Softball On SI

WCWS Finals: Texas Tech Ties Series, Forces Decisive Game 3

Nicole Reitz|
Texas Tech forces the if-necessary Game 3.
Texas Tech forces the if-necessary Game 3. | Texas Tech Athletics

Opportunities that opened up late in the fifth and sixth innings for Texas Tech to score and another phenomenal performance in the circle from NiJaree Canady, led the Red Raiders to a 4-3 win over the Longhorns, forcing the if-necessary Game 3. 

Similar to Game 1, both circles were dealing with excellent defense behind to keep the scoreboard at zeros until bats awoke late in the contest. 

Mac Morgan got the start for Texas and certainly had her defense moving. Her drop ball forced Texas Tech to swing a lot, but not much left the infield. Mia Scott snagged multiple plays at third to hold runners from getting on. 

Morgan only went two innings until freshman Cambria Salmon entered to change things up. With bases loaded and two outs in the fifth, Salmon had two strikes on Alana Johnson, but hit her to score the RBI. Salmon followed up with a wild pitch that got by catcher Reese Atwood, and Mihyia Davis took the opportunity to add the insurance run. 

After that disastrous inning, the Longhorns came out with a vengeance in the sixth. Scott added to her night with a solo shot that put that game within one. 

Canady looked to be slowing down a bit at the start of the game after throwing every single game of the WCWS so far, but immaculate defense was behind her as well. She shrugged off a walk, a bit batter, and four hits earlier in the matchup and while the solo shot certainly shook her, she buckled down to keep striking out.

"Honestly, (I did a lot of ) recovery (Wednesday night)," Canady said in the post-game press conference. "I knew obviously last night wasn't my best game. I feel like this game wasn't my best game either. Starting off the leadoff inning obviously with a hit, and then obviously a hit batter, can't have that. I'm always going to throw my game, throw what I'm confident in. It's gotten me through three years. So I'm just going to keep doing that."

Texas made another pitching change to Citlaly Gutierrez and it got even messier for the Longhorns. Errors by the defense allowed for two runners on with only one out. Ace Teagan Kavan entered to do anything she could to keep any more runs from crossing the plate. 

But the wheels just continued to fall off for Texas. 

Two more RBIs were produced by the Red Raiders before the Longhorns could get out of the mess. With one more opportunity in the seventh to rally, Leighanne Goode doubled to tack on another run and a sac fly from Katie Cimusz put the game within one run once again. 

In a nail-biting moment for Canady, she was able to power through to get one more strikeout to save the game and finished her outing with six overall.

"Tough game, Texas head coach, Mike White said in the post-game press conference. "Getting down to NiJa 4-1 and the uncharacteristic errors and missed plays that they took advantage of. Obviously, the team never gave up and fought back, and I am really proud of the way the team did that. We've got to come back now and face NiJa again for sure, and we're going to have to work really hard to get some runs and then obviously shut them down as well."

With the series even now, Game 3 will decide it all on Friday at 7 p.m. CT. 

More to come from Softball On SI. 

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Nicole Reitz
NICOLE REITZ

Nicole Reitz graduated from Indiana University Indianapolis with a degree in sports journalism in 2022 and has been writing about softball and baseball since 2018 .Her work has been published in various publications like Softball America, the Indianapolis Star, and SoxOn35th.

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