![](https://images.hive.blog/DQmQVKdXsw48DQeQQPMuJywSwmvj2z2Gp7VXRHJicjtDkF9/20251017_183442.webp) ----------------------------- There's a reason they are the number 4 team in the nation. There's also a reason their ace pitcher was paid $1 million dollars to leave Stanford and come play with the Red Raiders. I was sitting in a hotel room across the state the other day when I watched NiJaree Canady pitch the first perfect game of her career. Which honestly is no small thing. You might think if she was as good as you say, it shouldn't have taken her until her senior year to make this accomplishment. Which might be true, but if you know the game, you know just how hard it is to pitch a perfect game. In fact, it is so hard to do that in professional baseball there is a lot of stigma around even talking about it. Think about it. It's not easy to do. We are talking no walks, no runners, nothing but outs and strike outs. Of course, it can't all be attributed to Canady. In this case a bit of the credit goes to the field for not making any mistakes, but it can be argued that the pitcher is the one who sets them up to achieve that greatness. Yes, the game only went five inning instead of the traditional seven due to Texas Tech putting up eight runs to Baylor's zero which implemented the run rule and ended the game early. Let's break that down though. A perfect game means Canady faced 15 total batters. Nine of those batters she struck out, so that just leaves six where she had to rely on her teammates to get the job done for her. Those aren't too bad odds if you ask me. Thanks to the run rule, perfect games probably aren't as rare in softball as they are in baseball, but the fact that it took one of the best pitchers in the country this long to get her first one should still tell you something. There's a reason she was the number 2 draft pick in the new AUSL that was recently implemented. If you ask me, it's about time we had a professional softball league. Plus, we get to see softball in the Summer Olympic games soon, so that is pretty cool too! There's a reason softball is so awesome. If you haven't figured it out yet, you really need to take a second look. Division I schools start their conference tournaments this week. Maybe this is the time you finally give softball a chance. There's a reason you are reading this post after all.... ---------- ### [My Sports Account - @bozz.sports](https://www.peakd.com/@bozz.sports) ---------- #### Come hang out in [The Pub](https://peakd.com/c/hive-178138/created) [Find us on Discord](https://discord.gg/cCEMJXAEXk) Or Check out my [Grilling and Smoking Community on HIVE](https://peakd.com/c/hive-138631/created) ------------- ![TEAMUSAhive_footer_bozz.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/bozz/fXpCTKUZ-TEAMUSA-hive_footer_bozz.jpg) ---------------- *All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced*