Fresh off a loss in the Big 12 Tournament Championship, Texas Tech found its place in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
Texas Tech is ready for another unforgettable run toward the Women's College World Series. The Red Raiders came in as the No. 11-overall seed in the initial bracket reveal Sunday.
Fresh off a 4-0 loss to surprising Big 12 Tournament breakout, Arizona State in the conference's title game, Texas Tech will look to rebound at the most crucial point of the season.
With Big 12 Co-Pitcher of Year NiJaree Canady in the circle, the Red Raiders were able to keep the contest against the Sun Devils close while their bats were unusually quiet. However, Texas Tech could not get anything past ASU's defense, led by a stellar performance from pitcher Kenzie Brown.
Brown went all seven innings in the circle for Arizona State, where she posted a stat line of two hits, no runs and nine strikeouts. The valiant effort gave her the 15th win of her year.
For a team that's racked up runs like it's second nature, including in their prior two games in Oklahoma City, the showing from Texas Tech was bizarre and disappointing.
While the loss is a let-down for a squad looking to clean sweep the Big 12 for the second-straight year, Texas Tech still has a lot to look forward to.
The Red Raiders will begin their march back to the Women's College World Series with one final homestand at Tracy Sellers Field. The Lubbock Regional will consist of Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Boston U and Marist.
Whoever comes out of Lubbock is poised to take on the champion of the Gainesville Region, which is presumably No. 6-seeded Florida in the Super Regionals.
As is the case with most other host teams, it appears that Texas Tech is in the driver's seat to move onto the Super Regionals. And there's a bit of history on the side of the Red Raiders.
This season, Texas Tech put up a record of 50-5 in the regular season. While the number of wins was impressive, the way the Red Raiders fended off losses is potentially the most important takeaway heading into the postseason.
After all five of their defeats, the team won its next outing, usually by a huge margin. The shortest gap between losses for the Red Raiders came when they lost to Utah in a odd, rain-delay heavy game on April 11 and then to Texas State in San Marcos on April 15.
Texas Tech will need to rely on that consistency to not only bounce back from their most recent outing, but to withstand the long journey toward another trip to Oklahoma City.