OKLAHOMA CITY — The difference between the roster construction of Texas softball and Texas Tech is like the contrast between, well, Austin and Lubbock.
The defending national champion Lonnghorns have a home-grown roster with every star in at least her third season at Texas. In contrast, Texas Tech seems to bring in a new All-American candidate with every transfer portal opening.
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TEXAS VS. TEXAS TECH
When/where: 7 p.m. Wednesday, 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday TBA (if needed) in Oklahoma City.
TV/radio: ESPN; 1300 AM.
But in this NIL era, does it even matter since the two teams with divergent approaches to building a squad are meeting for the second straight year in the Women’s College World Series championship round?
No, said Texas Tech coach Gerry Glasco, whose program has gotten its share of criticism over the past two years for spending more than a reported $2 million on players in the portal, the most in the nation. That includes a reported salary that makes star pitcher NiJaree Canady college softball’s first $1 million player.
“I don’t look at social media a lot, so I’m kind of lost in my own little world,” Glasco said Tuesday. “I hear the girls talk about you’re the villain. Man, I feel like Cinderella.
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“We realize none of that (chatter is) 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.”
MORE: Texas vs Tennessee: Citlaly Gutierrez, Teagan Kavan outshine Tennessee stars at WCWS
Texas Longhorns pitcher Teagan Kavan (17) throws the ball in the air during the NCAA Softball Championship Super Regional final against Arizona State at Red & Charline McCombs Field on Sunday, May 24, 2026 in Austin.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Texas Tech: Softball roster almost all transfers
But competition for players extends to the recruiting trails as well as to transfers in this era of college athletics, and Texas Tech isn’t losing many portal battles. Of Tech’s 23 players on the roster, 15 arrived in Lubbock as transfers. All but one Red Raider — outfielder Logan Halleman — joined the team after the arrival of Glasco in the 2024 offseason.
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Every player with more than 25 at-bats and all but one pitcher with at least five innings of work this year were transfers. That means only one Red Raider — Samantha Lincoln, a seldom-used sophomore pitcher — that plays joined the Tech program as a high school recruit.
Texas Longhorns outfielder Ashton Maloney (7) leaves second base as Texas Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady (24) throws a pitch during during the game on day one of the Bevo Classic at Red and Charline McCombs field on Friday, February. 14, 2025 in Austin.
Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman
That roster construction comes with a caveat, however. When a new coach arrives, the roster usually includes heavier turnover than usual; Glasco brought four players with him from his previous coaching stop at Louisiana.
In comparison, Texas’ 23-player roster includes just four transfers and 19 recruits signed as high school prospects. Outfielder Kaiah Altmeyer, who joined the program from Arizona last summer, is the only one of those transfers who has at least 50 at-bats. None of the Texas pitchers are transfers except for former Texas Tech player Brenlee Gonzalez, who has thrown just 20⅓ innings this season.
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But Texas head coach Mike White has relied on transfers in the past. When he took over the program, he brought several key players from his previous job in Oregon, including catcher Mary Iokopo and pitcher Miranda Elish. He also has leaned on transfer pitchers like Haily Dolcini and Mac Morgan during his seven years in Austin.
“We do like to keep our recruits in the game, so to speak,” White said. “We like to build from within, that’s our main strategy.”
But White also says examining weaknesses in a roster and exploring options in the portal are critical each offseason.
“It depends on how your recruiting is going, what you see and what pieces you need to be competitive in this environment,” he said. “We’ll look in the transfer portal again this year to bring in some pieces that we think we need to improve as a program, because you have to continue to improve.”
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Texas Longhorns head coach Mike White talks to his players during the NCAA Softball Championship Super Regional final against Arizona State at Red & Charline McCombs Field on Sunday, May 24, 2026 in Austin.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Tennessee coach praises Texas roster, ‘loyalty’ of players
Tennessee coach Karen Weekly and the Volunteers hosted Texas in the Knoxville Super Regional in 2023 when Longhorns stars like Katie Stewart, Teagan Kavan and Reese Atwood were all in their first or second year of college softball. Weekly’s Vols beat Texas that weekend to advance to the WCWS, but she said she saw the potential that the Longhorns realized last season last year when they beat Texas Tech for the national championship.
“Even though we won, I remember saying to Mike, your team is going to be a hell of a team and going to contend for championships if all those girls stay together, and they’ve stayed together,” Weekly said after Texas eliminated her team from this year’s WCWS with two wins Monday.
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Texas Tech head coach Gerry Glasco talks to pitcher NiJaree Canady (24) and catcher Anya German (12) during the game against Texas on day one of the Bevo Classic at Red and Charline McCombs field on Friday, February. 14, 2025 in Austin.
Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman
Weekly found herself in a transfer brouhaha earlier at the WCWS when Texas Tech player Taylor Pannell, who left Tennessee for Lubbock last offseason, accused the coach of making critical comments to her during a handshake line after the Vols beat Texas Tech in last Saturday’s 2-1 thriller.
Weekly denied the allegations. On Monday, she credited Texas for its player development and praised some of her own players such as star pitcher Karlyn Pickens for “loyalty” to the Tennessee program.
And that loyalty and player development, Weekly said, has rewarded Texas, which is making its third straight appearance in the WCWS championship series.
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“I think it’s incredibly valuable,” Weekly said. “You look at how many of those players in their starting lineup today who were recruited by Texas are either juniors or seniors, have played from the time they set foot on campus, have played pretty much every inning and have seen a lot of innings and a lot of experiences here and getting here. You can’t put a price tag on that.
“Of course you’re going to add a piece here or there, but when you can do it with a nucleus that grows up together in your program and understands who you are and what your culture is all about and they can learn from the mistakes they make and bring them into next year together, that’s really valuable.”
Texas pitcher Teagan Kavan, a junior who was last year’s most outstanding player for the WCWS finals, said that shared camaraderie keys her team’s run to its first national title.
“The team is full of best friends,” Kavan said. “It’s fun to compete and do all the things together with all the people we love. It’s super special with the bond we’ve had and being together all these years.”
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Of course, Glasco sees that love with his team, too. Otherwise, he said, the Red Raiders wouldn’t be making a second straight trip to the WCWS finals after never before qualifying for the WCWS.
“At the end of the day, you want to win,” he said. “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.”