Eleven months ago, the rest of the college softball world decided the feel-good story of Texas Tech becoming a major player had taken a step too far.
Signing NiJaree Canady, one of the greatest players to ever step onto a field, to a record-breaking, history-making NIL deal was one thing. What the Red Raiders did after coming one game short of winning the national title, though, was too much to bear.
It’s been one of the main talking points around the sport. Texas Tech wasn’t the plucky underdog anymore. In a few weeks’ time, the Red Raiders had become the arch enemy of a sacred sport not to be tarnished.
Before the transfer portal became a thing, players transferred. They’ve done so at a much greater rate since the birth of NIL, and some ― the pearl-clutching, old guard of the world ― are offended at the very notion that what has made football and basketball such money-making sports could find its way into softball.
Despite what some networks and outlets would like to tell you, none of this is new. It’s been the case since last June when Mia Williams and Taylor Pannell, Jasmyn Burns and Kaitlyn Terry signed on to be Red Raiders, the team taking one final chance to give Canady the national championship a storied career such as hers deserves.
But those elder statesmen and women of the game had a few cards they could play. Refusing to schedule Texas Tech was a move that most (not all) of the power players made, and it worked. The Red Raiders’ RPI wasn’t strong enough to give them a home Super Regional. All according to the plan.
Problem with those plans is you can only account for so much. Sure, you can avoid the Red Raiders in February and March. When postseason play comes around, you have to face them whether you like it or not.
Florida got a crack at getting even with their departed teammate Williams, hitting her with pitches on five separate occasions in the three-game series. Williams, and the Red Raiders, had the last laugh, bashing five home runs in the decisive third game on Sunday to return to the Women’s College World Series.
It didn’t end at Williams, though.
Tempers flared a number of times through the weekend, on the field and in the stands. No half measures were taken by Texas Tech to get the job done, utilizing the loophole in the rulebook to alternate between Canady and Terry in the circle as often as they saw fit. That’s Gerry Glasco, using whatever he can to his advantage. Even powerful teams need to get creative from time to time.
It could’ve been over there but, after Florida head coach Tim Walton was ejected in the fifth inning, his players refused to gather up for the customary handshake line with the Red Raiders. It’s a tradition that, frankly, has run its course, but the message was clear.
You may have beaten us, humiliated us on our home field, but we still don’t like you.
Talking about that sort of animosity and experiencing it firsthand are two different things. The SEC collusion to keep Texas Tech off the schedule was done in the shadows, behind closed doors, away from the players’ eyes and ears. Most of the mudslinging was done through anonymous sources. It’s hard to get a firm grasp on what it really means until it gets brought to your face.
One of the few concerns about the Red Raiders this year has been a lack of energy. Makes sense when games are out of hand in their favor, but on the few occasions things haven’t gone well, they haven’t been able to flip that switch.
The Gators gave them ample reason to get into it in Game 3. Plunking Williams was the start. Seeing her wallop a no-doubt home run was another. Having Victoria Valdez get a warning was gravy.
A tough three-game series in sweltering heat with 90% of the audience openly rooting for your downfall can be a lot to handle. That the Red Raiders used it to their advantage, refusing to budge in the wake of adversity, is exactly what the team needed to endure.
The Big 12 is competitive, to be sure. None of Texas Tech’s conference mates had the same sort of disdain for the Red Raiders as the rest of the WCWS field will have. We won’t even get into what’ll happen if Texas Tech and Tennessee do match up in Oklahoma City, though they may need to call in the National Guard for that one.
Has Texas Tech been as perfect as expected? Hardly. Canady and Terry have both been sporadic in the circle as of late. That came to a head in Game 3 against the Gators. The upside for Tech is this is why this team was put together the way it was.
During last year’s run to the national championship game, Canady needed to be nearly perfect for Texas Tech to have a chance. Now she has an array of hitting machines backing her up if she’s off her game. They were needed to fend off the Gators and will be crucial if the college version of the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to finish the job.
Texas Tech’s path back to OKC wasn’t the smoothest. All that matters is it’s back, and it sees what everyone was saying: the only people who want them to win it all are in their own locker room. Almost everyone else wants them to fail to prove some sort of point.
The rest of the country is going to keep the same energy they’d had for Texas Tech over the last 11 months. The Red Raiders have their own energy they can provide because of it.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Is Texas Tech softball more equipped than ever to win the national title? | Giese
Reporting by Nathan Giese, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
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