Texas Tech's NiJaree Canady pitches during the WCWS game between the Texas Tech Raiders and the Oklahoma Sooners on June, 2, 2025.

Texas Tech ace NiJaree Canady has proven to be one of the best pitchers in recent college softball memory, especially at the Women's College World Series. And it makes plenty of sense given her background.

Canady, who led the Red Raiders into the national championship series against Texas on Monday after defeating No. 2 Oklahoma in the semifinals, owns a 0.90 earned-runs average this season with 304 strikeouts in 226 innings. The sought-after transfer was the USA Softball Player of the Year in 2024, and recorded a 0.57 and 0.73 ERA in two seasons at Stanford before transferring to Texas Tech.

Canady has led Texas Tech to its first regional host nod and its first appearance in super regionals, the WCWS and national championship series. She looks to take down in-state foe Texas, which also has yet to win a national championship despite reaching the final series in three of the last four seasons.

Canady comes from quite the athletic background. Here's what to know about her parents, family and high school stats prior to becoming a Texas Tech phenom:

NiJaree Canady parents

Canady's parents are Katherine and Bruce Canady. Her father played Division II football at Washburn in Topeka, Kansas, Canady's home state.

Canady's brother, BJ Canady, is a redshirt freshman defensive lineman for the California, Golden Bears, although he didn't appear in any action as a freshman in 2024.

Parents of prominent players are commonly shown on the ESPN broadcast of WCWS games, as the event prioritizes the family of some of the players. Each year, WCWS ushers bring home run balls to the family of the player who it the ball.

Canady's dad was instrumental in her success before she turned into one of the best college softball pitchers ever. She played tackle football and baseball before eventually turning to softball, where she played multiple years up from her age group, Bruce Canady told FloSoftball.

"She definitely put a whole lot of work into it," Bruce Canady told D1Softball at the 2025 WCWS. "We always said, our motto: Who works the hardest gets the most. And that's absolutely what's happened."

NiJaree Canady high school stats

Canady completed in track and field, basketball and softball in high school.

Canady was also quite the basketball prospect, although she chose softball. She was rated as a four-star recruit in the 2022 recruiting class, according to ESPN, and averaged 20 points with 11 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game across her high school career.

Canady led Topeka High School in Kansas to back-to-back state championships in softball in 2021-22 and was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in Kansas for softball in both of those years. She was completely dominant, finishing with a 0.26 ERA with 232 strikeouts in 107⅔ innings as a junior, before tossing a 0.82 ERA with 163 strikeouts in 74⅔ innings as a senior.

Canady, like she does in college, also swung the bat at an absurd level, posting a .530 batting average with 42 RBIs as a senior. She also hit .478 with 13 home runs the season prior.

Canady was the No. 11-ranked recruit in the 2022 recruiting class, according to Extra Innings Softball.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NiJaree Canady parents: What to know of Texas Tech star's background, high school stats

Reporting by Austin Curtright, USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY

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