2026 WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 2, 2026

Gerry Glasco

Lauren Allred

Jasmyn Burns

NiJaree Canady

Texas Tech Red Raiders

Postgame Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Texas Tech head coach Gerry Glasco and players Lauren Allred, Jasmyn Burns, and NiJa Canady.

GERRY GLASCO: Super excited to be here, super privileged to be here. Feel so blessed to have this team and these great young women in my back pocket and just carrying more towards the finish line. Beyond elated this morning to wake up and realize we get to play more ball. Just excited.

Q. Lauren, you've been part of three of the biggest plays in Tech history -- the sac fly last year against OU, the grand slam, and then catching that final out last night. One, how would you kind of rank those one to three? Then how do you kind of stay so calm throughout everything and be able to perform the way you do in those moments?

LAUREN ALLRED: I'd probably have to rank OU at number one, and then maybe -- they're really close. So the rankings are hard to do. But OU number one, and then the grand slam number two, and then last night number three. But it's like neck and neck right there.

And I think the biggest thing to help me through those moments is remember I'm doing it for my team and not myself and then relying on them because I know that they have my back. It's easier just to play for them.

Q. Gerry, since your arrival two years ago, you brought all the new players in. What's the challenge of bringing new players that don't know each other together, and how have you all been so successful at doing that?

GERRY GLASCO: We're probably so successful because they're great players and they're definitely great people. I think that what I try to do is every single player is different. I know like I have to read the player and I have to decide what the player needs from me. Then I try to be that person.

I think each one's a little different. I felt like Mia Williams at the beginning of the year, I needed to develop a trust. I think she had trouble trusting men. So I had to treat her in a different way than I could a Jackie Lis, who's been raised by a tough male coaching figure with her father and the influence of her grandfather.

And my imagination -- this is my imagination. It isn't fact. It's how I perceive it. I just always felt like Jackie come here for a reason. She came to play with NiJa. She came to win a World Series, and she was bought into that.

Whereas I thought Mia needed me to be slow to develop our friendship and develop trust. So each player is different. I can treat Lauren -- Lauren's been with me four years. I can give Lauren a hit and run for the second time all year, last night in the biggest moment, knowing that four years ago when she was a freshman, we hit and run literally 10 out of 12 of her first college at-bats because I wanted her to quit thinking and just swing. Last night I gave her a hit and run, and I knew she wouldn't miss it. She's brilliant.

I think it's different. Jazzy needs something different from me than Mia needs something different from me than Jackie. Taylor is different. She needs something different. I think that reading, especially in that transfer window when you only have a narrow amount of time, you have to really read the book and try to give them what they need.

Sometimes I fail. I don't always do it very well. There's moments where I know I'm inadequate. Reading each one individually, learning to accept them and love them as they are and hold them to a high standard, and then at the same time like I know they can't be perfect. I want to hold them to the high standard, but they can't be perfect.

Q. NiJa, how much more refreshed and ready are you for this Championship Series compared to last year with all of the innings you had to pitch leading up to it?

NIJAREE CANADY: I'm definitely feeling good. The goal has always been to peak around this time, and I feel like we reached that goal. So I'm just excited to get started.

Q. Coach, what has it meant to you to have Lauren and Mihyia Davis with you their entire careers? How much of an effect have they had in building a culture at Texas Tech?

GERRY GLASCO: Unbelievable, it's like a pacifier. It's not just Mihyia and Lauren, it's Chloe Riassetto is a rock star in our team chemistry and our world as a family, and Vic Valdez is an ultimate leader. Not perfect. Every time that -- there's so much fight in her, she's like Gerry Glasco, she can get out of control when you don't watch her, but she's going to fight you, and she's going to fight you tooth and nail.

Those four kids, they've been with me four years, so they're like the rock. Like Vic can come to me and say that's not right. I got on Jackie for not diving, I didn't think she dove hard enough, and Vic says she did dive, and she had Jackie's back. We need that. We need that balance.

So those four girls give up a lot of longevity and a lot of understanding and balance. They're just -- they're so important.

I'm thrilled to have Lauren here on my left today because the kid's just a team player and been such a great player since her freshman year, and she works so hard and earned -- she's earned what she's got here. I made her earn right field. I didn't give her right field. She earned right field. She does that because she works hard in whatever you've got to do. And because she had to earn it, she's fully confident right now, and she's a really good right fielder. That catch she made last night was elite.

Q. Gerry, when you talk about learning what each player needs, and especially in the short time frame of a transfer portal, what goes into that for you? How are you able to develop that type of skill to be able to do that and create the teams that you have?

GERRY GLASCO: I don't know. There's times when I feel I'm not very good. We all have these moments where you feel like you're good or you feel like, man, I blew that. I wasn't adequate there. Each player is a different book to read. Each one is different. Jackie's personality is different than NiJa's personality and NiJa's personality is different than KT's personality.

At the end of the day, you want to win. If you want to win, you have to have a family. At the end of the day, you have to love each other, you have to care about each other.

We're going to make mistakes. When your kids are growing up, they're going to make mistakes, but they're my kids, and these are my kids. No matter what they do, they're my kids. I may get onto them because we didn't do this or we missed a signal or whatever, but while I'm getting onto them, I love them because they're my kids. At the end of the day, they're my lifeline to get to the World Series or to win the championship.

So just a lot of concern for each individual.

Q. Lauren, just a quick follow-up because you leaned over to him when he answered the question a few times ago. Having been with him so long, how have you seen his relationships develop just with the transfers and be able to bring this team to this point again?

LAUREN ALLRED: I have to say being with him for so long, you can definitely see how he really analyzes each player for who they are as a person outside the sport and try to change his coaching style to help them best.

I feel like being on the outside and being around so many different players with different personalities, you can really see that, and I think we're all coming together in the end for it.

Q. Gerry, what do you think has really gone into Mia taking her game to another level as a hitter this year?

GERRY GLASCO: Mia is enormous talent. She's so fast. People have no idea how fast she is. Like she's fast. She's strong. She's also very smart, like really smart. But she's also very -- like she's -- with her teammates, she's laughing, she's fun. But with adults, she's very reserved, very guarded.

So it was really -- it's been -- it's been slow and slow to develop, but we're really in a good place finally. Her enormous talent is what's allowed her to be successful, and then her mental game where she's finally really comfortable mentally, I think, is what's allowed her to be successful in big moments and be consistent.

It's really -- her first 23 games she had eight home runs. Her next 23 games she had eight home runs. Her next 23 games she had eight home runs, like consistency to the ultimate. I think it's just the whole thing came together, like finally trusting.

I was talking to her travel ball coach, and like two-thirds of the way through the year, he said Mia doesn't think you like her. Doesn't think I like her? She's hitting .450, and she doesn't think I like her.

So the next game I put her in the leadoff spot. I thought -- she said, why you got me in leadoff? I've never been leadoff in my life, and I said I think you're going to be good at it. She had a double and a home run or something like that. She had a real good game, then I put her right back down where she's comfortable.

I did that because I thought, if I put her in leadoff, she's going to know I really like her. I didn't want to put her in my office and say, hey, I like you, I wanted to be real. And that worked. So I always thought I may go back to that if I need to. I always think of Mihyia as my leadoff person. It's an enormous amount of pressure day after day for Mihyia Davis to be my leadoff.

So Mia Williams is a natural talent, but then you have to be comfortable, and you have to feel good to play good. I think we finally got to a place where she trusts me and I trust her, and we're just in a really good place on the field.

Q. For coach and the players, just get your thoughts on facing Texas again in the championship and the problems the Longhorns can pose.

GERRY GLASCO: Really haven't thought a lot about Texas. I guess that's where we'll start today. We know a lot about them. They're a great team. There's a lot of the same players from last year. Obviously they're well-coached. Coach White, he's a great coach. Ehren Earleywine is a great coach, and then Coach Z, Zaleski, is a tremendous coach.

So talent all over the field, elite pitching. They've got speed. They're a well-built team. They've got speed, defense, and pitching. And well-coached.

NIJAREE CANADY: I'm excited. I think it's good for the state of Texas. I feel like we're going to have good fans there both sides. So I'm excited.

JASMYN BURNS: I'm also very excited. I obviously wasn't on the team last year, but I know everyone that was on the team last year is excited to play them again. I'm just excited to be in this atmosphere with this team.

LAUREN ALLRED: I think it's going to be a fun story line and everything, but just two great teams going at it. I think that's going to be the most fun of all. It's going to be nice and exciting.

Q. Jazzy, when you decided to transfer to Texas Tech, did you think that you were going to be sitting here today? How does it feel to already have had such an impact here in Oklahoma City?

JASMYN BURNS: It's truly a dream come true. When I think of the little girl I was, I never thought I'd be on this big of a stage. It's just been so nice being able to have my family here, have this amazing team around me. I'm so blessed to be able to play for Gerry and to be on this team, so yeah.

Q. Coach and for any of the players that want to answer too, Coach, you said yesterday how much it meant to you to see how many fans have come from Lubbock to come support you guys. All of the players got to see all the energy of all the fans coming down to the fence line yesterday. Just what does it mean to be able to play in front of these fans a few more games this season and try to bring a National Championship back to Lubbock, Texas?

GERRY GLASCO: Oh, it's everything. The way we've been welcomed into Lubbock and the way we've been treated, and it just keeps -- it's unbelievable. Cinderella, right? We're Cinderella.

I remember last year when I got home from the World Series, I went to get gas in my Polaris side-by-side, and I had to take five pictures at the gas station. At that point, I never had that happen in my lifetime. I realized like my world is different now than it was when I left for the World Series.

Then our world, the softball world in Lubbock, Texas, in 24 months has evolved into I'm traveling with the Beatles. I get to travel along with all these Beatles. They're the rock stars of Lubbock, Texas. I get to hang out with them every day, so it's really fun.

The fans have just been -- restaurants and anywhere you go, there's no way to describe it unless you're there.

NIJAREE CANADY: I feel like it just makes us want to win, like, for Lubbock and for that community. I think they're our biggest supporters, and sometimes it feels like it's us against the world, and they always have our back. So it just makes us want to win for them.

JASMYN BURNS: I think NiJa said it best, but it just feels so great knowing that we have so much support back home. Like Gerry said also, it means everything. We just have so much love and support from them. So it makes us want to do it even more.

LAUREN ALLRED: Being able to see the softball grow in the Lubbock community since we first got here to now has been night and day, and I think that's just the greatest part to be able to witness that firsthand. It just makes us want to compete even harder to bring something back home for them.

Q. Lauren, you're one of the returners that saw Teagan Kavan twice in this series last year. What did you learn from that experience, and what's it going to take to put some runs on the board, which is easier said than done obviously?

LAUREN ALLRED: It's a whole nother year, so obviously things are different, but I think just to have a different mental approach coming to the bat and just remember that I'm playing for my teammates.

Q. For the players, in the year or two that you all have been in Lubbock, what have you learned about the rivalry with Texas from an athletic department standpoint? Gerry, are you getting a text from Cody Campbell or anything saying, Coach, come on?

NIJAREE CANADY: Yeah, definitely runs deep. I mean, I haven't -- I'm not from Texas. I'm from Kansas originally, and then I spent two years at Stanford obviously. I don't think I've ever seen a rivalry this deep before. I don't know, sports are different in Texas, so I'm just excited to be a part of it.

JASMYN BURNS: I'm also not originally from Texas, so I don't know too much about the rivalry, but I'm excited to be a part of it. It seems like it's going to be very competitive, and it's very cool that it's a Texas championship. Yeah, I'm excited for that.

LAUREN ALLRED: I'm excited for the rivalry because there's a lot going on with football right now in Texas and Texas Tech. So I think it's just kind of adding fuel to the fire, and it's fun to be a part of.

GERRY GLASCO: Yeah.

(Laughter).

Coach Joey, he's Lauren's biggest fan. Went to the same high school?

LAUREN ALLRED: We were born in the same hospital, actually, yeah.

GERRY GLASCO: Joey McGuire always puts on Lauren's jersey. He puts on Lauren's jersey every game day. He's awesome. He sends me texts every game, gets me all pumped up. Sends me emotional clips to watch and show the girls. He gives me -- it's really amazing that a head football coach can be as involved in our program as he is.

Then Coach Cody Campbell, he's got his hands full. He's there, though. He's backing us 100 percent. Of course Coach John and Tracy Sellers, partners with Cody, are really involved in our softball and definitely want us to beat Texas.

Q. Lauren, just because you've been with Gerry the longest, what's it like for you, for him to become notorious or famous in Lubbock and kind of get that spotlight and people get to see a little bit of the side that you guys kind of know from him?

LAUREN ALLRED: Well, we came from Louisiana together, and it was kind of like that at Louisiana. So coming to Lubbock the first time, like right away, it wasn't like that. So it was a bit different. It was something you just kind of had to work through, and we knew we had to build the program up.

I think, now that we're starting to see the same similarities, it's like, oh, we did it. We're finally getting to the goals we made for ourselves.

Q. Jazzy, the two players sitting up here with you, they were here last year, Gerry was here last year. Some of your teammates have been here in other colors. You've never been here. Some of your teammates have never been here. How much are you guys who have never here feeding off of the experiences and the knowledge that your teammates have who been here on this stage to be calm and settled going into the rest of the week?

JASMYN BURNS: I think I have a lot of great influences on this team. Whether they're younger or older, I've learned a lot. I've learned so much this year. I would say I've learned a lot from Jackie Lis. She's my roommate back home in Lubbock. She's been my roommate on the road most of this season. Also, Taylor Pannell, I've learned a lot from her, just being calm. I have a habit of getting pretty upset when I don't get the outcome I want when I'm hitting, specifically. So I've learned a lot from her, just to be able to calm down, and everyone around me as well.

Q. Jazzy, you had success against Teagan last year when you were at Ohio State, even had a home run. How can you kind of bring that confidence in and maybe give another perspective for this group kind of going into this series?

JASMYN BURNS: I think it's just kind of how Lauren said, it's obviously a different year. I think, if we just continue to feed off of each other the way we have been recently and going into it confidently, trusting our swing, trusting everything we've learned this year and just coming together and giving it our all.

Q. NiJa, you've been here plenty of times in your career, and obviously the focus is still here. Knowing that the Olympics are going to be in Oklahoma City in two years -- yeah, two years. Given how much softball has grown in popularity, do you think moving the softball here rather than being with all the rest of the other festivities in L.A. is going to stagnate that growth at all? Or how do you think Oklahoma City can be that kind of place for Olympic softball?

NIJAREE CANADY: I think the city has proven that you can get a good turnout here. Just the facilities here, honestly, the stands here -- and I feel like Oklahoma City in itself just has so many softball fans in general. So I think it will be a good turnout.

I feel like, when you think like World Series, when you think like -- I don't know, when you think softball, you obviously think of Oklahoma City. So I think it will be good.

Q. NiJa, I know you've talked about making it about you all and not about your opponent, but considering it's Texas, and they've knocked you once at Stanford and again last year out of the tournament at Texas Tech, could it be a more fitting way to end your career than beating Texas in a National Championship Game this week?

NIJAREE CANADY: Honestly, I don't -- not so much Texas, I feel like the best way to go out as a senior and just the senior class is to win a National Championship in general, no matter who we're playing. So I feel like that's always the goal.

Q. Coach, this is for you. There's been fan bases and media members alike that have been maybe creating some of the narratives about the characteristics of your team or how they've been built this season, but what have you been doing as a coach to try to keep them focused on the task at hand rather than on what people are saying on the outside?

GERRY GLASCO: I don't look at social media a lot, so I'm kind of lost in my own little world. I hear the girls talk about you're the villain. Man, I feel like Cinderella. I think every little girl out there loves me.

We realize none of that's relevant. When you walk out of the dugout step and onto the field, the only thing that matters is the nine players that's on your dirt playing ball and your dugout's in a good place and cheering those nine players on as hard as they can, and then we're competing against the other nine on the other team and their dugout.

Everything else goes out the window. I think we have a really mature team. I think they really understand, and they want to win for each other. It doesn't really matter what somebody -- a lot of that -- like -- just as we were walking in, they were telling me how bad social media was for the Alabama left fielder. Man, people on social media, they don't realize like that's somebody's little girl, that's somebody's daughter, that's somebody's sister.

A fly ball that gets against the fence is not easy. Let these fans that are experts walk out there and get against that fence where 10,000 people are screaming, the wind blowing, and let them figure out how to play a ball off the wall. That's terrible, and that's the bad part about social media.

We have to block that all out and just play the game, keep the game simple, and have each other's back all the time. Just play ball.