Texas Tech softball makes light work of BYU in another Big 12 series sweep
· Yahoo Sports
Texas Tech softball games have become almost predictable. At some point, the Red Raiders are going to have an offensive explosion to put the opposition away, ending the game early.
That's perfectly fine for players like Taylor Pannell. Run-rule wins help keep Texas Tech pitching arms of NiJaree Canady, Kaitlyn Terry and Samantha Lincoln fresher for the postseason. And the Red Raiders have become accustomed to quicker games, so they have to keep their focus on themselves rather than most of the Big 12 opposition they've seen.
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"Every single day we want to win the game," Pannell said. "Friday, we wanted to win the first game of the series. Yesterday, we wanted to win the series and today we wanted to sweep. I think just putting those expectations on us is going to help us a lot in the postseason."
Texas Tech wrapped up yet another series sweep on Saturday at Tracy Sellers Field, erupting for a seven-run fourth inning that gave the second-ranked Red Raiders a 12-4 win after five innings.
In each of the three games against the Cougars, Texas Tech had at least one inning with big offensive production. In the opener, Canady (6 innings, 11 strikeouts, 2 hits, 1 unearned run) had another dominant showing in the circle while recording her 1,000th career strikeout. The Red Raiders responded with a six-run sixth inning to end things early.
It was more of the same in Game 2 where the Red Raiders pushed across nine runs in the second to take the wind out of BYU's sails. The Cougars knocked Lincoln out of the game in the third inning of the finale, something head coach Gerry Glasco was hoping to avoid, and tied the game 4-4 in the top of the fourth before Tech's seven-run explosion in the bottom half.
Glasco said he hadn't had to pull his team in for a mid-game talking to in a while, but he wanted the players to know they were in a battle for a change.
"We're an attacking ballclub," Glasco said. "This is a great ballclub. We have to be attacking. We want to be aggressive to a fault."
Texas Tech spent much of the series utilizing patience, drawing 17 walks in the first two games combined. That wasn't going to cut it in the finale.
The offensive surge was jumpstarted by Terry scoring on a sacrifice fly from second base. Jasmyn Burns added a three-run home run and Lauren Allred (who started all three games for the second time in five Big 12 series) a two-run single to open the floodgates.
The Red Raiders ended the weekend outscoring the Cougars 33-6 to improve to 38-2.
Canady earned a pair of wins and joined Terry with 15-win seasons. The Red Raiders ran their winning streak to 13 games, 10 of which have been via run-rule, including the last seven contests.
Mia Williams shelled her team-leading 14th home run in the bottom of the first in the finale and was 3-for-4 overall.
Jackie Lis hit two home runs in Game 1 of the series, which including the game-ending shot and an inside-the-parker earlier in the game. Desirae Spearman and Terry each went yard in Game 2. Texas Tech now has 82 home runs this season, extending the program record with 15 games left in the regular season.
The Red Raiders will be on the road most of April, not returning home until the final week of the regular season. They'll take on Utah in a three-game series starting Friday, which begins the team's six-games-in-six-days stretch that includes stops at Utah State, UTSA and Texas State.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech softball runs winning streak to 13 in sweep of BYU | Takeaways