Stanford softball will begin their season later this month, which means it is time for me to break down their 2024 schedule and provide a bit of an overview of what to expect from the Cardinal at Boyd & Jill Smith Family Stadium. Stanford comes in as the favorite to win the Pac-12 according to the preseason coaches poll and is a consensus top-five team in the nation, ranked as high as #2 in some polls.
Sophomore pitcher NiJaree Canady, sophomore infielder Taryn Kern, and sophomore infielder River Mahler all were named to the preseason All-Pac-12 Team and will be key pieces to the Cardinal’s quest to win the Pac-12 and get back to the College World Series. Kern is a transfer from Indiana and a very powerful bat. Her ability to hit home runs is something they lacked last season.
READ: Stanford SB adds Indiana IF Taryn Kern
As for freshmen, Stanford is bringing in a catcher in Ava Gall (El Capitan High School, Lakeside, CA), a utility player in Kiley Buckley (Andover Phillips Academy in Methuen, MA), a pitcher/utility player in Alyssa Houston (Benton High School in Benton, AR), and an infielder in Jade Berry (Queen Creek High School in Queen Creek, AZ). That’s a good mix of positions that should give them depth in a variety of places. Just eying their player bios, Berry and Houston appear to be the most promising of the bunch, but all of them obviously are really good. That’s why they’re playing at Stanford.
Ok, moving on to the schedule! Stanford will begin their season in San Diego at the San Diego State Season Kickoff. The Cardinal will have games between Thursday, February 8th and Sunday, February 11th against #24 San Diego State, #25 Kentucky, Minnesota, and UC Santa Barbara. Kentucky they’ll face twice and everyone else once. So five games in total. The game against San Diego State will count as a road game, which is important to note. Obviously, a solid group of opponents with two of them being ranked.
It'll then get even tougher as the Cardinal will head to Clearwater, Florida for the Clearwater Invitational. Those games will be played between Thursday, February 15th and Saturday, February 17th. During those three days, the Cardinal will play five games against five teams: Georgia Tech, #3 Florida State, #2 Tennessee, #8 Texas, and Minnesota.
After these first two weekends, we should get a good feel for what kind of team Stanford has and where they need the most work. Given how tough of a slate they have in Clearwater, taking four out of five games in San Diego would really be huge. They do not want to leave San Diego with a 3-2 record because that will just add more pressure for Clearwater.
Stanford will remain away from The Farm for a third straight week as they’ll head to Austin, Texas for the Lonestar Invitational. They’ll have games between Friday, February 23rd and Sunday, February 25th against Colorado State, #21 Louisiana Lafayette, and #8 Texas. They’ll face Texas once as a true road game and the other two schools twice.
After being in Texas, Stanford will finally return home to host the DeMarini Invitational from Thursday, February 29th to Sunday, March 3rd. They’ll play Boise State twice and #6 Georgia twice. In case you are wondering, Cal will be the fourth team playing in the event, but they won’t face Stanford. They’ll face Boise State and Georgia twice as well.
The DeMarini Invitational will be a good test for the Cardinal. Especially against Georgia. Stanford will need to take three out of four at a minimum and ideally get the home sweep. They should be fired up to be playing in front of their home fans for the first time of the season. It should be a lot of fun
Stanford will then stay in the Bay Area for the next little while:
On Wednesday, March 6th they’ll face Pacific at home. On Friday, March 8th they’ll host Nevada and Loyola Marymount. On Saturday, March 9th they’ll play San Jose State on the road. On Wednesday March 13th they’ll play a doubleheader against Sacramento State and on Friday March 15th through Sunday March 17th they’ll have a three-game road series at Cal to open up Pac-12 play. They’ll then return home to face #13 Utah in a three-game series from Friday March 22nd through Sunday March 24th.
Stanford will finally leave the Bay Area to face Arizona in a three-game road series from Thursday March 28th through Sunday March 30th. They might actually enjoy getting away from the Bay Area for a bit after being couped up basically a month.
But then right after that, they’ll be back in the Bay Area for a home game against Santa Clara on Tuesday, April 2nd before hosting Arizona State for a three-game series from Friday April 5th through Sunday April 7th. After that, Stanford will host Fresno State for a home game on Wednesday, April 10th, so five straight home games.
Following their home game against Fresno State, Stanford will hit the road to face Oregon State in a three-game series between Friday April 12th and Sunday April 14th. Stanford will then stay on the road to face UC Davis in a doubleheader on Wednesday April 17th.
Stanford will then come home for a crucial three-games series against #10 UCLA from Friday April 19th to Sunday April 21st. They’ll then stay in the Bay Area to face St. Mary’s on the road on Wednesday April 24th.
Right after their road trip to Moraga to face the Gaels, Stanford will take a flight to Seattle to face #7 Washington in a three-game series from Friday April 26th to Sunday April 28th. After that series, they’ll stay in the Emerald City for one more game against Seattle University on Monday April 29th.
Following their trip to Seattle, Stanford will come home to close out the regular season with a three-game series against #15 Oregon on Friday May 3rd through Sunday May 5th. That Oregon series will be key as a possible Pac-12 championship could be on the line if it hasn’t already been decided.
After that, Stanford will host the Pac-12 Tournament from Wednesday May 8th through Saturday May 11th. That will have an impact on their NCAA Tournament seeding. If they win the regular season Pac-12 title, that will take some pressure of them in the tournament though they’ll still want to have a strong showing. If they come up short and don’t win the Pac-12 regular season title, then there will be more of an emphasis to make up for that by winning the tournament.
When looking at their entire schedule, the Cardinal have a really strong slate of games lined up. They’re facing a bunch of ranked programs, many of which are in the Pac-12. As they look to get back to the College World Series for the second straight season and win a national championship, they’re certainly playing the kind of competition that they’ll need to play in order to prepare themselves for the NCAA tournament.
Going back to the pieces they have, Stanford’s pitching should once again be elite with NiJaree Canady and Regan Krause in the circle. On top of that, they finally appear to have a legit power hitter in Taryn Kern to go along with their strong contact hitting. They appears to have all the pieces to not only get back to the College World Series but win it all this time.
Note: For Stanford’s full schedule with times, click here.
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