Texas Tech’s Glasco: WCWS loss doesn’t mean investment not paying off
OKLAHOMA CITY — Texas Tech came up short to Texas for the second straight season in the Women’s College World Series championship series despite one of the biggest financial roster investments in the sport.
But Red Raiders coach Gerry Glasco pushed back on the idea that the investment did not pay off following the 4-1 loss to Texas on Thursday night that ended their season.
Star pitcher NiJaree Canady, who became the first $1 million player in softball when she left Stanford for Texas Tech last season, came up short of a championship in both 2025 and 2026.
“I think that anyone that understands our sport knows that you can’t buy a championship, and I think our investors are beyond thrilled with where we’re at,” Glasco said. “The families and the businesses that are supporting us, they couldn’t imagine what we did happening 24 months ago. Only if you’re naive and don’t understand the difficulty of this sport could you think this was disappointing.
“To get here twice, you hate to lose that opportunity. You understand how rare these opportunities are, and you want to take advantage. You wanted to get that ring. You wanted to get it done. So I’m not making light of it. I’m not happy with it. But I can tell you the recognition that we brought to Texas Tech University, the recognition these young women have brought to our sport, and the legacy that these two teams are going to leave is going to be there.”
Indeed, Texas Tech made its first two WCWS appearances the past two seasons, thanks in large part to the boost Canady gave the program. After falling short last year, the Red Raiders made an even larger investment in the roster with portal additions to help boost their offensive firepower.
But even that was not enough against Texas this year. Canady pitched in the loss Thursday, playing a complete game and giving up two earned runs. But errors and misplayed balls hurt Texas Tech, the same way they did in Game 1.
“I don’t think someone’s whole career is defined by a national championship, of course,” Canady said. “I don’t think that’s the goal. I don’t think not winning that game diminishes everything else.”
Though Texas Tech fell short, Glasco and Canady pointed to the rising fan interest in the sport and the television ratings as reasons why investment in rosters and the sport will continue.
“It also set a new standard for just female athletics, too,” Canady said. “Like we’ll invest in female athletics. We’ll draw crowds. I don’t know how many viewership numbers have been up, like fan numbers have been up. I think we just helped pave the pathway to hopefully more investments coming.”
