On Saturday, #10 Stanford softball fell to Cal by a final score of 3-2, evening up their weekend series with the Golden Bears. Cal sophomore Anna Reimers (9-1) was the winning pitcher for the Bears in a starting role while Stanford senior Alana Vawter (15-6) was the losing pitcher for the Cardinal in a starting role. Cal improves to 30-13-1 overall and 7-9-1 in the Pac-12 while Stanford falls to 33-10 overall and 9-8 in the Pac-12.
BOX SCORE: Cal at Stanford-Saturday, April 22
Cal jumped out to a 3-0 lead in this game, which ended up being all the runs they needed. The Bears added their first run in the top of the 2nd inning as Elon Butler tripled down the right field line with no outs. After Sona Halajian struck out swinging, D’Asha Saiki grounded out to short stop, which was enough to bring Butler home. Kennedy Thomas then grounded out to short stop to end the top of the inning. 1-0 lead for the Bears.
After a scoreless 3rd inning, the Bears added two more runs in the top of the 4th inning. Makena Smith singled and advanced to second base on the throw after which Kacey Zobac flied out to center field. Then, Butler homered down the left field line to bring home Smith. After Stanford then went scoreless in the bottom of the 4th inning, Cal led 3-0 at the end of the inning.
In the top of the 5th inning, Stanford made a pitching change as Regan Krause came in for Vawter. Krause would pitch three scoreless innings in the 5th, 6th, and 7th innings, doing a nice job of containing the Bears. The problem was the three run hole the Cardinal were in.
Stanford added a run in the bottom of the 6th and 7th innings but wasn’t able to tie it up or take the lead. In the bottom of the 6th, Aly Kaneshiro hit a solo homer to left center, making it a 3-1 game. In the bottom of the 7th, Taylor Gindlesperger doubled to left center with two outs to bring home Sydney Steele, who was on first base after hitting a single. This made it a 3-2 game. Unfortunately for the Cardinal, Camryn Carmouche then flied out to left field to end the game.
For Stanford, this game is disappointing given it’s a rivalry game, but they’re not surprised by Cal playing well. They know how good this Cal team is and how hard they play.
“We’ve played that team a lot. And we’ve watched them play a lot and we know that they’re going to show up and they’re going to play hard every single time that we get them and they should be ranked,” Stanford head coach Jessica Allister said of Cal on Friday. “Like, it’s nonsense that they’re not. The only reason they’re not ranked is because they weren’t ranked last year and it takes a second for the national media to kind of catch up on things. That’s a good ball club. They should be ranked.”
Up next for Stanford will be game three against Cal on Sunday. That will begin at 2:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks.
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