OKLAHOMA CITY — Wearing all black is not an unusual thing for any Texas Tech athletic team to do. After all, it’s one of the primary colors of the Red Raiders. Every program has an all-black attire to wear on its field of play.
But the Texas Tech softball team wearing black brings about a different vibe in 2026. It’s no longer as simple as going to practice at Devon Park before opening the Women’s College World Series. To some, it’s a message.
The villains of college softball have arrived, and they’re ready to finish what they started.
“We like being Texas Tech,” Jackie Lis said. “No matter what role we’re going to get, we’re going to thrive in it and we’re going to do us.”
Calling Texas Tech the “villain” has become niche, the password to determining whether someone is in the know or not. The Red Raiders have not been shy about what they’ve built in the course of two years. They want to win a national championship, something every team wants.
Most schools just aren’t willing to put their money where their mouth is to achieve that. Texas Tech is, and that rubs people the wrong way.
“(ESPN’s) Holly (Rowe) was talking about 15 out of 23 players are transfers. I only had three, so what am I going to do, you know?” Glasco said. “You have to grow the program, and I think it’s confusing. It’s like we’re doing things that have maybe never been done before, or at least not been done in a similar fashion, and it’s confusing, but for us on the field, we just work every day. We work really hard, and I’m enjoying every moment.
“If softball needs me to be the villain, I’m all about it. Let’s go. It’s fun, and I embrace that role.”
Kaitlyn Terry — who returns to the WCWS after advancing with her previous school, UCLA, last year — said she expected the Red Raiders to be pushed into this role when she first got to Lubbock. How Texas Tech has gone about building a national power so quickly has caused a stir. It resulted in backroom dealings to limit Texas Tech’s list of quality opponents in the non-conference, which lowered the team’s RPI to be forced onto the road against Florida in the Super Regionals.
The Red Raiders have taken on everything thrown their way to this point. That doesn’t mean they fully understand how they’re the poster child for anything.
“I feel like everyone talks about wanting to grow softball too, and wanting more eyes on softball, wanting people to watch softball and wanting just female sports to be as big as male sports,” NiJaree Canady said, “and at the end of the day, transfers happen in male and female sports, so if you want the game to grow, that stuff kind of comes with it.
“I just wanted to get some more eyes on softball, and at the end of the day, I feel like that’s what everyone wants.”
Canady might as well have peaked at a column I had prewritten in case this topic came up (from a different side of the aisle), because the quote is almost word-for-word what was written as I struggled to sleep the night before traveling to OKC.
Those who want to see sports like softball, volleyball and women’s basketball treated on the same level as football, baseball and men’s basketball don’t like the unintended consequences of it actually happening. Texas Tech didn’t just tell Glasco they wanted to be a contender when hiring him after Tennessee stole their previous head coach; they footed the bill to make it happen, while most schools won’t do the same.
The ultimate purpose of Texas Tech’s transfer portal haul last summer was to win a national championship. Now that they’re back in the WCWS, it has a chance to do just that. But even that proof of concept won’t silence the critics.
Because of that, while the Red Raiders may be embracing the role thrust upon them, all that really matters is what they think of themselves.
“We can’t control what people are going to say about us,” Lis said, “and they don’t know our journeys. I do and the rest of the team does, so we know why we’re here, what we’re supposed to do here, so we try to control that side of things and not really focus on what everybody else might think of us.”
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech softball welcomes villain label in pursuit of national title | Giese
Reporting by Nathan Giese, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
