Home Away From Home. Texas Tech Wins Opening Matchup in WCWS.
Story by Cade Welty
Connoisseur Media Intern in Oklahoma City
Back to back run-rule victories for Texas Tech as they open double elimination play in Oklahoma City with a 8-0 win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Texas Tech made a statement in the Women’s College World Series (WCWS) by handling the red hot bulldogs in about 90 minutes of game time.
Mississippi State’s Alyssa Faircloth would be the one to go against NiJaree Canady in today’s pitching duel.
Canady would get the duel started by getting State to go in order 1-2-3 with two strike outs. Faircloth would not hold up her end of the bargain by immediately hitting Mia Williams with her first pitch in the bottom of the 1st. Gerry Glasco said in the post game presser that Mia Williams is a magnet right now when it came to getting hit by pitches but he was proud of her wearing it and getting on base. This brought up Jackie Lis who was making her WCWS debut and would not disappoint with a towering 2 run blast to left field to make it 2-0 Tech. Burns and Pannell would go down looking to make it back to back K’s for Faircloth. Kaitlyn Terry who was getting the start in left field today would pop out to the pitcher to keep the damage at 2-0.
Canady would keep the same tune going with only allowing a leadoff infield single that would later be dealt with by a Hailey Toney unassisted double play.
Texas Tech would tack on two more runs by a Lauren Allred RBI double and then later in the same inning a Mia Williams RBI double. The Red Raiders now have 4 runs in two innings to give Canady great run support. Taking full advantage of the offensive support, Canady would march the bulldogs down the order 1-2-3 with repeating her first inning success. Canady would also be up to 4 strike outs in the ballgame and looked like her old self.
After the 4 spot the Mississippi State coaching staff made a change in the circle bringing in Peja Goold who was a 2nd team All-American this year. Out of the bullpen Goold did not disappoint by getting the Texas Tech offense to go in order 1-2-3.
The top of the 4th would produce some traffic for Canady by allowing a single to Morgan Stiles to get the lead runner on for the Bulldogs. Nadia Barbary would try to cut the lead to 2 but instead she would have to settle for a deep lineout. Xiane Romero would follow along hitting her own even deeper lineout. Two gone for Kinley Keller who singled earlier in the contest would work a walk to create two runners on and two outs for Morgan Bernardini. Canady would win the battle by getting Berndardini to lineout to Lauren Allred. A bunch of hard contact for the Bulldogs but they only had two total hits to show for it. Goold also settled in by getting Tech to go 1-2-3 again and to the 5th we went.
5th inning would see the return of the duel pitching lineup with Terry now checking in to pitch for Canady. KT kept the same theme from Canady by getting State to go 1-2-3 in order. A highlight from this inning was a Hailey Toney defensive gem that saw her backhand scoop and fire it over to first in time to get the runner.
To the bottom of the 5th and needing 4 runs to run-rule Mississippi State and end things early. Mia Williams would work the leadoff walk. During Lis’s at bat a throw down to first to keep Williams at bay would see the throw hitting her in the helmet. The ball would end up bouncing off her helmet and go into the stands which resulted in two bases being awarded. So now a runner on 3rd for Lis. Jackie would single to score Williams and it was now 5-0 Tech.
Terry would bring home Lis on her own RBI single to make it 6-0 Tech. Mihyia Davis had two runners on and a chance to win it. That she did by hitting a sharp single past the glove over at 1st scoring Pannell an errant throw to 3rd to get Terry would result in Terry coming home to score the game winning run. 8-0 Texas Tech.
Texas Tech will now play the winner of Tennessee vs Texas on Saturday May 30th at 2 p.m. CT for a spot in the semi-finals in the WCWS.