No. 12 Texas Tech upset No. 5 seed Florida State 2-1 on Friday to advance to its first Women’s College World Series with star pitcher NiJaree Canady allowing just one run and five hits across the Red Raiders’ back-to-back wins in the Tallahassee super regional.
Canady, who made waves last summer in landing college softball’s first seven-figure name, image and likeness deal, stifled Florida State, whose hitters went 5-of-49 (.102) in the series. She also hit a home run in Texas Tech’s 3-0 win Thursday.
The junior transfer will compete in her third straight WCWS after leading Stanford to the semifinal round in 2023 and 2024.
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN PROGRAM HISTORY, @TexasTechSB IS HEADED TO THE #WCWS! 🎉#RoadToWCWS x 🎥 ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/LIPdm2jBrQ
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) May 23, 2025
The Red Raiders became the first team to advance out of the super regional round, though No. 11 seed Clemson has a chance to join them later Friday after beating No. 6 seed Texas 7-4 in Game 1 of their series.
Before this season, Texas Tech made just six NCAA tournament appearances and never made it out of the regional round, whereas Florida State had made it at least the super regional 11 straight times, winning a national championship in 2018. But in June…
