Gerry Glasco plays chess while his team plays softball. Sometimes, he gets checkmated before the third inning. In Game 1 of the Women’s College World Series, the Texas Tech skipper looked at a 7-3 deficit, shrugged, and decided to punt. He dug deep into his bullpen, essentially conceding the opener to reigning champion Texas. It was a gamble. A cynical one, too.
The strategy? Save the good arms. Live to fight tomorrow. Now, Tech enters Game 2 with NiJaree Canady and Kaitlyn Terry rested, while Texas has a tired ace. Or so Glasco hopes. It is a high-stakes bluff from a coach whose back is pressed firmly against the wall. Again.
Everyone expected Canady. She is the reigning Player of the Year, a postseason workhorse with 19 WCWS appearances. A rematch with Texas star Teagan Kavan was the marquee billing. Instead, Glasco blinked. He started Terry.
It is a shell game he loves. Start Terry, bring in Canady, shuffle the deck, and pray the music doesn’t stop. “I’m comfortable putting NiJa in,” Glasco muttered after the game. “I’m not comfortable taking her out.” So he waits. Sometimes too long. Last year, Canady was run into the ground, giving up five runs in the first inning of the final game. Glasco wanted to avoid a repeat. He bought insurance in the transfer portal, but the premium is steep.
Terry did not get much help. The scoreboard showed zero errors for Tech, but the defense was a comedy of misplays and bad positioning. They treated Texas hitters like strangers instead of the lethal threats they are. Katie Stewart, doing what she always does, launched her fourth homer in four games. Just like that, it was 2-1.
“You expect Stewart to get her licks,” Glasco said, sounding like a man who had already accepted his fate. He claimed the rest of Texas’s hits were just bad luck. Wrong place, wrong time. Sure.
When Terry leaked two more runs, Glasco briefly inserted Canady. She got an out. But the offense was dead, stifled by Kavan. Glasco saw the writing on the wall. Why waste his ace’s arm in a lost cause? He pulled her. “I didn’t want them looking at her,” he admitted. He wanted the matchup fresh for Game 2.
Enter Samantha Lincoln. She had thrown barely any innings all year. Yet, she did the dirty work, eating over three innings and giving up two runs. She kept the game just close enough that Texas coach Mike White could not afford to rest Kavan.
Kavan went the distance. She threw 115 pitches, giving up three runs on three hits. She was brilliant. But now, Tech’s hitters have seen her three times. That is the silver lining Glasco is clinging to.
Will Kavan back up tomorrow? White is keeping his cards close. He has Citlaly Guiterrez waiting in the wings, a reliable senior with a tidy 2.27 ERA. He can sleep on it. Glasco does not have that luxury.
We know Tech’s plan. It is Terry and Canady until the wheels fall off. Glasco spent Game 1 overthinking, while Texas just played ball. Now, the Longhorns are one win away from another title. They know Tech will fight. But fighting from behind is an exhausting way to live.
