Texas Tech softball coach Gerry Glasco doesn’t seem to care for the Red Raiders’ No.1 preseason ranking in the Softball America poll.
‘It’s nice to get the attention and nice to get the respect, but it’s rat poison as [Nick] Saban says,’ Glasco said. ‘I’ve never had a team ranked No. 1 in college, so it’s a new thing for me. But it really [means] absolute nothing to me. I just want to work every day, get our team ready.
‘It does mean this time is precious. We’ve got a rare opportunity this year. We’ve got a very unique team with a lot of talent. So it does mean the team’s precious, and we want to really value every opportunity to get better.’
Texas Tech will seek to avenge its 2025 Women’s College World Series loss to the Texas Longhorns. During its first WCWS appearance, the Red Raiders fell 10-4 in Game 3 of the championship series. Their remarkable march to the title series included a 54-14 regular-season record, Big 12 Coach of the Year honors for Glasco and conference regular-season and tournament titles.
The program’s historic run was also led by National Pitcher of the Year NiJaree Canady. The Stanford transfer played in 61 games for the Red Raiders, starting 56 matchups. She finished her junior season with a 34-7 record, 319 strikeouts, and a 1.11 ERA. As a hitter, she had a .278 batting average, 34 RBI, 30 hits and 11 home runs.
Looking ahead to the Red Raiders’ 2026 schedule, Glasco seems excited for the opportunities his roster has to compete and potentially make a run back to the WCWS.
‘The schedule gives up everything we need,’ Galsco said. ‘We’ve got really challenging games with Texas A&M, Florida State, Nebraska ― and then our conference is going to be tough. It’s going to be a great year.’
The Red Raiders open the 2026 NCAA softball season on Feb. 6 against McNeese State.