OKLAHOMA CITY — The University of Texas is finally on top of the mountain in NCAA Division I softball.
Mia Scott hit a grand slam, Teagan Kavan picked up another win in the pitching circle, and the Longhorns defeated Texas Tech, 10-4, in the deciding Game 3 of the Women’s College World Series championship finals Friday night at OGE Energy Park at Devon Field.
It’s the first title in the sport for the Longhorns.
Texas had lost to border rival Oklahoma in the best-of-three title round two of the previous three years as the Sooners went on a run of four straight championships to double their count. This season, when both programs moved from the Big 12 to the Southeastern Conference, Oklahoma was one of the teams Texas beat at the WCWS on its way to the championship.
And coach Mike White finally won it all in his ninth trip to the Women’s College World Series between his coaching stints at Oregon and Texas.
“I’m still trying to process the whole thing,” said White, a 57-year-old New Zealander who was head coach of the Ducks for nine seasons (2010-18) before leaving to take over in Austin. “Actually, it’s something you dream about.”
Kavan is a 6-foot sophomore from West Des Moines, Iowa, where her high school classmates at Dowling Catholic included Caitlin Clark before she went on to become a household name via basketball stardom at the University of Iowa and with the WNBA’s Indiana Fever. Kavan allowed no earned runs in all 31 2/3 innings she pitched during the WCWS, going 4-0 with a save for the Longhorns, who finished the season 56-12.
Honored after the title win as the most outstanding player at this year’s WCWS, she was happy to help both Texas — swept in the finals in 2022 and 2024 — and White break through at last.
“Without Coach White, I don’t know if we’re here,” she said. “He’s the best. He’s so competitive. He wants it just as bad as we do, of course, and he pushes us to be better every day. He makes me a better pitcher mentally and physically. And so there’s no one else I’d rather play for. He’s the bomb, and I’m glad we got it done for him.”
It’s the first national title for an SEC softball program since Florida repeated as champion in 2015. Alabama in 2012 is the only other team to win the WCWS as an SEC member.
Texas was the No. 6 national seed in the NCAA tournament’s 64-team field that was whittled through regionals and super regionals to eight contenders entering the WCWS, where the Longhorns and Big 12 champion Texas Tech (54-14) went undefeated through double-elimination bracket play to set up the final three games.
Texas rallied late for a 2-1 win in the title series opener Wednesday and threatened late in Game 2 before losing 4-3 on Thursday, but their lineup struck early in the finale.
Leighann Goode hit a three-run homer, Kayden Henry had three hits, and Scott, Reese Atwood and Katie Stewart each had two hits for Texas, which led 5-0 after the first inning, added another run in the second and stretched its advantage to 10-0 on Scott’s fourth-inning slam.
NiJaree Canady, the ace who had thrown every pitch for the 12th-seeded Red Raiders through their first five games during the program’s first WCWS appearance, was pulled after one inning Friday. The two-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association pitcher of the year gave up five runs on five hits and threw just 25 pitches.
Canady was in her third straight WCWS but first with Texas Tech, which hadn’t so much as advanced beyond the NCAA’s regional round until this postseason. She transferred from Stanford after leading the Cardinals to back-to-back semifinals in Oklahoma City, and Friday’s loss came after she signed an NIL deal worth more than $1 million for the second straight year.
Canady’s night started like many of her others as she struck out the first batter she faced. After that, she didn’t resemble the pitcher who had entered the game leading the nation in wins and ERA. Goode’s homer made it 5-0, and although Canady got out of the inning two pitches laters on a popout, that was the end of her night in the circle and she struck in the next inning in her lone plate appearance Friday.
Texas Tech coach Gerry Glasco said he was pleased with Canady’s effort throughout the season but felt he pushed her a bit too far. Canady threw 88 pitches Wednesday, then 107 on Thursday, and Glasco said the speed of her pitches noticeably dropped after the title series opener.
“If I had a game in two days, that’s who I want beside me to go to war with,” he said. “She’s an unbelievable talent.”
Canady had no doubt she was going to pitch Friday, despite the amount of innings she had logged over the past week alone and having battled a soft tissue injury on her left leg all season.
“I feel fine,” she said after the loss. “Like I said before, I have all summer to rest.”
Chloe Riasetto pitched the next two innings for Texas Tech and allowed seven hits and five runs. Samantha Lincoln finished the game, striking out four batters and walking two without allowing a hit.
Hailey Toney was a bright spot in the loss. She had a two-RBI hit in the fifth, then singled to knock in another run in the seventh.
It was a disappointing ending for the Red Raiders after their surprising run. Glasco left Louisiana-Lafayette to coach at Texas Tech this season, taking over a team that had just three returning players. He had to mix a group of newcomers together and had them playing well at the right time.
After winning the Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles, the Red Raiders swept through the NCAA’s double-elimination regionals and best-of-three super regionals to head to the WCWS with a 5-0 mark in the national postseason, then won their first three games in Oklahoma City before the initial setback against Texas.
Said Glasco: “To end up in this position, playing for the national title, making it go all the way to three games — just a historic season, and I’m really proud of my team and the effort that they give us from top to bottom.”