{"id":132448,"date":"2026-05-17T19:24:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T22:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/texas-tech-is-college-softballs-new-villain-and-the-red-raiders-dont-care\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T19:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T22:24:18","slug":"texas-tech-is-college-softballs-new-villain-and-the-red-raiders-dont-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/en\/texas-tech-is-college-softballs-new-villain-and-the-red-raiders-dont-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Tech is college softball\u2019s new villain \u2014 and the Red Raiders don\u2019t care"},"content":{"rendered":"

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LUBBOCK, Texas \u2014 When Texas Tech rolled through the softball postseason last spring, collecting its first-ever Regional and Super Regional titles along the way, the Red Raiders became the darlings of the 2025 Women\u2019s College World Series.<\/p>\n

Led by pitcher NiJaree Canady\u2019s million-dollar arm \u2014 the ace received a lucrative name, image and likeness deal to transfer from Stanford to Tech before her junior season \u2014 and signature foot stomp, Texas Tech dazzled die-hards and casual fans, serving notice in a world long dominated by Oklahoma and other SEC schools that the revamped Big 12 was still going to be a factor.<\/p>\n

The Red Raiders, led by first-year coach Gerry Glasco, lost the championship series to Texas, falling 10-4 to the Longhorns in a decisive Game 3, but promised they weren\u2019t going to be a one-hit wonder. They\u2019d be back, they said.<\/p>\n

And they weren\u2019t shy about how they were going to do it. Within weeks of losing in the WCWS, the Red Raiders completed an unprecedented shopping spree to upgrade their roster, plucking many of the best players out of the transfer portal. With the financial backing of its NIL collective, The Matador Club, Tech signed a bevy of superstar transfers, including All-Americans Taylor Pannell (previously at Tennessee) and Mia Williams (Florida), along with Kaitlyn Terry (UCLA), catcher Jasmyn Burns (Ohio State) and infielder Jackie Lis (Southern Illinois).<\/p>\n

As a result, Texas Tech has gone from beloved to bad guy in less than a year \u2014 quite the 180-degree turn for the 2026 No. 11 seed<\/a>, which begins its quest Friday for a second straight WCWS appearance when it hosts Marist in the Lubbock Regional.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely feel like people think we\u2019re villains,\u201d said Terry, who leads the team with a .471 average and boasts a 1.30 ERA in 118 1\/3 innings pitched. \u201cWe have a target on our back, for sure. We hear it a lot: \u2018Oh, they just bought a team.\u2019 But we know what we\u2019re doing, and what other people say doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if those people say it loudly.<\/p>\n

Hours after Pannell announced her commitment to Tech, Tennessee coach Karen Weekly posted on social media a scathing rebuke of alleged cheating in the sport, closing with, \u201cMoney isn\u2019t the issue \u2014 tampering is!\u201d Many interpreted Weekly\u2019s post to be directed at Glasco and Texas Tech. She told The Athletic<\/i> this week that the post wasn\u2019t necessarily a shot at them, \u201cbut there\u2019s no question they were in contact with our player long before the season was over. \u2026 A financial agreement was signed with Texas Tech before she ever went in the portal. (She) told me that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texas Tech on Wednesday said in a statement to The Athletic:<\/em> \u201cWe are aware of these allegations and believe the recruitment followed all parameters in place at that time. We have been in contact with the NCAA.\u201d<\/p>\n

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I think we can all agree on 2 things: 1) women making money in sports is awesome and long overdue; 2) contacting players (directly or indirectly) before their season ends and signing them to NIL deals before they enter the portal is wrong. Money isn\u2019t the issue \u2013 tampering is!<\/p>\n

\u2014 Karen Weekly (@KarenWeekly) June 13, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In the new pay-for-play era, Tech\u2019s athletic department has been the beneficiary of two billionaire oil tycoons, Cody Campbell and John Sellers, both of whom played football for the Red Raiders. Sellers\u2019 wife, the former Tracy Cartier, played softball at Tech from 2001 to 2003. The stadium is named after Tracy, and it was the Sellers who originally committed so much money to Canady<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Campbell and Sellers have flooded Red Raiders coaches with money, allowing them to assemble all-star rosters<\/a> that instantly made them national contenders. Texas Tech planned to pay out an estimated $55 million to athletes during the 2025-26 academic year. Football, men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball and softball have experienced tremendous success in the last two years, often to the chagrin of rivals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what\u2019s upsetting other schools is they thought, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s cute, Texas Tech made it to the finals last year and were a game away from winning it,\u2019\u201d said Sellers, the deep-pocketed donor. \u201cBut we\u2019re here to stay, and I don\u2019t think they like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true, said Terry and Canady, that it feels like because they\u2019ve been labeled the bad guys, no one wants to play them; hence, Tech\u2019s relatively poor RPI of 13. The Red Raiders\u2019 nonconference schedule was underwhelming to say the least, as they thumped schools like Abilene Christian (Tech won 24-0), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (18-0) and Louisiana-Monroe (13-1), among others.<\/p>\n

At February\u2019s Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic just outside Palm Springs, Calif., billed as one of the marquee nonconference tournaments in college softball, numerous top-10 programs squared off against each other. Meanwhile, at the same event, Tech beat up on Fresno State, Bethune-Cookman, Cal State Fullerton, San Diego State and UC Riverside by a combined score of 47-5.<\/p>\n

\u201cTexas Tech had a lot of teams that chose not to or elected to not play them, and a lot of it had to do with the transfer of players and other things,\u201d said Kirk Walker, co-founder and owner of the Mary Nutter.<\/p>\n

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\n NiJaree Canady, who transferred to Tech from Stanford after the 2024 season, is 22-5 with a 1.24 ERA. ( Nathan Giese \/ USA Today Network via Imagn Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Glasco refuses to whine about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t new. This has been happening to Patty Gasso and Oklahoma for 10 years,\u201d Glasco said, referencing the Sooners\u2019 dominant run through softball, which made scheduling challenging for a stretch. \u201cWhen I was (coaching) at Louisiana (in 2024), she called me and said, \u2018I can\u2019t get anyone to come to my tournament.\u2019 I said, \u2018I\u2019ll be there\u2019 \u2014 and that\u2019s how we ended their 71-game win streak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terry and Canady seemed nonplussed, too. The way they see it, the toughest games Tech could schedule have already happened several times this season: intrasquad scrimmages, when the Red Raiders play the Red Raiders. Terry joked that after numerous fall scrimmages, there were times during regular-season games when she thought to herself, \u201cWow, this is so much easier than fall practice!\u201d<\/p>\n

Canady, whose 1.24 ERA is sixth best in the nation, agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIntrasquads were fun but so, so hard. The lineups we were facing were insane,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I get in the circle, my attitude is, \u2018There\u2019s no one I could face that\u2019s better than Mia or Taylor.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

She pitches to them \u2014 and strikes them out \u2014 regularly, so the way Canady sees it, she\u2019s ready for anything. No one intimidates her.<\/p>\n

With Canady, it\u2019s usually the other way around. The senior has a lethal arsenal of pitches led by her rise ball, which has fooled many of the sport\u2019s best hitters. Her celebratory foot stomp \u2014 echoing far beyond Lubbock \u2014 has a history of making opponents wilt in the batter\u2019s box. She is the main reason Tech, according to DraftKings, still has the second-best odds to win the 2026 WCWS (+300), just behind third-seeded Oklahoma (+200). Alabama and Texas, the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds, are both +500.<\/p>\n

An improvement at the plate should bolster Tech\u2019s chances, too. A year after the Red Raiders\u2019 bats went silent late in the postseason, they are leading the nation in batting average (.388) and rank third in home runs (125).<\/p>\n

Canady and Terry are adamant that if you spend time around the Red Raiders, you\u2019d never label them villains. Terry said they\u2019re \u201creally goofy\u201d anytime they\u2019re around each other. Canady said she knows it\u2019s easy for people to assume the players are motivated only by money, but \u201cwe\u2019re fighting for each other, we wanna win for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glasco\u2019s seen it, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the closest teams I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable how much they care about each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

He knew they\u2019d be loaded with talent, but the camaraderie caught him off guard \u2014 in a good way. And it has absolutely played a part in the team\u2019s 52-6 record.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel great about where we are,\u201d Glasco said. \u201cIn softball, if you\u2019ve lost less than a third of your games, you have a special team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Special, Cinderella, scorned \u2014 none of the descriptions matter, the Red Raiders say. The only thing they care about being called, if they can get it done, is national champs.<\/p>\n

Stewart Mandel contributed to this story.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n