Texas Tech Falls Behind in Championship Series After Game 1 Loss to Texas
Texas Tech’s road to a national championship just got a little steeper.
The Red Raiders struck first Wednesday night, but a disastrous opening bottom half of the inning proved too much to overcome in a 7-3 loss to No. 2 Texas in Game 1 of the Women’s College World Series Championship Series at Devon Park.
“I thought we got off to a good start,” head coach Gerry Glasco said. “Mihyia hit the home run and had us 1-0. I was excited. Then we just lost momentum completely.”
After Texas retired the leadoff hitter, Mihyia Davis turned on a pitch from Teagan Kavan and launched it over the wall in left field for her 10th home run of the season. Two batters into the game, Texas Tech had a 1-0 lead and looked ready to throw the first punch in a rematch of last year’s championship series.
The lead lasted only minutes.
Katie Stewart answered with a two-run home run in the bottom half of the inning to give Texas its first lead. It’s her fourth straight game with a home run. Texas Tech challenged her and lost, it happens, they could have lived with that and still won the game.
What followed was the difference.
The Longhorns added three more runs in the inning as defensive lapses and poor positioning prevented the Red Raiders from escaping damage. The scoreboard showed no errors, but Glasco saw several plays that should have resulted in outs.
“It felt like we were out of position over and over on defense,” Glasco said. “We had plays we could have made. I don’t know exactly. I’ve got to watch it. You look at the scoreboard, and it said no errors, but I thought we misplayed several balls that we should have had outs on or we weren’t in the right position.”
Glasco pointed specifically to positioning in left field and other defensive decisions, including throwing to first instead of a toss to second for the final out of an inning that allowed another run later in the game.
“When you play a team like Texas with the talent they’ve got, you don’t have room to make misplays or to have lapses on defense,” Glasco said.
By the end of the first inning, Texas had turned a 1-0 deficit into a 5-1 lead. That early hole altered Texas Tech’s plan for the rest of the night.
Kaitlyn Terry got the start and recorded two outs following the Stewart home run but with runners on the corners NiJaree Canady entered in relief. Had the two miscues behind her not occurred Terry gets out with only the two earned runs and Canady is out of the inning altogether with Texas Tech only down 2-1. Unfortunately, it didn’t go that way and after the score remained unchanged on either end as Canady worked 1.1 innings of her own looking good really, Glasco made a decision with the remainder of the series in mind.
“I felt like I was going to give our offense the second and third inning to respond, and if we didn’t get anything, I didn’t feel like I could leave NiJa out there and let them look at her,” Glasco said. “I want the matchup tomorrow.”
Rather than burn through his two aces chasing a five-run deficit, Glasco turned to sophomore Samantha Lincoln in the third inning. Someone that held the Longhorns scoreless on this stage across three innings in game three of the final last season.
In terms of the longterm potential of the series at least, the move paid off.
Lincoln delivered 3.1 innings of steady relief and kept Texas Tech within striking distance. She allowed two runs while striking out one and gave the Red Raiders an opportunity to work their way back into the game.
“I thought she was outstanding tonight,” Glasco said. “She held the game, kept it close, kept it tight, gave us a chance to get back in the game.”
Texas Tech true to their never quit nature finally found some life in the fifth inning.
Jasmyn Burns worked a leadoff walk before Mia Williams stepped to the plate with two outs. Williams crushed her 27th home run of the season to center field, trimming the deficit to 6-3 and bringing some energy back into the Red Raider dugout.
The swing briefly reignited hopes of another Texas Tech comeback.
Kavan had other ideas however. The Texas ace and All-American scattered just three hits over seven complete innings while striking out six. The Red Raiders gradually adjusted to her throughout the game, but they never found the big inning needed to erase the damage done in the first.
“She’s a really good pitcher,” Williams said. “I think she has good command with her balls, and she’s elite. It’s hard. She’s a good pitcher.”
Davis echoed that sentiment.
“She’s a great pitcher,” Davis said. “She has good movement. I think we just need to be more…we don’t need to swing at a whole bunch of balls next time.”
Texas Tech had a few opportunities late but couldn’t make Kavan pay enough to dig out of the hole it created for itself. That’s the frustrating part for the Red Raiders.
The two-run home run from Stewart was something they could have survived and perhaps the Williams home run a few innings later gives them a lead instead of just a light of hope. The additional damage created by missed opportunities and defensive miscues proved much harder to overcome against a pitcher of Kavan’s caliber.
“We just have to play better tomorrow and be more focused and have a better plan,” Davis said. “That’s why it’s the best 2 out of 3, you have more games. So we’re just going to have to pick it up tomorrow.”
Texas Tech has been in this position before. Last season’s championship series followed a similar path. Texas won Game 1, in a similar but different gut punching fashion, before the Red Raiders answered in Game 2 to force a decisive third game.
This year’s team will need to do the same. Texas star Stewart was clear though that Texas plans to avoid a second game let down like last season.
“Keeping the foot on the gas,” she said when asked what they learned from dropping game two last year. “It’s not going to come easy. They’re going to come back fighting harder than ever. So just making sure we’re on the attack first inning through the seventh inning, and making sure we stay focused, stay centered, and head in the game.”
Wednesday’s loss was an unfortunate time of year to drop the opening game of a series.
It also wasn’t the end. Tomorrow night they play for their season, for each other and for the chance to play for a national championship on Friday.
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