The Red Raiders have summited the Big 12 Softball mountain once again.
LUBBOCK, Texas - The Texas Tech Red Raiders swept Arizona State last weekend to officially claim their second straight Big 12 Conference regular-season championship with one week to go in the schedule.
No. 2-ranked Texas Tech improved to 47-4 on the season and 19-2 in conference play. The second-place team in the current Big 12 standings is Arizona with a 15-6 record in league action.
The Red Raiders will play their four remaining games all at Tracy Sellers Field in Lubbock, beginning with a standalone contest against Tarleton State on Tuesday. The final conference series is versus the Baylor Bears from April 30 through May 2.
The highlights from Sunday's championship-clinching win, a 7-1 victory over the SUn Devils in Tempe, included All-American pitcher NiJaree Canady earning her 20th win of the season.
On Saturday, the Red Raiders claimed at least a share of the conference crown, winning 7-5, with head coach Gerry Glasco also reaching 400 career victories and 100 wins leading Texas Tech.
Canady, the reigning national pitcher of the year, allowed three hits in 5.0 innings in Sunday's finale. Arizona State's lone run was unearned, while Canady struck out four batters.
At the plate, Texas Tech was powered by home runs from second baseman Mia Williams and third baseman Taylor Pannell. The Red Raiders posted 10 hits in the game, three of which came from Williams.
Texas Tech is now the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Softball Tournament presented by Allstate. The bracket will take shape in time for the first round to begin on Thursday, May 7 from OGE Field at Devon Park in Oklahoma City.
A year ago, top-seeded Texas Tech swept the conference championship with a tournament win, defeating 8-seed Baylor, 5-seed Arizona State, and 2-seed Arizona. No opponent managed to score a single run on Canady and Texas Tech for the entire tournament.
The Red Raiders' first-round matchup will take place at 1:30 p.m. on May 7 and air live on ESPN+. As it currently sits, the No. 8 seed that would draw the top seed is Arizona State (8-13 in Big 12), though Baylor (9-12), Utah (8-12-1), Iowa State (8-13), and BYU (7-14) are all jockeying for position in the 11-team conference.
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