OSU Softball: Cowgirls Start Off Big 12 Play 0-2 at Texas Tech

A Top 15 doubleheader between the best two teams in the Big 12 according to preseason perspectives ended with a pair of shutouts for the home team.

The Cowgirls had to cram two days into one, but scheduling had nothing to do with the buzzsaw they ran into that is NiJaree Canady.

No. 15/13 Oklahoma State dropped both games of a Friday doubleheader against No. 16/15 Texas Tech. The Red Raiders run-ruled OSU 9-zip in five innings before blanking them again 2-0 in Game 2.

TTU 9, OSU 0

BOXSCORE

It’s hard to call it over after one inning, but when you face the reigning Player of the Year in the circle, any hole can be too deep to dig out of. In this case, it was a deep hole regardless.

Tech scored four runs in the opening inning to put the Cowgirls in a deep enough hole to bury them. The Red Raiders scored an unearned run in the third, and that was after an OSU run was taken off the board after review. Tech scored another in the fourth to go up 6-0. All while the Cowgirl bats were locked up in closet somewhere. Holding the key was NiJaree Canady.

Canady was the USA Softball Player of the Year for Stanford last season, which reportedly earned her a lucrative NIL offer to come to Lubbock. That investment is already paying off. In four innings in Game 1, Canady allowed three hits and struck out three but held the Cowgirls scoreless. Chloe Riassetto came in for the final inning and didn’t allow a hit.

Katie Kutz got the start for the Cowgirls but gave up five runs off five hits in two innings before Kyra Adcock got the call. Unfortunately, she gave up four in her two innings pitched.

Three straight extra base hits to open up the fifth set up the mercy-rule scenario, which the Red Raiders paid off almost predictably at that point.

An RBI double from Raegan Jennings made it 7-0 with no outs, and then a Bailey Lindemuth’s walk-off two-run homer nailed the coffin shut in the fifth.

TTU 2, OSU 0

BOXSCORE

Riassetto got the start in the circle in the second game, but it was more of the same.

Riassetto held the Cowgirls to just two hits and one walk in the first four innings, striking one out. Canady closed things out, allowing just one hit and adding four more strikeouts in the final three.

OSU went just 3-for-23 in the second game, but the Cowgirls did hold Tech to 6-for-23 and just two runs.

Ruby Meylan fell to 8-1 after allowing six hits and those two runs in six innings. She struck out seven Raiders, though.

The losses ended an 11-game winning streak by OSU. The Cowgirls fall to 15-6 and are 0-2 in Big 12 play. They’ll face the Red Raiders again at noon on Sunday for the series finale. Saturday’s game was moved to Friday due to expected weather.