Texas Tech was shutout in San Marcos Wednesday afternoon.
The No. 2-ranked Texas Tech softball team felt the brunt of a stretch of six games in six days in the trip's final game.
The Red Raiders were shut out 3-0 by Texas State in San Marcos on Wednesday. It was Tech's sixth game in consecutive days, its second loss during that time, and its fourth loss of the season.
Texas Tech's NiJaree Canady fell to 17-3 in the circle after giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits while walking three in 6.0 innings and 102 pitches.
The Bobcats' ace Maddy Azua improved to 20-9 on the year with a complete-game shutout on just 80 pitches.
Both teams finished with five hits as 10 total players recorded one apiece, but it was the middle innings where Texas State broke through on the scoreboard. Aiyana Coleman hit a solo home run to center field in the fourth inning before Megan Kelnar singled in a run, and Mel Reeves scored on a throwing error in the fifth.
Texas Tech (42-4) is now off for a week with its next gameday scheduled for April 22, a doubleheader at UTEP. The trip to El Paso continues what has already been a busy stretch of road play, with Tech playing four games in the state of Utah and one in San Antonio before meeting Texas State over the last week.
Even after the series-opening loss to the Utes on April 10, Tech stayed near the top of the most recent national rankings, but its position is threatened by another drop after the upset loss in San Marcos.
Texas Tech Skating Thin Ice in Super-Regional Metric Rankings
That could also impact regional or super regional hosting qualifications as we turn toward the home stretch of the regular season.
Texas Tech should be safe to host regionals (top 16 seeds overall), but they are now right on the bubble of being the host site for super regionals (top eight overall), should they advance. The Red Raiders' RPI (rating power index) was just inside the top 10 nationally (ninth) before the loss to the Bobcats.
That could take a hit going into the weekend, and their strength of schedule was already worse than the rest of the top of the field by a large margin. One benefit from Wednesday night regarding the group ahead of Texas Tech, however, was No. 9 Tennessee losing at No. 14 Duke.
The Red Raiders remain a favorite to return to the Women's College World Series, but the pressure is on now more than ever to run the table and officially claim super regional hosting rights.
Because this grueling 4-2 road trip wasn't as fruitful as the team had hoped.
After the two-game series with UTEP, Texas Tech has a four-game road series in Big 12 play against Arizona State, followed by a standalone affair at home versus Tarleton State, and a home series against Baylor.
