jones’s high-level play from the circle has her with the 5th fewest earned runs and the 6th most strikeouts in the conference. Jones allowed one hit, with five strikeouts against 10 batters faced, to help Utah get back into the victory column midweek.
Utah wrapped a midweek 17-0 win over Weber State for its 12th shutout of the season, but this series vs Tech will be the first series for Utah to take a No. 1-ranked team since 2018 vs Washington. For Tech, the Red Raiders will look to repeat history vs Utah to open up the long road trip. Tech swept Utah in Lubbock last season and currently holds a 6-4 record over the Utes.
First pitch between Tech and Utah is set for 6 P.M. CST on ESPN + from Dumke Family Softball Stadium in Salt Lake City, Friday.
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