Texas Tech's NiJaree Canady bounces back in Game 2 after Game 1 heartbreak

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Texas Tech's NiJaree Canady bounces back in Game 2 after Game 1 heartbreak

2025-06-06 14:18 Last Updated At：14:20

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — NiJaree Canady has achieved almost everything since transferring to Texas Tech from Stanford and signing an NIL deal worth just over $1 million.

She has led the Red Raiders to three firsts — the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles and a berth in the Women’s College World Series. She was the National Fastpitch Coaches Association’s Pitcher of the Year for the second straight year and leads the nation in wins (34) and ERA (0.97).

The only thing missing is a national championship. After her gritty performance in Game 2 of the best-of-three the championship series with Texas, that goal also is in reach.

Canady gave up a late lead in a 2-1 loss in Game 1 on Wednesday. She led the Red Raiders to a 4-3 win over the Longhorns on Thursday to force a decisive Game 3 on Friday.

Canady, who threw 88 pitches in Game 1, is battling a soft tissue injury on her left leg suffered in the preseason that has severely limited her practice time. Still, she bounced back went the distance in Game 2, throwing 107 pitches and working her way out of a jam in the seventh to get the win.

She’ll be ready to go again for Game 3.

“Yeah, I mean, tomorrow’s the last game no matter what,” she said. “Ready to leave it on the field.”

Canady lost the lead in Game 1 when she threw what was supposed be ball four and an intentional walk close enough for Texas’ Reese Atwood to make contact and drive in the winning runs.

She faced another jam in the seventh inning of Game 2 when Texas’ Katie Stewart reached on an error by the shortstop and Canady hit Victoria Hunter to put runners on first and second with no outs. Leighann Goode doubled to left center, scoring Stewart and moving Hunter to third. Pinch-hitter Katie Cimusz lined out to left field and Hunter scored to cut the deficit to 4-3.

But Canady got Ashton Mahoney to ground out and struck out Kayden Henry to end the game.

"I thought NiJa was huge,” Texas Tech coach Gerry Glasco said after Thursday’s win. “She went out there and just pitched her tail off and kept us in the position that, when we finally could make a move, we could really get that momentum in our dugout.”

Her coach marveled at her durability.

“NiJa, to pitch the way she pitched after 14 innings and now over 200 pitches in two days — or you could say it this way, over 200 pitches in less than 26, 27 hours. Just amazing to have the mental strength to get through that bottom of the seventh.”

Now comes a deciding Game 3. Canady has been on the hot seat before. She led Stanford to the national semifinals the previous two seasons and was the winning pitcher on Monday when Tech knocked out four-time defending national champion Oklahoma.

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In their words: Survivors and others talk about fatal Swiss Alpine bar fire

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — In the aftermath of a fire inside a Swiss Alpine bar that killed 40 people celebrating the new year, survivors, friends and family members, the region’s top authorities and even Pope Leo have spoken to the public in remarks in French, Italian, German and English, reflecting the tradition of Swiss multilingualism.

Another 119 people were injured in the blaze early Thursday as it ripped through the busy Le Constellation bar at the ski resort of Crans-Montana, authorities said. It was one of the deadliest tragedies in Switzerland’s history.

Investigators said Friday that they believe sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the fatal fire when they came too close to the ceiling of the crowded bar.

Here’s a look at what people said in the wake of the disaster:

— “I’m looking everywhere. The body of my son is somewhere,” Laetitia Brodard told reporters Friday in Crans-Montana as she searched for her son, 16-year-old Arthur. “I want to know, where is my child, and be by his side. Wherever that may be, be it in the intensive care unit or the morgue.”

— “We were bringing people out, people were collapsing. We were doing everything we could to save them, we helped as many as we could. We saw people screaming, running,” Marc-Antoine Chavanon, 14, told The Associated Press in Crans-Montana on Friday, recounting how he rushed to the bar to help the injured. “There was one of our friends: She was struggling to get out, she was all burned. You can’t imagine the pain I saw.”

— “It was hard to live through for everyone. Also probably because everyone was asking themselves, ‘Was my child, my cousin, someone from the region at this party?’” Eric Bonvin, general director of the regional hospital in Sion that took in dozens of injured people, told AP on Friday. “This place was very well known as somewhere to celebrate the new year,” Bonvin said. “Also, seeing young people arrive — that’s always traumatic.”

— “I have seen horror, and I don’t know what else would be worse than this,” Gianni Campolo, a Swiss 19-year-old who was in Crans-Montana on vacation and rushed to the bar to help first responders, told France's TF1 television.

—“You will understand that the priority today is truly placed on identification, in order to allow the families to begin their mourning,” Beatrice Pilloud, the Valais region's attorney general, told reporters Friday during a news conference in Sion.

Pope Leo said in a telegram Friday to the bishop of Sion that he " wishes to express his compassion and concern to the relatives of the victims. He prays that the Lord will welcome the deceased into His abode of peace and light, and will sustain the courage of those who suffer in their hearts or in their bodies.”

— “We have numerous accounts of heroic actions, one could say of very strong solidarity in the moment,” Cantonal head of government Mathias Reynard told RTS radio Friday. "In the first minutes it was citizens — and in large part young people — who saved lives with their courage.”

— “Switzerland is a strong country not because it is sheltered from drama, but because it knows how to face them with courage and a spirit of mutual help," Swiss President Guy Parmelin, speaking on his first day in the position that changes hands annually, told reporters Thursday.