OKLAHOMA CITY — The debate over the Texas Tech softball team’s starting lineup for the first game of the Women’s College World Series finals went on all day.
Gerry Glasco had no issues deciding Kaitlyn Terry would be the starting pitcher. She’s been great in OKC, the Tech coach said, and he would rather bring NiJaree Canady off the bench than Terry. The pitching wasn’t the issue in the 7-3 loss to the Longhorns. It was the defense behind them.
Katie Stewart ripped off a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning, but the damage was exacerbated by a two-run triple from Kaiah Altmeyer after Desirae Spearman, starting her first game of the WCWS, misplayed the ball from the jump. That led to Texas plating five runs in the first inning, taking all the momentum of the game early on.
“When we get down, we’ve got to answer back,” Texas head coach Mike White said. “And whenever we score runs, we’ve got to shut them down and keep that momentum. Momentum is everything in this game.”
Glasco’s message after the game was similar to White’s, though on the opposite end of the spectrum. He was fine with Stewart’s home run (her 31st of the season) as Texas didn’t generate many other hard-hit balls. The defense didn’t help anything and sucked the energy from the Red Raiders.
“We’ve had games like that through the year,” Glasco said. “If you go back to the Arizona game, there’s several games where it seemed like we just aren’t. … we aren’t focused on defense and our positioning’s out. It’s not necessarily the errors as much as not being in the right place at the right time and getting caught off (guard). We were shallow in left field. She was the three hole. Altmeyer was the three hole for Arizona last year, and we were playing her like she was a weak slap hitter.”
Glasco also pulled the plug on Terry and NiJaree Canady (who came on later in the first) when the Longhorns got out to a four-run lead. He commended Samantha Lincoln for keeping the game within reach, but the Longhorns had enough breathing room where Mia William’s two-run home run in the fifth inning was moot.
“She did what she was put in there to do,” Glasco said. “She held the game, kept it close, kept it tight, gave us a chance to get back in the back. We just didn’t do it.”
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: What went wrong for Texas Tech softball in Game 1 WCWS loss to Texas?
Reporting by Nathan Giese, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Nathan Giese, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal | USA TODAY Network
