Top 1 (T1)
Texas is the visitor tonight... Kayden Henry leading off... Line single to right, bringing up Katie Stewart, who has homered in her last four games and has 31 on the season... As ESPN announcers note, home-plate ump showing early signs of giving Canady the high strike... Stewart pop-up near home for first out... Viviana Martinez fouls out near third base, two down... Reese Atwood up... Henry steals second; throw goes into center, but Henry can't advance further... Atwood grounds back to Canady to end the half-inning...
Bottom 1 (B1)
Mia Williams grounds to third for first out... Mihyia Davis, who homered in the first last night, HBP... Lauren Allred up... K looking for two outs... Jackie Lis up... Davis steals second... Lis with hard, sinking liner to center, but Henry crouches down to snare it in the air...
T2
Leighann Goode up for Texas... Grounds back to Canady for first out... Hannah Wells K swinging for second out... Kaiah Altmeyer ground to short for final out...
B2
Taylor Pannell up... Flies to right, not quite to warning track... Terry up... 3-0 count, Gutierrez throwing a lot of low pitches... Called strike for 3-1 count... Walk... Jasmyn Burns, the 5-foot-3 dynamo, up... Goes oppo with a line single to right, putting runners on first and second with one out... Hailey Toney at the plate... 0-2 count... 1-2... K looking for second out... Lagi Quiroga up... 1-2 count... 2-2... Weak grounder to first ends Raider threat...
T3
Ashton Maloney leads off... Grounds out to second... Jaycie Nichols up... Grounds out to 3B-person who was playing in... Henry up... Hard liner caught by Toney at short, ending the 1-2-3 half-inning...
B3
Williams leads off the half-inning... Grounds out to short... Davis up... Low liner up the middle for single... Davis steals second easily... UT challenging whether Davis left early, replay shows she did not leave early... Allred with big swing -- and miss, 1-2 count... Hard grounder to second not handled, ball rolls into shallow right, Davis scores game's first run, 1-0 Tech... 1-2 count on Lis... Another hard grounder to second, Horns get force at second but not double play... Pannell grounds to short leading to force at second, ending the inning...
T4
Stewart leading off the inning... Per ESPN, Canady has retired nine in a row entering this inning... 1-2 count to Stewart... K looking... Martinez flies to second... Atwood with two-out double, hitting the LF wall on one bounce... Goode up... HBP to hand, it looks like, actually more like elbow... Horns with runners on first and second with two out for Hannah Wells... Weak pop-out behind 2B bag, ending threat...
B4
Wells takes over for Gutierrez in the circle for UT... One-out single to right-center for Burns... Terry going to warm up in bullpen... Allred grounds to short, Horns take easier out at first, Raiders with a runner on second with two out. Canady up... 2-0 count... 3-0 count on wild pitch, runner advances to third... 3-1 count... Walk, putting runner on corners with two out... Williams coming up... Risky to leave the relatively inexperienced Wells to pitch to Williams... HBP to load the bases... Gutierrez back in to pitch to Davis... Obviously, a real chance for Tech to blow things open... Davis flies to center, ending threat... Horns lucky to be down only 1-0...
T5
False alarm on Terry, Canady stays in... Altmeyer up... Flares single to gap in left-center... Ashton Maloney up... Grounds a single up the middle... Horns with runners on first and second and none out for Jaycie Nichols... 0-2 count on missed bunt attempts.... Chopper to third, Pannell tags out incoming runner, one out for Henry... 2-0 count... 2-1... 2-2 on bunt foul... Hard fly-out to left, great catch by Logan Halleman for second out... Stewart walked intentionally to load the bases... Martinez up... 0-2 count... Grounder to short, throw to third gets away (play would have been close), bringing in two and giving UT 2-1 lead... Horns on second and third with two outs... Atwood walked to load the bases... Now, it's Texas with chance to blow things open... Goode flies out to end threat...
B5
Gutierrez still pitching, but Kavan warming up in the pen... Allred up... K looking... Lis at the plate... Gutierrez pitching on the edges, getting some called strikes and some balls... Fly-out to center, not quite warning-track, for second out... Pannell up... Full count... Grounds out to third, close play but apparently no Tech challenge (replay suggests Pannell out by an inch or two)... Raiders retired...
T6
Wells leads off... Fouling off some pitches on 2-2 count... High, 3-2 count... Ground single to left barely evading 3B-person and SS... Another great catch by Halleman on deep fly to left, one out... Maloney lines out to short, but Tech can't double-up runner at first... Victoria Hunter, who had key pinch homer in supers vs. Arizona State, pinch-hitting now... Grounds out, ending UT threat...
B6
Kavan in to attempt six-out save... Terry leads off... 0-2 count... Fouls a few off... K swinging for first out... Burns up, has two hits on the night... 2-2 count... Foul tip, catcher can't hold on... Swing and a miss for second out... Toney up... 1-2 count... K looking on what appears to be off-speed pitch... Kavan strikes out the side...
T7
It's been Canady all night for Texas Tech (5 H, 2 BB, 2 K), but she's been allowing more contact lately... Does Raider coach Gerry Glasco want to risk the Time Through the Order phenomenon? Yes, Canady stays in... Top of the order for Texas, with Henry up... Oppo homer to left, 3-1 Horns... Stewart up, been quiet tonight... High foul pop in 3B area, Tech lets it drop... Hard single to left for her first hit tonight... Martinez up... Ground out to first advances Alisa Sneed (Stewart's pinch runner) to second... Intentional walk to Atwood... Goode with liner to right, outfielder has ball bounce off mitt, run scores, 4-1 Horns... First and second, one out... Canady not fooling many batters lately... Wells up... K swinging for second out... Altmeyer up... Pop foul to third ends half-inning...
B7
Tech will need one of its patented late-inning rallies to stay alive, trailing 4-1 vs. Kavan... Quiroga, then top of the order for Raiders... 1-2 count... Grounder to short, one out... What ESPN calls the Mia/Mihyia pair coming up... Williams at the plate... 1-2 count... 2-2 outside... K swinging... Davis represents Tech's last chance... 0-1 count... 1-1... 1-2... K swinging, Kavan strikes out five of the six batters she faced in her six-out save... Texas repeats as WCWS champions...
Pregame notes
Citlaly Gutierrez starting in the circle for Texas, NiJaree Canady for Texas Tech. In last night's Game-1 Longhorn win, Canady and the Red Raiders' other top pitcher, Kaitlyn Terry, each pitched only 1 1/3 innnings, with Samantha Lincoln pitching the remaining 3 1/3 (these add to six innings, as Texas did not need to bat in B7). With Texas jumping out to a 5-1 first-inning lead in Game 1 and winning 7-3, I suspect Raider coach Gerry Glasco did not want to give Longhorn batters any more experience facing Canady and Terry when the score wasn't that close.