OKLAHOMA CITY -- On the night Texas ace Teagan Kavan pitched the Longhorns to the program's first national title, Texas Tech two-way star NiJaree Canady ran out of steam in the decisive game of the 2025 Women's College World Series.
Canady, the nation's ERA leader (0.97), returned to the circle Friday night having thrown 686 consecutive pitches for the Red Raiders over 48 innings dating to the start of super regionals on May 22. But facing Texas for a third straight day, Canady stumbled in Game 3 of the WCWS championship series.
The Longhorns plated five first-inning runs and chased Canady after just eight batters, paving the way for a title-clinching, 10-4 victory at Devon Park. Per ESPN Research, Texas' five runs in the opening frame marked the most Canady has allowed in a single inning in her career and matched her second-highest run total in any outing across her junior season this spring.
"I think that we pushed it to the very limit," Texas Tech coach Gerry Glasco said afterward of Canady. "I think the kid gave us everything that she had. ... All you had to do was look at the velocity the first night compared to the second night and tonight. And it was slowly edging away."
Rest emerged among the deciding factors in the first best-of-three WCWS championship series to go the distance since 2021.
After outdueling Canady in Game 1 on Wednesday, Kavan was the last pitcher standing in Game 3. The Texas sophomore sealed WCWS Most Outstanding Player honors after allowing four runs (all unearned) on eight hits in her third complete game of the WCWS, closing out the Longhorns' long-awaited national title hunt on a ground out off the bat of Texas Tech's Lauren Allred and improving to 5-0 all time against Canady in the process.
With no earned runs allowed over her last 31⅔ innings pitched, Kavan passed Oklahoma State's Amy Day for the tournament record for consecutive innings without an earned run in a single WCWS. Her win -- Kavan's sixth of the event -- also vaulted her past former Texas legend Cat Osterman for the most wins by a Longhorns pitcher in program history.
"Teagan Kavan pitching [was] just amazing and the rest of the staff kind of helped out as well," said Texas coach Mike White. "We were careful throughout the year not to overthrow her and enable her to have the energy at the end."
Kavan's final push in Game 3 came after the Longhorns opted to rest its No. 1 starter in Thursday's Game 2 defeat. Leaning on pitchers Mac Morgan, Cambria Salmon and Citaly Gutierrez for 6⅓ innings, Kavan faced only four batters in the middle game of the championship series. While Texas dropped Game 2 in a 4-3 loss, Kavan returned Friday night refreshed for the winner-take-all finale.
"Saving Teagan for this opportunity -- obviously it paid off," White said.
Conversely, Canady stepped back into the circle for Game 3 having carried a Herculean load for Texas Tech this spring.
After completing a transfer from Stanford last summer, Canady finished second nationally with 319 strikeouts in 2025, but also hit career highs in appearances (41) and innings pitched (240), throwing more innings than all but three pitchers nationally. In the WCWS alone, Canady accounted for 520 pitches across 35 innings while guiding the Red Raiders past Ole Miss, UCLA and four-time defending champion Oklahoma and then taking Texas to three games in the WCWS championship series this week.
Canady appeared to tire in the closing innings of Game 2 on Thursday, allowing three runs across the sixth and seventh innings before shutting the door on the Longhorns. On Friday, she allowed four of the initial five batters she faced to reach base. RBI singles from Texas' Reese Atwood and Katie Stewart and a three-run home run from Leighann Goode opened a 5-0 first-inning gap from which the Red Raiders never recovered.
Afterward, Canady downplayed the toll of her WCWS workload.
"I feel fine," she said. "Like I said before, I have all summer to rest."
ESPN reported on Friday that Canady, who became the sport's first $1 million athlete when she transferred to Texas Tech last summer, has signed another seven-figure deal to remain with the Red Raiders in 2026. As she prepares to return next spring with an eye on propelling the program back to national title contention, Glasco stated plainly late Friday night his intention to add reinforcements around Canady as a top priority for his staff this offseason.
"Our No. 1 goal next year will be to develop a couple more pitchers to keep her innings down," Texas Tech's first-year coach said. "She's close to 250 innings. And I think next year we'd love to see her come into the World Series somewhere like 150 to 175."