NiJaree Canady described being named USA Softball’s Collegiate Player of the Year, as well as a second trip to the Women’s College World Series, as “almost everything” she could dream of. For the Stanford pitching ace, there’s still one box left to check.
“The next thing is the national championship,” she said.
Led by Canady, a flamethrowing sophomore, Stanford has made back-to-back Women’s College World Series appearances for the first time in program history. Now, the Cardinal is aiming to finish the job.
“Once you get here, the margins are so slim,” said Stanford head coach Jessica Allister, who along with Canady and catcher Aly Kaneshiro met with the media in Oklahoma City on Wednesday. “Understanding that anybody can win on any given day, and having the confidence that we are capable and we are prepared and we are ready. I think the familiarity is a big deal.”
The eighth-seeded Cardinal (48-15) open the CWS on Thursday against top-seeded Texas (52-8) at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex. First pitch is at 4 p.m. (Pacific) and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
Every remaining team is plenty familiar with Canady, who followed up being the nation’s best freshman by being college softball’s best player, period. Entering the Women’s College World Series, the right-hander leads the nation in ERA (0.65) and strikeouts (310) over 204 2/3 innings.
For all of Canady’s dominance, she shared that she had concerns heading into the year about how she would build upon her freshman season. Canady shared that she had many conversations with pitching coach Tori Nyberg before the season, listing out the ways she could grow.
Part of Canady’s evolution centered on an improved changeup. Canady is one of college softball’s hardest throwers, routinely touching the mid-70s, but Allister and Kaneshiro, Stanford’s star catcher, praised the changeup as a perfect compliment to the heat.
“When you have the capability to throw with this speed and movement that NiJaree does, your batters are going to begin to cheat and try to get going a little bit sooner and hope they’re guessing in the right location,” Allister said. “Being able to pull the string and keep them honest has been really important.”
Added Kaneshiro: “It is just as helpful as every other pitch that could ever exist in the world, if not more. I’m really happy with NiJaree’s growth, and I think that it shows how much work she’s put in this offseason.”
With that one-two punch in her bag, Canady dominated the Stanford Regional, allowing two earned runs in 19 innings over three starts with 36 strikeouts. Canady allowed a career-worst six runs (five earned) to No. 11 LSU in the first game of the Super Regional, but pitched 13 scoreless innings in her next two starts to send Stanford to Oklahoma City.
Canady and Stanford’s first assignment there will be No. 1 Texas, an offensive juggernaut that led the nation in batting average (.379), ranked second runs per game (8.08) and on-base percentage (.458) and ranked fourth in slugging percentage (.628).
The Longhorns are led by Reese Atwood, also a finalist for the player of the year award. The sophomore broke the school’s single-season record for home runs (23), RBIs (90) and total bases (160), leading Texas in batting average (.435) and slugging percentage (.904).
Stanford and Texas have met twice this season, with each team winning one game. Canady allowed three runs (two earned) over eight innings in the Cardinal’s 4-3 win over the Longhorns in February. Atwood drove in both earned runs on a homer.
“We’ve seen all their pitching. They’ve seen all of our pitching,” Allister said. “We’re all going to do all of our homework, watch all of our film.”
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Canady is no stranger to pitching against the nation’s best. At last year’s Women’s College World Series, Canady made two starts against No. 1 Oklahoma, the eventual national champion. In those outings, she held the Sooners, a team that averaged 8.08 runs per game, to four (three earned) over 10 innings with 13 strikeouts.
“When we were here last year, NiJaree appeared as if she had been here a million times and she went right at people,” Kaneshiro said. “You would’ve thought she was a senior playing here for her fourth year in a row.”
In only two years, Canady has done just about everything there is to do at the collegiate level. Everything except winning a championship. Stanford’s title aspirations largely hinge on Canady’s right arm, and time will tell if the Cardinal can win its first national title.
“This is the greatest show on dirt,” Canady said. “It’s really good to be back.”
