OKLAHOMA CITY — NiJaree Canady appeared well on her way to replicating the back-to-back shutouts that helped No. 8 seed Stanford reach the Women’s College World Series for the second straight year.
Canady set down the first six Texas batters she faced Thursday night at Devon Park, including three by strikeout. Heavy-hitting Reese Atwood and her NCAA-leading 90 RBI was among them, swinging through a high fastball.
But the top-seeded Longhorns broke through in the third inning, scoring twice with the help of two bunts and an infield single, then added two more runs in the sixth to win 4-0 and send Stanford to its first loss of bracket play.
Texas pitcher Teagan Kavan held the light-hitting Cardinal to a first inning single by catcher Ava Gall and struck out eight to earn the complete-game victory.
The Cardinal (48-16) play either Oklahoma State or Florida on Friday. A loss will end Stanford’s season.
Canady (22-6) allowed five hits and struck out six, two days after being picked by USA Softball as its national player of the year.
Early on she looked like the pitcher that limited LSU to five hits and no runs in two super regional wins last week.
Texas (53-8) got its first baserunner in the third inning on a bunt single by centerfielder Kayden Henry, who took second on a wild pitch and third on a sacrifice bunt by Alyssa Washington.
Henry scored on an infield single by Bella Dayton, and the Longhorns added another run on a single to right field by Mia Scott. Dayton tried to score but tagged out at home plate. Texas challenged the call, which was overturned, making it 2-0.
Stanford threatened in the fifth, putting runners on first and second with one out. But Kavan struck out Taryn Kern on a check swing and got Kyra Chan to ground out to end the inning.
Texas loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth off Canady and two runners came around to score on a single to right field by Henry.
Stanford split a pair of nonconference games with Texas this season, winning 4-3 when Canady took the mound and losing 9-2 with Canady on the bench.
In the win, Canady threw all eight innings, allowing six hits, two walks and two earned runs while striking out 11.
Canady, a sophomore, was picked this week by USA Softball as its national player of the year over Atwood and Oklahoma State pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl after leading the nation in strikeouts (310) and ERA (0.65).
Atwood, the Longhorns slugger, entered the day two RBI behind Oklahoma’s Tiare Jennings’ Big 12 single-season record of 92, which was set in 2021.
In four WCWS games last season, the Cardinal scored a total of five runs.
