This story aired on Saturday, Feb. 14, prior to the Red Raiders 3-2 loss suffered to No. 8 Nebraska.
Texas Tech entered last weekend with a perfect 6–0 record after sweeping the McNeese tournament to start the season, outscoring opponents 64–9 in the process.
Every game ended early by run rule — except for a narrow 3–2 win over No. 11 Texas A&M, one of the team’s first major tests of the year.
The Red Raiders carried that momentum into the Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational, where they opened play with a 3–2 win over No. 6 Florida State on Thursday — another statement victory against a ranked opponent.
Star pitcher Nijaree Canady, now a senior after leading the Red Raiders to the Women’s College World Series last year, said in a press conference before the season that her team isn’t getting ahead of itself.
“Like, everyone wants to win a national championship,” Canady said. “That's the goal across the board. I feel like we're no different, but we're just trying to take it game by game.”
Head coach Gerry Glasco says this year’s roster is built not just on talent, but experience and chemistry.
“You know, when you get down to the end of the day, talent’s really important. It's critical. But being a great teammate, being a family unit, and playing for each other, more than you're playing for yourself. And we can get better and better and better at that, and we have to. We want to,” Glasco said. “We want to develop that team chemistry part and just be sure that when we know when we get to the postseason, we want to be on a mission to win this thing for everybody in our locker room, as much for them as we do, even for ourselves, our own families.”
Glasco also pointed to a key difference between this year’s roster and the squad that made a run to the Women’s College World Series last season before falling to Texas in the decisive third game of the championship series.
“We got a totally different team this year than last year, totally different situation, totally different environment, a whole nother level of experienced players,” Glasco said. These are really older experienced players. You know, I don't know that I've ever been around a team this experienced.”
That experience has apparently changed his coaching approach this year.
“I’m just coaching in the moment, living every day to… I’m having fun, I’m excited, and I’ve been trying to keep it really relaxed because I kind of have confidence in them. I know who they are, and I know we have pushed them. Last year at this time, I was pushing, pushing, and I don’t think this team needs that, because they’re already pushing themselves. They’ve (got) veteran experience — they know how to get ready. So it’s a different team, a different year, and a whole different way of approach from a coaching standpoint,” Glasco said