The CSTV (College Sports Television) cable network gives us two midweek games this week (schedule). Tonight, Utah travels to UNLV in Mountain West Conference action. Then, Wednesday night, we get to see Baylor play at Texas. Baylor certainly is one of the surprise teams -- if not the surprise team -- of the season, sitting atop the Big 12 standings with a perfect 6-0 conference record (Missouri is also undefeated in conference). The Longhorns, in their first post-Cat Osterman season, are in the middle of the pack within the Big 12. See the official Big 12 softball page in the links section on the right.
NiJaree Canady, whose sub-1.00 ERA helped lead Stanford to the Women's College World Series in both her years with the Cardinal, announced on July 24 that she is transferring to Texas Tech. I've lived in Lubbock for 27 years and can say that the town has been improving with a greater selection of restaurants and shops, and a new downtown performing arts center. Likewise, nice new facilities have been dotting the Texas Tech campus . Still, it seems unlikely that Canady would have become a Red Raider without the $1 million annual Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deal for her, made possible by the donation of a Texas Tech alumni couple. So stunning an event is this, even in the ever-changing world of collegiate athletics, that the New York Times even ran a behind-the-scenes story on Canady's path to Texas Tech. I look forward to being in the stands to watch Canady pitch next spring, an opportunity I never expected to have.