On Wednesday, #6 Stanford softball defeated UC Davis 8-0 on The Farm. Due to a mercy rule, the game was decided in six innings. Stanford senior pitcher Alana Vawter (7-1) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal while graduate student outfielder Taylor Gindlesperger went 1-for-2 for 3 RBIs. UC Davis right-handed pitcher Kenedi Brown (4-2) was the losing pitcher for the Aggies. Stanford improves to 15-2 overall, having won thirteen games in a row. UC Davis falls to 6-3 overall.
BOX SCORE: UC Davis at Stanford
“Yeah, it’s a good win,” Stanford head coach Jessica Allister said after the game. “I’m impressed with the way the team came out and took care of business. I thought we had some good at-bats up and down the lineup, it was great to get some people some playing time and they took advantage of it and put together good at-bats between Morikawa and Kylie and Kyra. That’s really valuable for our depth and it’s going to be important and we’re going to need everybody, so it was great to see them take advantage of those opportunities.”
In the first two innings, neither team scored as it was shaping up to be a pitching duel early. There were a couple of times players got on base, but the pitching for both teams was doing a great job of not allowing any momentum to build for the opposing offense.
In the top of the 3rd inning, Vawter continued to do her thing for the Cardinal. Aside from giving up a single to Grace Kilday, she got a ground out and two strike outs (swinging). It was a still a 0-0 game entering the bottom of the 3rd, but it wouldn’t be that way at the end of the 3rd.
“Yeah, I felt pretty good about it,” Vawter said about her performance. “I mean, I think midweeks are always a challenge and Coach Allister says every single day this year especially, like you gotta show up as your most competitive self. So I think we did just that and win todays are harder sometimes than the Friday night crowds that you bring out, so it’s coming out and being able to play the Stanford softball that we know how to play every other day, too.”
Allie Clements got things going with a single up the middle after which Ellee Eck came in to pinch run for her. Emily Young then hit a sacrifice bunt and advanced to first base and then second thanks to an error. As for Eck, she advanced to third base. The Cardinal now had something going.
“Yeah, I mean, we’re trying to push across a run right there,” Allister said of bringing in Eck. “She’s the fastest player on our team. She’s a steal threat and we were going to try to run if we got a little deeper in that count there and she’s gonna score on everything from the outfield from second so just a, best speed on our team.”
Gindlesperger then hit a triple to left field to bring home Young and Eck. River Mahler then singled up the middle to bring home Gindlesperger. 3-0 lead for the Cardinal.
“Yeah Taylor, she is a tremendous hitter,” Allister said of Gindlesperger. “I think she had a great weekend and obviously continued it here. But Taylor is, she’s one of the best hitters in the conference, she’s one of the best hitters in the country and it’s fun to watch her play.”
“I felt really relaxed in getting in the box,” Gindlesperger said. “Just focusing on staying calm and honestly I was very excited once I got runners on. Just having the opportunity to put the ball in play.”
The Cardinal weren’t done. They would add one more run in the inning. Aly Kaneshiro hit a single to third base, advancing Mahler to second and then third base thanks to a throwing error. Kaneshiro then stole second base. Caelan Koch then struck out swinging before Kaitlyn Lim flied out to center field to bring home Mahler. Emily Jones then struck out swinging to end the inning. 4-0 lead for Stanford at the end of the 3rd.
In the top of the 4th inning, Regan Krause came in to pitch for Vawter. Krause picked up right where Vawter left off, getting three straight outs: ground out, strike out (swinging), and strike out (swinging).
In the bottom of the 4th, the Cardinal extended their lead. Brown’s day was done for the Aggies as Caroline Grimes came in to pitch. Emily Schultz singled to left field after which Eck was walked to advance Shultz to second base. Young would then be out at first base as she executed a successful sacrifice bunt to advance both runners. Gindlesperger then grounded out to short stop to bring home Shultz and advance Eck. Rather than adding even more runs, Mahler grounded out to second base to end the inning. 5-0 lead for Stanford at the end of the 4th.
Krause once again did her thing for the Cardinal in the top of the 5th inning by getting three straight batters out: strike out (looking), ground out, and strike out (looking). The Cardinal pitching continued to dominate the Aggies.
In the bottom of the 5th, Kaneshiro got things going with a double to left enter after which Koch hit a single through the right side to advance Kyra Chan to third base, who had come in to pinch run for Kaneshiro. Ella Nadeau then came in to pinch run for Koch. Lim then grounded out to second base to bring home Chan and advance Nadeau to make it a 6-0 lead for the Cardinal. The Cardinal just needed two more runs to get the win via mercy rule.
The Cardinal weren’t able to end the game in the 5th inning, but they were able to tack on one more run to get close to doing so in the 6th inning. After Lim’s RBI, Jones flied out to center field to bring home Nadeau. Looking for one more run, Allison Morikawa got walked, but Eck would fly out to left field to end the inning. 7-0 lead for the Cardinal.
“It feels good,” Gindlesperger said of having the offense come alive like it did. “Definitely it proves to us that we can score all the runs and get it done offensively because we know have the pitching, we know we have the defense, so it was honestly just a good confidence booster.”
In the top of the 6th inning, freshman NiJaree Canady came in to pitch for Stanford and made quick work of the Aggie lineup as she only gave up one walk. This set up a possibility for Stanford to end the game via mercy rule in the bottom of the 6th.
With one out, Kylie Chung hit a double to right center. With two outs and Chung still on second base, Chan came up big like she did in the Nevada game, hitting a double to left field to bring home Chung. This ended the game as it gave the Cardinal the eight run cushion they needed to secure the victory via mercy rule once the game got to at least five innings. 8-0 Stanford was the final.
“Yeah, I’ll just reiterate what I sad last time, she’s a hitter,” Allister said of Chan. “She’s gonna be a great hitter here during her career and to see her implement that in her opportunities is awesome.”
For UC Davis, this game didn’t go the way they wanted, but they made Stanford earn every hit they got. Their biggest problem was they just couldn’t get going on offense thanks to the pitching that they were facing. This is a game where all they can do is tip their caps and move on to the next game.
As for Stanford, there isn’t much for them to dislike about this one. They finished off the Aggies in six innings, the pitching was fantastic, and they got a lot of different players involved as Vawter, Krause, and Canady all saw the mound. This one definitely went as according to plan as they could have hoped.
“Yeah, that was,” Allister said when asked it was the plan to roll with all three pitchers. “Get’em all a little bit of work. There’s nothing like game reps as far as getting you ready. So, get’em all out there and get a little work in. Yeah.”
“I mean, we knew the plan, we have a plan going forward to every single game, who is starting, who is kinda relieving and we have a better idea of what that kind of role looks like,” Vawter added. “But no, super cool that we were able to actually utilize the pitching plan and be able to pitch all three of us. And get some innings in, get some live at-bats in. Yeah, it was certainly nice.
“I think we were literally joking about this in the dugout today, that like our cheerleading team is the pitching staff. So it’s hard when we’re all warming up and then running back in the dugout and stuff and we have to kinda tradeoff who starts and cheers, but in reality we’re each other’s biggest hype people. And therefore we have the most fun together, we’re just each other’s best friends on and off the field. So, it’s just super fun to be a part of and it just adds to our collective success. So, to be able to have that much fun together.”
With this victory, Stanford has now won thirteen games in a row. When asked about the streak, Allister joked that they don’t bring it up because softball and baseball are superstitious sports. But, she did sound pleased with the way the team is trending and the way that her team continues to handle their business.
“You’re not supposed to say that outload,” Allister joked when asked about the streak. “These bat and ball sports are superstitious! Yeah, so I think we talk a lot about trying to be our most competitive selves every time we take the field and just a consistent approach whether that be in the circle, on the box, in the dugout, pre-game, whatever that looks like. Just a consistent approach, I think that’s really important, and then really staying present and not going any further than the game at hand.”
“Coach Allister talks about this all the time and I think we really embody this that the most important game is the one that’s coming up next,” Gindlesperger said. “So, it doesn’t matter what we did in the past, it doesn’t matter that we just beat Davis. What matters is Villanova on Friday or whoever we’re playing next.”
Up next for Stanford is the DeMarini Invitational, which will be held on The Farm this weekend. They’ll face both Villanova and Miami (OH). Up first will be a Friday night contest against Villanova. That will begin at 5:00 PM PT on Stanford Livestream.
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