OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Texas Tech’s historic season seems to add another monumental chapter each day with the latest being the Red Raiders’ 3-1 victory Saturday night over UCLA to advance to the semifinals of the Women’s College World Series.
The Red Raiders will await the winner of Sunday evening’s elimination game between No. 2 seed Oklahoma and No. 16 Oregon with the winner facing Texas Tech at 6 p.m. Monday evening on ESPN. Until then, here’s a look at where the Red Raiders stand in the history books and a look ahead at Monday’s potential matchup.
WHERE THIS RUN RANKS IN TEXAS TECH HISTORY
It’s well known the Red Raiders are making their first-ever appearance in the Women’s College World Series, placing the 2025 edition of the Red Raider softball program among the best teams in Texas Tech history (all sports). The Red Raiders will be looking to secure the fourth team national title in program history as Texas Tech previously cut down the nets for the 1993 women’s basketball national title and won two national championships in men’s track and field at the 2019 outdoor meet and most recently at the 2024 indoor championships.
Texas Tech’s run in Oklahoma City builds upon the athletics department’s recent success as softball is already the ninth program to finish among the top-eight teams in the country for their respective sports since 2015. In addition to the two recent men’s track and field national titles, Texas Tech finished in the semifinals of the Men’s College World Series in 2019, advanced to the National Championship Game for men’s basketball earlier that same year and has competed in the match play portion of the NCAA Golf Championships three times (men twice, women once) during that span. The track and field program, has finished among the top eight teams an impressive 11 times between its men’s and women’s programs over the last decade.
Texas Tech has secured a school record eight Big 12 trophies this season, including two from the softball program after the Red Raiders won both the regular season and tournament titles. Texas Tech also claimed the regular season and tournament titles in women’s tennis and has won all four Big 12 track and field championships with both the men’s and women’s teams sweeping the indoor and outdoor meets. That list doesn’t include success in football as the Red Raiders advanced to their fourth-consecutive bowl appearance, while the men’s basketball program moved on to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, falling late to eventual national champion Florida.

GLASCO IN RARE COMPANY IN WCWS HISTORY
Much has been said about Gerry Glasco‘s impact since being named Texas Tech’s head coach last summer, taking the Red Raiders from the fringes of the NCAA postseason all the way to Oklahoma City in less than a calendar year. Glasco quickly transformed Texas Tech’s roster, holding on to important pieces like outfielder Demi Elder and the nation’s top recruiting class while adding mainstays in the lineup in All-American pitcher NiJaree Canady and All-Big 12 first team honorees Mihyia Davis and Alana Johnson, among others.
That roster has gelled into one of the nation’s top teams, especially late in the season as Texas Tech enters the WCWS semifinals riding an 11-game winning streak that dates back to its final Big 12 series at BYU. Texas Tech already completed a series of “firsts” after earning a national seed for the first time, hosting the NCAA Lubbock Regional for the first time and advancing to its first-ever NCAA Super Regional where the Red Raiders went on the road to sweep Florida State over two games.
Texas Tech’s two wins already this week in Oklahoma City have accomplished another “first,” this time for Glasco, marking the first time a first-year head coach has advanced to the WCWS semifinals since Hall of Fame coach Yvette Girouard at LSU in 2001. Like Glasco, Girouard departed a successful Louisiana program for a new opportunity as she took the Tigers to four-consecutive WCWS appearances to start her tenure in Baton Rouge. LSU had to overcome an opening-game loss to Stanford to advance to the 2001 semifinals, however, rebounding to top Iowa and Oklahoma before falling to UCLA in 13 innings to end its season.
In total, Glasco is only the sixth first-year head coach to advance to the semifinals since the first WCWS in 1982. That list also includes a pair of Nebraska head coaches in Wayne Daigle (1984) and Ron Wolforth (1987) as well as Lou Piel at South Carolina (1983) and UCLA’s Sue Enquist, who led the Bruins to nine WCWS appearances with three titles in her own Hall of Fame career.
Of the head coaches who advanced to the WCWS semifinals in their first year, Glasco and Enquist are the only two to do so by winning their first two games in Oklahoma City. UCLA, with Enquist as its co-head coach alongside Sharron Backus, went 5-0 in Oklahoma City en route to winning the 1989 national championship, its second in a three-year run of hoisting the trophy.
A HIGHLIGHT WORTHY PLAY
Texas Tech took over social media Saturday night with its daring move to steal home with two outs in the fifth inning. In less than 24 hours since, Lubbock native Makayla Garcia’s game-opening run has been widely seen across every social media platform as Texas Tech’s softball accounts have generated more than 3.2 million impressions since Saturday. That does not include the additional interactions the Red Raiders have received thanks to the play being shared by the likes of ESPN, Major League Baseball and the NCAA Softball account, among others.
OKLAHOMA CITY HAS BEEN GREAT TO THE RED RAIDERS
Texas Tech improved to 5-0 at Devon Field in Oklahoma City this season Saturday night following its 3-1 victory over UCLA. The Red Raiders appear more than comfortable in the neutral-site environment as Texas Tech has combined to outscore its opponents, 30-1, this season in Oklahoma City. UCLA’s lone run Saturday on a leadoff home run from Kaniya Bragg to start the fifth snapped a streak of 30.0 consecutive shutout innings at Devon Field this season for the Red Raiders, who previously downed Baylor (4-0), Arizona State (18-0, 5 innings) and Arizona (4-0) in the Big 12 Tournament and then Ole Miss (1-0) in their WCWS opener.

WHO WILL IT BE? INSIDE THE POTENTIAL OREGON OR OKLAHOMA MATCHUP
Thanks to its 2-0 start to the Women’s College World Series, Texas Tech will only need to beat either Oklahoma or Oregon in one of two potential opportunities Monday night to advance to the championship series. Here’s a look at each of those series histories entering Monday night’s semifinals.
Oregon – The Red Raiders are only 3-7 all-time against the Ducks as the two schools have mainly faced each other historically in early-season tournaments and never in postseason play. Texas Tech has won the last two meetings against the Ducks after a 4-3 victory in 2010 at the season-opening Arizona State Kajikawa Classic and then a 5-0 shutout in 2019 at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. Each of the 10 previous meetings in the series have come at a neutral site, similar to what Monday’s potential matchup would be at Devon Field.
Oklahoma – Texas Tech has a vast history against the Sooners after the two schools were Big 12 Conference members from 1996 until this season when Oklahoma departed for the SEC. If the Sooners were to get past the Ducks, Texas Tech will need to reverse recent history in order to advance to the championship series as Oklahoma has won 36-consecutive games against the Red Raiders. Texas Tech’s last win in the series actually came in the state of Oklahoma as the Red Raiders delivered a 5-4 victory on April 6, 2012, in the second game of a three-game conference series. Ashley Hamada scored the game-winning run in the seventh after stealing third base and then racing home on an errant throw to left field. The one-run lead was enough for Cara Custer to retire 5th-ranked Oklahoma in order in the bottom half as she needed only three pitches to deliver Texas Tech’s first victory over a top-five ranked team at the time since defeating Texas A&M, 6-2, on April 29, 2007.