OU softball title streak ends as NiJaree Canady, Texas Tech tops Sooners in WCWS semifinal
OU softball experienced some emotional whiplash Monday night at Devon Park.
The Sooners were down to their last strike, came back to keep the game alive, then lost a heartbreaker.
OU’s hopes of winning a fifth consecutive Women’s College World Series title came to an end with a 3-2 loss to Texas Tech in the WCWS semifinals.
“They continued to believe,” Sooners coach Patty Gasso said. “... It’s been a joyous ride. … The amount of rebounded, like extra-inning or last-inning heroics and come-from-behind wins has been something incredible.”
It looked like the Sooners were in for another bit of Sooner Magic in Oklahoma City.
Four days earlier, Ella Parker hit a walk-off homer to stun Tennessee in the opener.
For 6 ⅔ innings Monday, Red Raiders’ star NiJaree Canady looked overpowering except for three hits from freshman Sydney Barker and a sixth-inning single from Parker.
Not much looked to be changing when Abigale Dayton fell behind 0-2, leaving the Sooners in the daunting hole of guessing against Canady — the hard heat of the rise ball or the drop-off-the-cliff changeup.
Dayton jumped on Canady’s changeup, blasting a two-run, game-tying home run and breathing new life into the Sooners.
“As long as they have a swing left, they believe,” Gasso said.
But then the Sooners had to go out and stop Texas Tech yet again.
Sam Landry had kept the Red Raiders off the board in four consecutive innings after Tech’s two-run second.
And it looked like maybe they would get out of it, as Lauren Allred’s one-out fly ball to shallow right might give the Sooners some reprieve.
But Mihyia Davis isn’t most runners, and Gerry Glasco isn’t exactly known for being conservative.
Glasco sent Davis, and Barker’s throw came in just late, allowing Davis to slide across to put Texas Tech into the best-of-three championship series and end OU’s season.
OU had won a WCWS-record nine consecutive elimination games.
“I honestly think it was a very cinematic way to go out,” OU first baseman Cydney Sanders, one of the few seniors on the team, said.
Here are three more takeaways from the Sooners’ loss:
Sam Landry, Gerry Glasco share emotional moment
In the aftermath of Texas Tech’s celebration and the stunning end to OU’s season, Red Raiders coach Gerry Glasco and Sooners pitcher Sam Landry shared an emotional embrace.
Landry starred for Glasco at Louisiana before this season, when Glasco took over Texas Tech and brought Canady aboard and Landry joined Gasso, Jennifer Rocha and the Sooners in Norman.
“It’s bittersweet,” an emotional Landry said. “I wished him good luck going forward. Neither one of us wanted to be where we met in postseason. Super happy for them. That’s a lot of my old teammates. I’m glad they’re getting the experience. I’m glad I had the experience I did here at Oklahoma. It was definitely God’s path for me.”
Glasco got emotional as well when asked about Landry.
“I love you,” Glasco said when asked what he told the pitcher. “... I hated that we had to play today. I just hated it. I would have rather her finished her career against anybody besides me. And I would have rather played anybody than her to go to the championship. But we don’t control that.”
Landry allowed just six hits, striking out six and walking three to finish her collegiate career.
“Man, I really had a lot of fun with her,” Gasso said. “We connect really well, and she’s got a very infectious smile, but she’s that big of a person.”
Abigale Dayton nearly ties earlier
Dayton had some previous success against Canady in the past.
Last March, Dayton went 3 for 3 off Canady during a Pac-12 series game between Dayton’s Utah squad and Canady’s Stanford team.
Monday, it was Dayton that gave the Sooners their best chance to score against Canady.
With one out and a runner on first, Dayton jumped on Canady’s first pitch and sent a towering fly ball to left.
But instead of clearing the fence and tying it, the fly died at the warning track, caught for the second out by Tech left fielder Demi Elder.
Dayton said afterward that her experience against Canady paid off.
"I felt like I took a lot of it from the past two years," Dayton said. "... Definitely understanding how she throws was in my mind."
The home run was just the third of the season for Dayton.
NiJaree Canady’s changeup befuddles Sooners
The Sooners had to deal with Tennessee fireballer Karlyn Pickens in their WCWS opener.
Canady isn’t quite as overpowering as Pickens, but Canady’s changeup is more deadly.
She showed that Monday, repeatedly going to the pitch in crucial situations and keeping OU off balance until Dayton jumped on the 0-2 changeup and tied it in the seventh.
After Ella Parker led off the sixth with a single to center, Canady worked her way through the heart of the Sooners’ order.
Canady struck out Gabbie Garcia on a changeup for the inning’s first out. Then, after Nelly McEnroe-Marinas popped out to second baseman Alexa Langeliers in shallow right, Canady went back to the changeup.
Sanders, who homered twice in Sunday’s 4-1 win over Oregon, took a changeup for a strike to start her two-out at-bat before swinging through a rise ball on the second pitch.
After Sanders was early on a foul ball and Canady threw a high rise for the first ball of the at-bat, and another change to make it 2-2, the Red Raiders’ superstar stuck with her best pitch.
Sanders was frozen on Canady’s changeup near the bottom of the zone, ending the inning.
Canady finished with eight strikeouts and just one walk.
Ryan Aber covers OU athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Ryan? He can be reached at raber@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @RyAber. Sign up for the OU Sooners newsletter to access more OU coverage. Support Ryan’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.