5 of the best NCAA softball players just transferred to this Women’s College World Series team
Texas Tech is reloading.
Just a week after losing to Texas in a three-game series in the championship stage of the Women’s College World Series, the Red Raiders are doing all they can to assemble a squad more than capable of getting back to Oklahoma City next year.
In addition to reportedly re-signing ace pitcher NiJaree Canady to another NIL deal worthnorth of $1 million, the Red Raiders have now added five of the best players in college softball via the transfer portal. According to the site On3, Texas Tech has landed four of the top 10 players available in the portal, and a fifth that ranks inside the top 30. Three of the players joining Texas Tech were stars on other teams that competed in this year’s World Series.
Leading the pack of new players coming to Lubbock is Kaitlyn Terry, the sophomore who was not only UCLA’s best pitcher this season, but also a solid two-way player who tallied 35 hits and 30 runs scored. Terry, a lefthander, was 11th nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio with a 5.06 mark. From the circle, Terry went 20-5 with a 2.64 ERA and 172 strikeouts.
On3 ranked Terry as the third-best player in the softball portal. The fourth-best player is joining Texas Tech too, as Tennessee third baseman Taylor Pannell is also taking her talents to Lubbock. The All-American redshirt sophomore was the top hitter for the Lady Vols this season, posting a 1.240 OPS, a .398 batting average, 74 hits, 34 walks, 16 homers and 65 RBI.
Pannell will be a big boost to the Red Raiders’ batting order, as will On3’s sixth-best transfer, Ohio State catcher Jasmyn Burns, who ranked fourth nationally in home runs this season with 25 dingers, which set a single-season program record for the Buckeyes. The All-American sophomore was eighth nationally in batting average with a .455 mark, 14th in RBI (72), fifth in slugging percentage (1.006), fifth in total bases (166), and seventh in OPS (1.546).