The 35-team Mary Nutter Classic (previously known as the Cathedral City Classsic) begins today in the Palm Springs area. As the tournament website states, "Five of the eight teams from the 2013 NCAA Women’s College World Series, including defending champion Oklahoma, will be at this years tournament. (Oklahoma, Tennessee, Washington, Texas, Nebraska)." The field includes additional top programs such as Arizona, UCLA, Stanford, Cal, and Oregon, from the Pac 12; Missouri, Texas A&M, and LSU from the SEC; and Northwestern from the Big 10.
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.