Mia Williams Rewrites Texas Tech Record Book in 7-0 Big 12 Tournament Win
Can an All-American really get better? If you’ve watched Mia Williams this season with Texas Tech, the answer is yes.
Williams launched two home runs as the Red Raiders rolled past Baylor 7-0 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Softball Tournament Thursday afternoon in Oklahoma City.
Williams’ two-home run afternoon didn’t just help send Texas Tech to the semifinals, it etched her name into the program record book. It took her one singular season in the program to become both the home run and RBI queen, setting new single season records for both on Thursday, pushing her season totals to 22 home runs and 72 RBI.
“I didn’t even know what the records were,” Williams said with a big smile when asked about setting the program records. “I just go out there and play ball.”
The scary part for opponents? Williams says it isn’t so much about mechanics but more a jump that has come from confidence that head coach Gerry Glasco breathes into her.
“I think Coach Glasco’s helped me believe in myself and believe that I can hit more pitches than what I’m used to,” Williams said postgame. “If you look at a lot of my home runs and doubles this year, I’m hitting the ball all over the field, which is something I wasn’t doing the last two years.”
That confidence showed up immediately Thursday.
Williams opened the bottom of the first inning with a leadoff home run to give Texas Tech an early lead, then later added another blast as Baylor once again had no answers for the Red Raiders offense.
“I think at least once a day he always tells me I’m good,” Williams said of head coach Gerry Glasco. “I think that’s something everybody needs. That’s definitely helped me a lot.”
Glasco said the growth in Williams’ game has come from becoming a more complete hitter instead of simply relying on power.
“I think Mia did a really good job getting to that 3-2 count,” Glasco said while discussing Texas Tech’s home runs Thursday. “She’s just been red hot.”
Williams got the leadoff nod in this as she has a few times this season. Glasco said it was a product of how hot she has been at the plate.
“Our top five hitters had one strikeout the last five games and 11 home runs,” Glasco said. “I feel like Mia’s red hot. Let her take some of that weight off the back of Mihyia Davis and Kaitlyn Terry. We’ve got Jackie Lis red hot and Jasmyn Burns red hot too.”
He is right, the lineup is deep in a way no one needs to carry a heavy load on their own. Even in a day with two home runs and a double Williams wasn’t the only on mashing as Jackie Lis launched her 16th home run of the season.
With NiJaree Canady in the circle, seven runs was more than enough to get the job don. Less than a week after throwing the first perfect game of her career against Baylor on senior day, Canady matched up with the Bears again and somehow looked nearly as dominant. The ace allowed just one hit, coming in the first inning, across five shutout innings while striking out six before handing the ball off to Kaitlyn Terry and Sam Lincoln to finish off the combined shutout.
The outing also pushed Canady past 200 strikeouts for the fourth consecutive season.
“Yeah, a lot of practicing, a lot of going out to pitch even on days where you honestly don’t like to,” Canady said when asked what goes into maintaining that level of consistency. “Eventually consistency is going to pay off, so just keeping at it.”
Texas Tech’s depth in the circle continued to show late in the game as Terry and Lincoln combined to close things out, giving Baylor three completely different looks across seven innings.
“I think we all complement each other really well,” Canady said. “I start, then KT goes in who’s a lefty, so that throws them off already. Then Sam right after her, she’s mostly down in the zone. We’re all just three different looks and it keeps hitters off balance.”
For Glasco, Thursday looked exactly like the kind of complete performance he hoped to see entering postseason play.
“I thought NiJa set the tone in the circle in the top of the first and really got us off to a great start,” Glasco said. “The defense was really good today. I thought we attacked offensively and from the circle. It turned into a very professionally played game.”
The win sends Texas Tech into Friday’s semifinal matchup against Kansas Jayhawks softball at 3 p.m. in Oklahoma City. The game will stream on ESPN+ with a trip to the Big 12 Tournament championship game on the line.
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