Texas Tech tops UCLA 3-1 behind Canady's pitching to reach Women's College World Series semifinals
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — NiJaree Canady gave up just four hits and struck out seven, and Texas Tech defeated UCLA 3-1 on Saturday to reach the Women's College World Series semifinals for the first time.
The Red Raiders (52-12) need one win against Oregon or Oklahoma on Monday to reach the best-of-three championship series.
UCLA (55-12) is still alive in the double-elimination format. The Bruins will play Tennessee in an elimination game on Sunday.
Saturday's contest matched programs with very different histories. UCLA has a record 12 World Series championships while Texas Tech just won its first World Series game on Thursday.
Canady has plenty of World Series experience. She led Stanford to the semifinals the past two years and eliminated UCLA from the World Series last year before transferring to Tech.
Canady ran into trouble against UCLA a few times on Saturday before coming through.
UCLA loaded the bases with one out in the second, yet Canady, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association's Pitcher of the Year, escaped without allowing a run.
Texas Tech's Makayla Garcia stole home in the fifth to open the scoring. Kaniya Bragg answered with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning.
Hailey Toney's solo blast in the sixth put Tech ahead 2-1 and Raegan Jennings' RBI single in the seventh made it 3-1.
UCLA got two on with no outs in the seventh, and Canady again avoided damage.
___
AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
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