Big 12 softball coaches last week overwhelmingly voted Texas Tech as the favorite to win the league's softball championship this year. This is a direct reflection of the money billionaire Cody Campbell has infused into the Tech athletic budget, helping make it a national power in football, men's basketball and softball.
Get this: seven of the 18 players selected to the All-Big 12 preseason softball team are from Texas Tech. That's crazy. All seven of those softball players are transfers.
Lauren Allred is from Louisiana Lafayette, Jasmyn Burns is from Ohio State, Mihyia Davis is from Louisiana Lafayette, Alana Johnson is from Washington, Taylor Pannell is from Tennessee, Kaitlyn Terry is from UCLA and star pitcher NiJaree Canady is from Stanford. Canady famously accepted $1 million from Tech two years ago and has led a once below-average Texas Tech softball program to the NCAA championship game.
Texas pitcher NiJaree Canady throws during the third game of the NCAA Women's College World Series finals against Texas in Oklahoma City, June 6, 2025.
Twelve of the 18 preseason All-Big 12 softball players are transfers, including UA catcher Sydney Stewart from Washington.
In his Hall of Fame coaching years, Arizona's Mike Candrea hand-picked a few elite transfers, including Lovie Jung from Fresno State, Amy Chellevold from UC-Santa Barbara and Debby Day from Texas-Arlington, but 99% of his players were freshman-to-senior Wildcats. The good old days. Remember them?
