"Competitive. Locked In. Fearless." That is how Red Raiders superstar NiJaree Canady describes herself as Texas Tech begins the softball season this weekend.
LUBBOCK, Texas - There aren't enough words to affectionately describe Texas Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady, the two-time reigning National Pitcher of the Year.
She narrows it down for us: "Competitive. Locked In. Fearless."
There is one that sticks out.
In fact, as a part of Texas Tech's "Define Yourself" series, 14 of the 25 members of this year's Red Raiders squad used the word "competitive" to describe their mentality as a player.
Last year, Texas Tech did a lot of competing, rolling through the Big 12 and coming one win away from a national championship in the program's first ever trip to the Women's College World Series.
The goal is clearly to compete once again in 2026, and the Red Raiders have plenty of firepower to do so.
The journey begins this weekend as Canady leads Texas Tech into its regular-season opener in Lake Charles, Louisiana against McNeese State on Thursday, Feb. 5. Gerry Glasco's team has three games scheduled in the tournament this weekend to get the highly-anticipated season underway.
Canady, a senior, headlines a large crop of returning contributors from last year's historic roster that saw unprecedented success in Year 1 of the Glasco era. In addition, Texas Tech welcomes the nation's best transfer portal class, full of All-Americans and WCWS standouts from last season.
Texas Tech ranks No. 1 and No. 2 in the two reputable top-25 national polls. Jockeying for top positioning is the team that edged out the Red Raiders in Oklahoma City, the Texas Longhorns.
Regardless of poll, Tech enters the new season with its highest preseason ranking in program history.
With this much talent on the roster, Glasco will see a challenge in determining who should play on a game-to-game basis, and where. While the returners bring valuable experience and leadership, most of the newcomers arrive in Lubbock as the best players in their position across the country, such as catcher Jasmyn Burns, third baseman/outfielder Taylor Pannell and infielder Mia Williams.
"I think that's a really important piece of our team and it's gonna make us really good this year," outfielder and returner Alana Johnson said this week about the team's talent.
"We're gonna have to compete every day, every rep - everybody's just gonna have to compete. Coach Glasco's ultimately gonna have the decision to put the best nine out there and we're just excited to all be out there on the same field together."