Kaitlyn Terry is everything the Red Raiders have needed as they try to return to the Women's College World Series.
LUBBOCK, Texas - The No. 2 Texas Tech Red Raiders captured a series win over BYU Friday with another run-rule victory - the team's sixth in a row in Big 12 play - and at the center of it was, once again, Kaitlyn Terry.
The two-way star has been everything Gerry Glasco could've hoped for as she transferred in to Lubbock for the 2026 season.
And it's giving Red Raiders Nation the belief that she is the final piece to a national championship roster.
Terry, a native of Glendale, Arizona, improved to 15-0 in the circle this season as Tech beat the Cougars 10-1 (5 inn.) at Tracy Sellers Field in go up 2-0 in the series. The series finale is set for Saturday afternoon. The lefty pitcher allowed just two hits and struck out four. The Cougars' one run went unearned on her card.
And she hits, too. Terry currently has the team lead with an astronomical .537 batting average. Earlier this year, she broke and extended the single-season program record hit streak (24), and her seven home runs have helped the Red Raiders set a new single-season record.
The junior utility spent her first two seasons at UCLA, taking home Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors in 2024. Now with Texas Tech, Terry is aiming to return to the Women's College World Series as a potential All-American.
Glasco knew she had this potential, but even he's been blown away by her production.
"I guess when you see a great athlete like her come in," Glasco said, "you're never totally surprised by the success of great athletes like her. It's shocking to me that she's batting over .500. I wouldn't have expected that."
Terry was solely a pitcher in her freshman season with the Bruins, and last year hit .252 with 35 hits in 139 at bats for her first taste of a full-time two-way workload.
This season, she's adjusted in a big way. Terry has 51 hits in 95 at bats to go along with her 1.73 ERA as a pitcher. She's also played in 25 less games than she did in 2025.
Glasco is a renowned hitting coach, and his work with Terry has been making an impression on herself, as well. The results obviously speak for themselves.
"I already see a difference just from last year," Terry said about her offense. "I was very open and he just brought in and he fixed a lot of stuff."
Terry hits near the top of Glasco's lineup nearly every gameday. When she doesn't get the start in the circle, she's usually filling in in right field as last year's starter Alana Johnson continues rehabbing an injury.
But it's her presence in the pitching rotation that has been most crucial for the Red Raiders. NiJaree Canady, of course, headlines the staff, but it's easy to remember in her stellar campaign last season how she single-handedly carried the pitching duties throughout the postseason.
That could have weighed on the two-time national pitcher of the year, so with a reliable arm in Terry now available, it figures to provide just as much production and also save some of Canady's firepower for future games.
Terry felt many of those pressures that Canady as a pitcher was in 2025, but that's been alleviated with them joining forces.
"That was also the biggest reason why I wanted to come here," Terry said about her transfer to Texas Tech. "Just to have somebody on the pitching staff with me. Last year I had to do a lot by myself. Just having somebody else that I can also trust out there, I love that."
And Red Raider Nation is loving it just as much.
