WCWS: Stanford phenom NiJaree Canady takes softball's main stage - ESPN

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — NiJaree Canady isn't much for moral victories. After No. 9 Stanford's 2-0 loss to No. 1 Oklahoma at the Women's College World Series, the freshman pitcher sat stone-faced in the postgame news conference, even as she was showered with praise by her coach, Jessica Allister, right after Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso and her players did the same.

Despite the loss, Canady, who was named the National Freshman of the Year by the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association on Tuesday, became the breakout star of this year's WCWS.

She held the nation's best offense — the Sooners bat .372 as a team, lead the country in homers and average 8.39 runs per game — to just two runs, with just one earned. She held OU without an extra-base hit for the first time in 105 games. She held the Sooners to their fewest runs scored in an NCAA tournament game since the 2019 WCWS, when Alabama beat them 1-0. She made a lasting impression on the most decorated coach in softball history.

«She has become one of the hardest-throwing, ball-moving freshmen I've ever seen,» Gasso said after the game.

A year ago, Canady was in Topeka, Kansas, going 21-0 to lead her high school to its second straight state championship, the only two in the school's history. She was the Kansas Softball Gatorade Player of the Year each of the past two seasons, and was also a two-time all-state basketball player ranked as a four-star forward recruit before forgoing her senior year to prepare for college.

Canady entered the WCWS as the country's ERA leader, allowing just eight earned runs in 116 1/3 innings for an ERA of 0.48. On Thursday, in front of 12,379 fans, the third-largest crowd in WCWS history, she pitched five innings and had seven strikeouts to become