2025 WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 3, 2025

Gerry Glasco

NiJaree Canady

Demi Elder

Alexa Langelier

Texas Tech Red Raiders

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Texas Tech head coach Gerry Glasco and players NiJaree Canady, Demi Elder, and Alexa Langelier.

We'll start with an opening statement from Coach Glasco.

GERRY GLASCO: We're just super thrilled, super excited to be here and to be a part of this -- the crowds, the excitement, and the enthusiasm. The atmosphere of the games has just been unreal, unbelievable. I thought the atmosphere in the game last night was absolutely amazing.

Somebody asked me if the crowd noise bothered me, and all I know is loud. I didn't think one time about it being against us or for us. I don't think that had any effect on the game at all, other than I thought it created a great atmosphere for a big-time playoff game, to have that many people and that big of a crowd.

We're super excited. As far as the final series, I think we're really healthy going into the series. I think we're the healthiest we've been all season. I think we're the most confident we've been all season. I look forward to seeing the girls go out and play the best ball of the season.

Q. Alexa, in the backdrop of everything last night, there was obviously a lot of love here, Sam Landry on the other end, all those things. I'm curious, with Coach Glasco, you followed him to come here. What makes this guy the kind of coach that players want to play for, that want to follow, that want to be a part of his program?

ALEXA LANGELIER: In my opinion, Gerry's always just been genuine. You're not going to see a lot of two different sides of him. I feel like he's always been up front with you about everything -- academics, athletics, real life. Like he's very honest about stuff, and he's not going to steer you one way or the other. I've always wanted that in a coach.

Q. Gerry, there was a report yesterday that NiJa has been playing on a torn hamstring. Can you confirm that, elaborate on it? If that is the case, NiJa, how have you managed playing through the injury?

GERRY GLASCO: I've never known exactly because they didn't -- I just know it was a really serious injury that was going to take eight or nine weeks to get over completely. I was actually told soft tissue injury, and I think I assumed it was the leg or the hamstring, but I really didn't know other than the doctors said that -- and I talked personally to the doctors because I wanted to be sure what we were doing -- to the trainer, the lead trainer.

I remember him saying that the pitching motion, because it was on her left leg, not her right leg, that it wouldn't do further damage to go ahead and pitch. But if it had been on the right leg, he would have had to shut her down.

So it was that close. It was really -- we were walking on pins and needles for about a month. There was about a month there where even like the South Carolina Friday night game, we thought she was going to start, and it didn't feel right, and we had to not start on Friday.

Then we eliminated all bullpens during the middle of the week and eliminated hitting, like actual batting practice. She was taking almost none for a little over a month period. We didn't talk a lot about it, but it was a significant setback, I think, in her offensive part of her game.

But then her pitching part, when you realize as a coach how effective she was every weekend and not going through the normal bullpen procedures or the really hard bullpens where you work on your spin, you work on your location that you normally would do, and to still have the results that she did just shows what a tremendous competitor and what a tremendous talent she was.

Yeah, it was a major, a really, really serious soft tissue injury, the way I understood it.

Q. NiJa, when did this happen? And how has it affected you, and how have you managed playing through it?

NiJAREE CANADY: It happened in preseason. Honestly, I think the results said it was worse than it was, like the paper said it was worse than it was. I think it was okay.

Q. So overblown a little bit?

NiJAREE CANADY: Yeah.

Q. For Coach and NiJa. We'll start with you, Coach. You spoke about it some last night, but your relationship with -- can you elaborate on your relationship with Mike White? And then for NiJa, what can you learn from your previous meetings with Texas going into this Championship Series?

GERRY GLASCO: Coach White, I've known Coach White for a long time because he's been a significant coach at Oregon. Sorry, I was trying to think when -- I guess I've known him probably since I started coaching in Georgia in 2008-2009. Just tremendous respect for Coach White. I don't think he's ever lost a regional.

What he's done in the postseason, everywhere he goes, he wins. He's extremely intelligent. He's a very -- a highly successful coach, but he's also very -- he gets a lot of his players, and he really develops them.

Then I got to know him better when Geri Ann played for him at Oregon. She went out and played for him, Jimmy and Chelsea Spencer. Had a great staff and a great team. She went out there in 2015 and '16 seasons. I didn't get to go to very many games, but I watched every game.

I didn't really get to know him because I don't know that I even talked to him maybe one two or two times in two years, but I got to go out there on Senior Day, and I got to go out there on the Super Regional and watch those games.

I just know his teams always win, right? They win. So then when he came to Texas, I made a point to play there every year. I've taken my team from Louisiana every year to Austin, and this year we went ahead and went there and played.

He was good enough for -- when I got the job to schedule, it was late, and I wanted to get really hard series. I was having trouble getting games, and I was able to pick up a series with him and Texas A&M there in the preseason.

I know what everybody else knows. He's a winner. He always does well in the postseason, and I'm super happy for him to get in this series. I think this is his third series in four years or something ridiculous like that.

I thought about it last night. If Geri Ann was here and she could talk, I don't know if she'd root for me or White because she loved Whitey. She used to compare us a lot. She'd say, Daddy, Coach is just like you. He's just got a more colorful vocabulary.

(Laughter.)

She probably thought he was a little smarter than I am.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting to compete. When we play at Texas, we've always had really good competitive games. I've seen him get tossed once, and he saw me get tossed once in that series. We've always had fun with that. Hopefully we don't do that and we act better here. We'll get after it in this series. It will be fun.

Q. Alexa, how have you kind of seen the infield grow defensively, especially on the left side with the two freshmen?

ALEXA LANGELIER: I think they've grown tremendously. Starting the season, I feel like there's a lot of miscues, but they just got really tough mentally, and they just beared down. I don't think you'll see a better left side of the infield, in my opinion.

Q. NiJa, the experience you have against Texas and how you can take from that going into this series?

NiJAREE CANADY: They're a really good offensive team, so just knowing -- obviously they see me in the preseason, but it's knowing we're going to have to change things up, keep the hitters off balance. I think that's something Coach Tara is really good at too, just knowing what to throw batters and how we can attack their weaknesses but also playing to my strengths.

Q. Demi, obviously sticking around with this, you, Raegan, and Logan all stuck around. How have you celebrated with them? And for Alexa, the sisterhood you built with other girls from Louisiana, how has that been watching Lauren and Mihyia get that walk-off yesterday?

DEMI ELDER: I think for me, Raegan, and Logan, it's been really special because we trusted in Coach Glasco and we stuck with it. But I think the meaning more is just with my teammates. Without NiJa we wouldn't be here, without the infield we wouldn't be here, and without the offense we have we wouldn't be here. So I think just as a team, it's been pretty awesome.

ALEXA LANGELIER: I think the sisterhood from Louisiana is really something special. Being able to expand that into the sisterhood we have now is amazing. Just seeing the success Lauren and Mihyia have had this tournament is just awesome. They deserve it. I love them.

Q. Demi and Alexa, the Texas players talk about the challenges of facing NiJa. For you guys, Kavan had a lot of success against you on that first game. What was she doing particularly well? What did you all learn from that game at the plate? And then do you change your -- how do you change your approach?

ALEXA LANGELIER: I think for me it's -- she went hard up a lot that game, and I think just being able to make an adjustment faster of getting on top of that ball will force her to throw more of that drop ball that she has and the off-speed. I think, if we can make her a little bit more uncomfortable this time around, we'll be more successful.

DEMI ELDER: I was unable to play the first two games we played them since I was injured. I've seen her in the past, last year with the three-game series. I think with her you just have to make adjustments really fast.

Q. Gerry, did you bring any other pitchers here to Oklahoma City? I was just curious.

GERRY GLASCO: Oh, yeah, the pitchers. Yeah, we do. They're dying to go. They've been great. The girls, they've been working in the bullpen. I think they understand the situation, and they obviously are playing with an extremely talented generational-type talent.

Chloe's amazing. She's got tremendous control. When we put her in, she's going to be sharp. She's working in the bullpen, like she was even sore yesterday just from throwing so much the last few days because she's been down in the bullpen throwing and just staying ready in case something freaky happened, we had an ankle turn or a ball hit NiJa or anything that would suddenly occur, that she's got to be ready.

I thought it was interesting, she said like her shoulder was sore from throwing so much. Not injury-wise, just tight, you know. She's ready. When she gets her shot, Chloe will be magnificent.

We're going to need more than NiJa in this three-game series most likely.

Q. You don't think she could pitch three more games?

GERRY GLASCO: I think she could do anything right now. She's kind of like superman out there in the circle. I suspect in this three-game series we'll end up having to go to more than one pitcher obviously.

Q. Demi, Oklahoma terrorized the Big 12, terrorized Texas, terrorized Tech for many years, and then those teams knock OU out of this College World Series. How do you guys kind of refocus and know that it's not over yet? You beat OU, but there's still some work to be done.

DEMI ELDER: I think the way we refocus is just staying to the game and staying to what we know and what we love to do. I think the job's not done yet, and I think we all know that.

Q. For all the players, just talk about the moment being two wins away from a National Championship. It's two teams from the Lone Star State, and it's also two teams trying to win their first National Championship on the diamond as well.

ALEXA LANGELIER: I think it's going to be interesting. I think the fact that it's like a Texas National Championship is going to be a lot of talk around this, and I think it's going to be tough.

We both want to win, and we're both -- well, we're the first team to, like, not have been in this situation before. They've been in this situation before, and obviously they haven't come out on top. I know that leaves a bitter taste in their mouth, but we're both going to be fighting for it.

NiJAREE CANADY: I still don't think the moment has fully set in for me yet, just to be able to, again, say that we're two games away. I feel like it's just amazing. Yeah, I still -- it honestly still hasn't set in for me yet.

Q. Coach, being this intrastate championship, what does this mean for the program's future for Texas Tech, and then just softball in the big state of Texas?

GERRY GLASCO: I think that -- obviously it's really good for Texas and it's really good for the youth and the young women all over the state. They're going to be inspired by this. I think you see that -- you saw that when Cat Osterman was pitching for Texas. All of a sudden, five years later, there was left-handed pitchers everywhere. Everyone that was a left-handed softball player was a pitcher. It inspired so many people.

I think there's no doubt the success of Texas and the success of Texas Tech, and A&M had a really good year, no doubt that 9- and 10-year-old girls all over the state, 11-, 12-year-old girls, there's no doubt that little leagues are filled up right now and seeing the effects of having really good college softball teams in the state.

Q. Alexa, I saw a TV interview you gave, yesterday I think it was, where you mentioned you didn't think you'd be here. I'm curious for you, you guys are winning and playing well, but this is your first time on this stage. How have you managed to balance those two things this week, getting to enjoy the experience while also focused on winning ball games?

ALEXA LANGELIER: I think we really spoke in the moment after the games or on the days we've had off of really just being here. Once it's time to really lock in on game days and stuff, we kind of just realize like, hey, this is just another game. We've done this all season long. We've fought, and we've competed, and I think that's really helped.

Q. Gerry, Mihyia has really good numbers against Teagan. How big is her speed going to play in this kind of series?

GERRY GLASCO: When she gets on base, our team's a whole different level of team. The amazing thing to me is we got through these three games with her, I think, getting on base one time. If you'd have told me before we got here we could win three games and Mihyia only get on base one time, albeit that was a really important at-bat yesterday, I would have probably thought it would be impossible.

I think the law of averages is in our favor because that kid, she's as consistent as consistent can be, if you look over her three-year career. She's just been a tremendous player for us, and she's a big game player.

It's not the stage. It's not the environment because you go back to the Texas A&M game, go back to the Texas game earlier in the year, she's a big-game player. I just think that so far it's a very limited amount of at-bats, it's a very small sample size, and I think -- I'm expecting her to come out huge in this next series.

I want her to because I want people to see how good she is. I've said all year, I think she's the best center fielder and lead-off hitter in the country, best defensive center fielder in the country, and I want her to show that. So far I don't think she's had the -- she hasn't had the performance that shows how good she is, and I want her to show that before we leave here.

Q. Demi, you have the most experience in this Tech-Texas rivalry, being the longest tenured Red Raider. Being in this spot and playing for a championship, does that add a little extra something that the rivalry is still going even though you're not conference mates anymore?

DEMI ELDER: I don't think I've ever beat Texas actually, so I think this series is going to be pretty cool because I think this team is a lot different than the other teams I've had in the past. So I think with our offense and our defense, we can get the job done.

Q. Gerry, big picture, what has NiJa meant for Texas Tech? With the publicity surrounding her NIL deal, what does it mean for college softball going forward? And what does it say about her that she has delivered on all the expectations that came with her?

GERRY GLASCO: I don't think you can put a value on what she's meant to Texas Tech. When you think of the magnitude of what she brought to our program in publicity -- I remember the week after we announced she was coming last year, someone told me it was like 700,000 Associated Press articles had come out talking about -- in those articles, in those little 700,000 clips, it was mentioning Stanford, Texas Tech, and NiJa Canady and softball all in those little articles. What's the value of something like that? I don't know.

Then to deliver, and she's delivered over and over and over. She kept even early in the season when we weren't ready yet. It takes a while, it takes a long time to develop championship mentality and championship culture. While we were growing as a team behind her and around her, she was just in that circle a rock.

So you look back at the 0-0 game to Mississippi State, and then you look at the Texas game, we got a 1-0 lead, they tied it up 1-1, and we go to the eighth or ninth inning, and we lost 2-1. NiJa's in there just doing her job, but that gives us a chance -- even though we didn't hit, it gives us a chance to feel those at-bats and my players to realize, we've got to grow.

So the value of that, I don't know how you put it, but we wouldn't be here without it obviously. I think what it more speaks to is her leadership and her character. She's a great pitcher. Everybody sees that. When you see her pitch in the circle, even a casual softball fan recognizes the greatness of that.

I think, when you look at how she endured injury, she endured a young team around her or a new team around her and with a new coaching staff and went through with a new pitching coach, and then she's got a new hitting coach working with her on her hitting, just total adjustments, but throughout all that, no matter what, she just was rock solid in the circle for us and provided us with that solid stone cold assassin out there in the circle that allowed us to grow and become a really good softball team at the end of the year.

I think it even surprised us.

Q. NiJa, real quick, how have you managed this experience? What's it been like for you? What has this run been like leading a program to a place it's never been before?

NiJAREE CANADY: Honestly, this year it's been hard just for me personally. I'll say this too, I feel like we had a lot of road bumps, and this was not an easy ride.

We actually were joking about it on the bus, if you would have asked us earlier in the year, earlier in preseason if we would be two games away from hoisting a National Championship trophy, we would probably laugh. We took some hard losses early on.

Honestly, just I feel like we've just grown as a team. Part of the road getting here is just peaking at the right time. I feel like we're finally just catching our step, and we're getting to know each other on the field, and I feel like we're just playing for each other right now.