- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,265,946
- Reaction score
- 59
You must be registered for see images
NiJaree Canady, who starred as a pitcher at Stanford and Texas Tech, will now showcase her talents in the AUSL. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
John E. Moore III via Getty Images
Although former Stanford and Texas Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady was selected No. 2 overall in this year’s Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) College Draft, she hadn’t signed a deal by the time the season started.
Her brief holdout came to an end on Friday when the Texas Volts announced that the right-handed ace from Topeka, Kansas, is under contract. The Volts are off to a 1-2 start this season in the AUSL and will pick back on Saturday versus the Carolina Blaze in Durham, North Carolina.
It’s best for the sport that Canady will be in the circle again. She’s one of the most popular softball players in the NIL era and one of the most productive hurlers to date.
She began her collegiate career with a pair of head-turning campaigns at Stanford, the second of which saw her post a sparkling 0.73 ERA and earn USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year honors. Both years Canady was out west, the Cardinal made the Women’s College World Series. She made two more WCWS appearances with Texas Tech, where she transferred following the 2024 season.
Famously, Canady reportedly secured just over $1 million from the Red Raiders’ NIL collective to make the move to Lubbock.
It’s hardly difficult to see the imprint the best softball pitchers leave on the programs they grace. Due to the volume of innings they can log, their impact can shape the trajectory of a season. And, so, even if undoubtedly significant, it’s not terribly surprising that Canady helped turn Texas Tech into a national title contender. She was the crown jewel of the program’s transfer portal makeover.
When she arrived, the Red Raiders were coming off a 29-21 season in 2024. They won only a third of their Big 12 games that season. Texas Tech hadn’t reached the NCAA tournament since 2019 and had never advanced to a super regional.
But in 2025 and 2026, the Canady-led Red Raiders finished as WCWS runner-ups, with only Texas standing in their way two years in a row.
Canady compiled a 62-14 record at Texas Tech. She clocked out with 37 complete games during that two-season span. While her ERA increased marginally, it remained below 2.00 despite her exorbitant workload.
Plus, she continued to grow her brand as one of the highest-earning athletes in college sports. Last year, amid the WCWS, she inked her second seven-figure NIL deal with Texas Tech.
Before officially signing with the league and starting her Volts career, she agreed to an NIL deal with AUSL, becoming just the third college player to do so. In a way, though, that deal is the first of its kind since, according to the league release that announced it, Canady will have the unprecedented opportunity to share in the AUSL’s profits as it grows.
Canady is coming off a senior season in which she authored a perfect game on Senior Day. She’s included in Time’s “100 Most Influential People in Sports 2026” and has 126K followers on Instagram.
Continue reading...
