Texas Tech Pitcher's $1M Deal Proves What's Doable For Girls

[ad_1] by Stacy Jackson June 5, 2025

Texas Tech softball coach Gerry Glasco new a deal to get Canady wanted to be increased than her agent's proposed supply of $400,000.

Reigning USA Softball Nationwide Participant of the 12 months, NiJaree Canady, hit the ball out of the park after accepting her newest NIL cope with Texas Tech.

Canady made headlines final July when she transferred from Stanford, and she or he is garnering public consideration once more with the historic deal value $1,050,024 from Texas Tech’s NIL collective, The Matador Membership. In keeping with ESPN, the NIL deal is damaged down into 1,000,000 for Canaday, $50,000 for residing bills, and $24 for her jersey quantity. The star athlete who led Stanford to 2 consecutive Girls’s School World Collection appearances is now pitching in West Texas with the Pink Raiders and exhibiting different feminine athletes what’s potential in girls’s sports activities.

“There are loads of male athletes who get that, and it’s not a headline anymore,” Canady mentioned. “I hope that occurs for ladies’s sports activities, too. I really feel like it may be a strain in case you let or not it's, however truthfully, I believe it’s only a privilege. I hope somebody tomorrow is available in and builds it much more.”

Pink Raiders coach Gerry Glasco drafted up a candy pitch to attain Canady as a participant at Texas Tech. “We’re speaking a few once-in-a-generation participant that’s already made a reputation throughout America,” he mentioned. “She’s a people hero in our sport, and she or he’s a sophomore.” After two seasons at Stanford that solely accounted for Canady hitting simply 35 instances, Glasco, who has three daughters who pitched and hit, made hitting a major focus in his pitch, and he didn’t overlook Canady’s value. “While you’re an athlete, the one factor you don’t need to be is a pitcher solely. In our sport, the pitcher is so vital, so we restrict them. And I believe that’s what she felt like in her faculty profession,” he mentioned. “She desires the chance.”

Whereas the athlete’s agent initially sought $400,000 to make the transfer from Stanford, Glasco knew the supply was too low for the rising star.

“She undoubtedly put Texas Tech softball on the map,” mentioned Tracy Sellers, a former softball participant at Texas Tech. Sellers and her husband, John, a former Pink Raiders soccer participant, know Canady deserves a prime NIL deal simply as a lot as any male athlete. “She labored so arduous to be the No. 1 pitcher within the nation,” mentioned Sellers. “I left that assembly and thought, that is who I'd like to put loads of effort into due to who she is.” The Sellers, who're prime Matador Membership boosters, beforehand donated $11 million to the athletic division in 2022. A million of the funding supported upgrades for the Pink Raiders stadium.

Canady thought-about the supply with the Pink Raiders for over a month earlier than she accepted. The NIL deal for the Topeka, Kansas, native is about greater than accepting an enormous lump sum of cash, however about putting herself ready to open doorways for the subsequent era of athletes to profit. She hopes to speculate her cash in opening her personal amenities sooner or later to educate youth.

As of as we speak, the Texas Tech pitcher leads the nation with a 0.90 ERA (Earned Run Common). This yr, she boasts 95 at-bats at .305 with 11 house runs and 5 doubles. She was honored because the Massive 12 Pitcher of the 12 months and led the Pink Raiders to win its first Girls’s School World Collection. The championship collection continues for Canady and No. 12-seed Texas Tech on Wednesday as they face off in opposition to No. 6-seed Texas Longhorns at 8 p.m. ET.