On Sunday, #10 Stanford softball defeated Cal 3-2 to win their three-game home series against the Golden Bears. Stanford senior pitcher Alana Vawter (16-6) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal while Cal sophomore pitcher Annabel Teperson (9-4) was the losing pitcher for the Bears. Stanford improves to 34-10 overall and 10-8 in the Pac-12 while Cal falls to 30-14-1 overall and 7-10-1 in the Pac-12.
BOX SCORE: Cal at Stanford-Sunday, April 23
Both teams got on the board with a run in the 3rd inning after two scoreless innings. In the top of the 3rd, Acacia Anders got hit by a pitch with two outs, putting her on first base. Makena Smith then doubled to right center, bringing home Anders. Kacey Zobac then got walked, after which Elon Butler struck out swinging to end the top of the inning. 1-0 lead for the Bears.
In the bottom of the 3rd, Emily Schultz got walked for Stanford with no outs. After Sydney Steele struck out swinging, Kyra Chan singled through the left side and advanced to second base thanks to an error while Schultz advanced to third base. River Mahler then got walked to load up the bases. Taylor Gindlesperger then reached first base on a fielder’s choice as Schultz was out at home plate.
With two outs, Cal looked like they might avoid giving up a run. But then, Aly Kaneshiro got walked, bringing home Chan. It was now a 1-1 game. Stanford would not add any more runs the rest of the inning as Allie Clements then popped up to second base to end the inning.
The next run came in the top of the 5th inning for Cal. It was at this point that NiJaree Canady was replaced in the circle by Vawter. The first batter Vawter faced was Diamond Holland, who singled to second base. Tatum Anzaldo then grounded out to Canady while Holland advanced to second base. Then, Anders got walked. Up next to the plate would be Smith, who reached first base on a fielding error, but was out as she was caught between first and second base. Anders advanced to third on the throw while Holland scored. It was now a 2-1 lead for Cal. Zobac then flied out to center field to end the top of the inning.
Stanford would not answer in the bottom of the 5th inning despite Chan hitting a single up the middle with no outs and advancing to second base via a wild pitch. Mahler, Gindlesperger, and Kaneshiro failed to advance her.
After Vawter held Cal scoreless in the top of the 6th inning, Stanford was able to answer in the bottom of the inning. Clements getting hit by a pitch with no outs got things going for the Cardinal after which Emily Young singled up the middle to advance Clements to second base. Kylie Chung then advanced to first base via fielder’s choice while Young advanced to second while Clements was out at third. Schultz then go walked to load up the bases.
With the bases now loaded and one out, Steele got walked, bringing home Young. It was now a 2-2 game. Then, Chan flied out to center field to bring home Kaitlyn Lim, who was pinch running for Chung. It was now a 3-2 lead for the Cardinal. Mahler then popped up to second base to end the bottom of the inning.
In the top of the 7th inning, Vawter was able to fend off the Bears as the Cardinal escaped with a 3-2 victory. The Bears got the bases loaded with two outs, but Butler grounded out to third base to end the game.
For Stanford, this is a really good win. Especially since they took two out of three games against Cal to win the series. Cal is a really good team that is on the verge of being ranked and so to pull out the series even if it was by the thinnest of margins has to feel good for Stanford. The pitching once again was fabulous and they got just enough hitting to get the job done.
As a result of her stellar pitching in the series as well as last week’s win over BYU, NiJaree Canady picked up Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors on Monday. In three games started, she had a 1-0 record pitching 15.2 innings while giving up only two earned runs and walking just three batters. Canady struck out 21 batters, gave up only eight hits, and had a 0.89 ERA. This was Canady’s second Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honor and her fourth Pac-12 weekly honor as she also has two Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honors as well.
Up next for Stanford is a road game at Fresno State on Wednesday. That will begin at 6:00 PM PT on the Mountain West Network.
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