Texas is the national champion again, finishing off No. 11 Texas Tech to claim back-to-back Women’s College World Series titles Thursday night in Oklahoma City. The No. 2 seed Longhorns completed a climb that included six consecutive wins at Devon Park, including four straight to stave off elimination after an opening loss and set up a championship-series rematch with the Red Raiders.Texas was held scoreless through 4 2/3 innings by NiJaree Canady before breaking through in the fifth and never relinquishing control from there.Texas Tech broke a scoreless tie in the third when Lauren Allred’s ground ball resulted in an error, allowing Mihyia Davis to score from second for a 1-0 lead. The Red Raiders threatened to add more in the fourth, loading the bases with two outs, but Texas pitcher Citlaly Gutierrez escaped the jam by retiring Davis on a flyout to center.In the top of the fifth, Texas made Texas Tech pay. An intentional walk of Katie Stewart — who had a home run streak of four consecutive games entering Thursday night — loaded the bases with two outs before Viviana Martinez hit a ground ball to shortstop. Hailey Toney’s off-balance throw to third sailed wide of the bag, allowing two runs to score and giving Texas its first lead of the game.
The Longhorns added separation in the seventh when Kayden Henry delivered the night’s biggest swing, turning on an inside pitch from Canady for an opposite-field home run. Three batters later, Leighann Goode added an RBI single to right to stretch the lead to 4-1.Teagan Kavan, the first two-time winner of the WCWS Most Outstanding Player award, came on to close it out and overwhelmed the Red Raiders over the final two innings, striking out five of the six batters she faced to seal the championship.Canady pitched a complete game in the final outing of her outstanding collegiate career, allowing four runs (only two earned) on eight hits and three walks with three strikeouts. She reached the WCWS semifinals in all four seasons of her career, twice at Stanford and twice at Texas Tech, but never won a national championship.
Women’s College World Series resultsChampionship Series (Best of 3)Game 1: No. 2 Texas 7, No. 11 Texas Tech 3Game 2: No. 2 Texas 4, No. 11 Texas Tech 1Thursday, May 28Game 1: No. 11 Texas Tech 8, Mississippi State 0 (F/5)Game 2: No. 7 Tennessee 6, No. 2 Texas 3Game 3: No. 1 Alabama 6, No. 8 UCLA 3Game 4: No. 4 Nebraska 5, No. 5 Arkansas 3 (F/10)Friday, May 29Game 5: No. 2 Texas 4, Mississippi State 0Game 6: No. 8 UCLA 11, No. 5 Arkansas 0 (F/5)
Saturday, May 30Game 7: No. 7 Tennessee 2, No. 11 Texas Tech 1 (F/9)Game 8: No. 1 Alabama 5, No. 4 Nebraska 1Sunday, May 31Game 9: No. 2 Texas 3, No. 4 Nebraska 1Game 10: No. 11 Texas Tech 8, No. 8 UCLA 7 (F/9)Monday, June 1Game 11: No. 2 Texas 5, No. 7 Tennessee 2Game 12: No. 2 Texas 4, No. 7 Tennessee 0Game 13: No. 11 Texas Tech 5, No. 1 Alabama 4Game 14: No. 11 Texas Tech 2, No. 1 Alabama 0
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