Texas thumps Texas Tech for first Women’s College World Series championship in program history

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Texas players stared into the bleachers at Devon Park and raised their arms, simultaneously shouting “Texas” in anticipation of a response.

“Fight!” the remaining fans roared back.

By the time the ballpark broke out into a cacophony of deafening white noise — as near-life-size cutouts of Mia Scott, Reese Atwood, Teagan Kavan, Leighann Goode and just about every Longhorn bounced up and down in the bleachers — many Texas Tech fans had cleared the arena.

The Texas faithful directly behind the team’s bench beckoned everyone and anyone not exiting the stadium to join them in celebrating the 10-4 rout of Texas Tech in Game 3 of the Women’s College World Series final Friday for the team’s first national title, one that felt like a long time coming after the Longhorns reached the championship stage three times in the last four years.

For coach Mike White, it was his eighth WCWS appearance between his time as coach at both Texas and Oregon.

“You can’t practice being here, you’ve got to be here to do this,” White said. “My journey of eight years has finally paid off. And I’m so proud of these young ladies for helping me achieve that part of my goal, and I look forward to hopefully doing it again.”

THE FINAL OUT 🤘#WCWS x @TexasSoftball pic.twitter.com/OdPoAqtLjE

— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) June 7, 2025

Texas has been waiting for this. It fell to Oklahoma in the 2022 and 2024 WCWS finals.

Against the Sooners in last year’s final, Kavan pitched a total of 2 1/3 innings. After leading the charge in this year’s Game 1 by allowing just three hits, she faced only four batters in Game 2 as the Longhorns continued to wear down NiJaree Canady, the Texas Tech ace who threw 520 straight pitches for the Red Raiders since the super regionals round.

Kavan pitched every inning Friday night, forcing three strikeouts en route to Most Outstanding Player honors. She allowed no earned runs throughout 31 2/3 innings pitched in the WCWS to help grab victory — and history — by the horns. She also improved to 5-0 against Canady.

“Saving Teagan for this opportunity obviously, it paid off,” White said.

Canady gave up two runs within her first five batters before Goode hammered a three-run shot to give Texas the early 5-0 pad, the most runs Canady had allowed in a game since her Stanford days. Canady didn’t return to the game after the first inning, as Texas Tech coach Gerry Glasco turned to junior Chloe Riassetto and freshman Samantha Lincoln.

“I feel like every college softball player right now is tired,” Canady said after the game. “Obviously, we wanted a different result, but I wanted to leave it all out for my teammates and most importantly my seniors.”

It was Goode’s homer that initiated the Texas fans to send the cutout players flying, along with dozens of burnt-orange laminated cardstock signs reminding everyone of that “Texas Fight.”

In the bottom of the fourth, when Scott blasted a grand slam to push Texas’ lead to 10-0, a fan walked as close to the team bench as possible and turned, holding up a sign that read, “The only rings in Lubbock will be onion rings.” It took seconds for the Longhorns’ mascot to take the sign and use it to rally the crowd.

“Texas!” the Longhorn demanded from the fans to its right; “Fight!” he conjured from those to his left with the sign as the instrument used to conduct the orchestra.

Texas fans hold cutouts of Leighann Goode and Citlaly Gutierrez. (Lauren Merola / The Athletic)

During Game 3, fans who previously blended like tie-dye began to mix more like water and oil. Longhorns supporters stretched throughout the stands parallel to third base, with their seemingly most die-hard fans stationed directly behind their bench, and Red Raiders fans mirrored that almost exactly along first. Potential once-hopeful fans in UCLA shirts, Washington button-downs and Oregon baseball caps popped against the scarlet and burnt orange.

Tech supporters, too, brought signs, seeming to bring more homemade options, with personal handwritings of “Raider Power” and “NiJa’s fastball has its own zip code” taking up feet of white poster paper.

Let’s play ball. pic.twitter.com/ykWQ5MeAO5

— Texas Tech Softball (@TexasTechSB) June 7, 2025

Tech injected life back into the crowd when it scored three runs in the top of the fifth. It pushed one more across in the seventh, but the additions stopped at 10-4.

Texas Tech and its fans — headlined by alumnus Patrick Mahomes, who was in attendance with his wife, Brittany — will have to wait another year to try to capture that first title. The Red Raiders failed to reach the postseason in 2024 and turned around to make their first WCWS appearance in 2025.

“So many teams here have had to kind of get to the World Series first and learn a lesson and then go back,” Canady said. “Texas did it last year. Obviously, Oklahoma had their historic run.

“To be able to go have a team that didn’t even make it to a regional the year before and to push it to a third game in the national championship series (this year), I feel like that means a lot. Yes, that wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but I feel like we’re all very proud of what we did in literally a year’s time.”

Promise hangs in the air for the program after re-signing Canady to another million-dollar deal to return to Lubbock for next season, as The Athletic confirmed Friday.

And in a perhaps equally infrequent move, Scott — a known media avoidant — joined her fellow seniors and Kavan at the triumphal postgame news conference. She lightheartedly warned the media she was there only for a picture alongside her teammates and indeed sneaked out of the scene before questions began.

We can only guess that her final college sentiments mimic those of her teammates.

“It’s a great feeling, knowing this is how my career ends as a softball player,” Mac Morgan said.

“It’s a surreal moment. I mean, every little kid dreams of winning the World Series, let alone going to it. We’ve been fortunate enough to go three times — the four, five of us that have gone three times now,” Sophia Simpson said. “And it’s just so much fun. And I think that we can all agree as seniors, we are definitely leaving this program, not only just the jersey, in a better place.”

(Top photo: Ian Maule / Getty Images)