Last week, Stanford senior pitcher Alana Vawter was named to the Preseason All-Pac-12 Team for the first time in her career. Vawter is coming off a very strong season in which she had a 25-14 record, 1.97 ERA, and 11 shut outs. She also pitched 227.2 innings and 27 complete games in 37 games started.
Stanford was picked to finish 2nd in the Pac-12 Preseason Coaches Poll and is ranked #17th in the 2023 USA TODAY/NFCA Division I Top 25 Preseason Coaches Poll and #11 in the D1Softball Preseason Top 25. Stanford is coming off a season in which they went 39-22 overall and 11-13 in the Pac-12. They ended up falling to Oregon State in the Super Regional round of the NCAA tournament. Stanford hosted the Super Regional, but fell in straight games, failing to force a game three.
Stanford will begin their 2023 season this week at the Mark Campbell Invitational in Irvine, CA. They will face LMU, #1 Oklahoma, San Jose State, #16/#19 Duke, and Liberty. Action begins on Thursday against LMU and concludes on Sunday against Liberty. Stanford will face Oklahoma on Friday and have a doubleheader against Oklahoma and San Jose State on Saturday.
Breaking down the schedule: Following the Mark Campbell Invitational, Stanford will head to Athens, Georgia for the Red & Black Showcase hosted by the Georgia Bulldogs from Friday, February 17th through Sunday, February 19th. There they will face UNC-Charlotte, Georgia, and St. John’s. The games against Georgia will count as road games.
They will then return to the Bay Area to face Santa Clara on the road on Wednesday, February 22nd at 5:00 PM.
Stanford’s first home stand will be the Stanford Invitational from Friday, February 24th through Sunday, February 26th. Stanford will face Nevada on Friday, have a doubleheader on Saturday against Michigan and Boise State and have another doubleheader on Sunday against Michigan and Boise State.
Stanford will then host UC Davis on Wednesday, March 1st at 6:00 PM PT.
Following the home game against UC Davis, Stanford will host the DeMarini Invitational from Friday, March 3rd through Sunday, March 5th. Villanova and Miami (OH) will be the other two schools participating. Stanford will play four games in three days, two games against each school with a doubleheader on Saturday.
Stanford will then hit the road to face Wichita State on Thursday, March 9th at 3:00 PM PT before heading to Lawrence, Kansas for the Jayhawk Invitational on Friday, March 10th and Saturday, March 11th. Central Arkansas and Kansas will be the two opponents there. Stanford will have doubleheaders on both days against both teams. The games against Kansas will be road games.
Stanford will then begin Pac-12 play with non-conference games sprinkled in.
The Pac-12 schedule will be as follows:
At Oregon (March 17-19th)
Vs. Oregon State (March 24-26th)
At UCLA (March 31-April 2nd)
Vs. Arizona (April 6th-April 8th)
At Utah (April 14-16th)
Vs. Cal (April 21st-23rd)
At Arizona State (April 28th-30th)
Vs. Washington (May 7th-May 9th)
The remaining non-conference games will be as follows:
At Cal State Fullerton (Wednesday, March 29th)
At BYU (Monday, April 17th)
At Fresno State (Wednesday, April 26th)
Doubleheader vs. Sacramento State (Wednesday, May 3rd)
Postseason:
The Pac-12 Tournament: Wednesday, May 10th through Saturday, May 13th in Tucson, Arizona.
NCAA Regionals: Thursday, May 18th through Sunday, May 21st.
Super Regionals Thursday, May 25th through Sunday, May 28th.
College World Series: Thursday, June 1st through Friday, June 9th in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
For times and TV information, check out the schedule on GoStanford.com
To connect with CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
To connect with Ben Parker on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
Email: slamdunk406@yahoo.com