On Saturday, #8 Stanford softball fell to #11 Washington by a final score of 1-0. Washington senior Kelley Lynch (9-2) was the winning pitcher for the Huskies while junior Lindsay Lopez (3) got the save. Stanford senior Alana Vawter (16-7) was the losing pitcher for the Cardinal. Washington improved to 36-11 overall and 15-8 in the Pac-12 while Stanford fell to 39-11 overall and 14-9 in the Pac-12.
BOX SCORE: Washington at Stanford-Saturday, May 6th
“Yeah, it’s a good softball game,” Stanford head coach Jessica Allister said after the game. “It was a good softball game yesterday, good softball game here. I thought there were some real positives. I thought AV threw a great game. I thought we had some people to add some big at-bats in some big situations and then we let them off the hook a little bit offensively in some other situations. But eight runners left on base and just some bad at-bats in some big moments that I think if we can string together some better at-bats, I think that looks like a different game.”
The only run that was scored came in the top of the 5th inning. With no outs, Olivia Johnson hit a single up the middle after which Brooklyn Carter came in for Johnson to pinch run. Baylee Klingler then doubled down the left field line to bring home Johnson. Madison Huskey then flied out to right field after which Sami Reynolds grounded out to Aly Kaneshiro at catcher. Sydney Stewart was walked, SilentRain Espinoza got hit a by pitch to advance Stewart to second base. Kelley Lynch then popped up to first base to end the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the 5th, Stanford failed to get on base as River Mahler struck out looking, Taylor Gindlesperger grounded out to short stop, and Aly Kaneshiro grounded out to second base.
This game truly was emblematic of Stanford’s strengths and weaknesses. The pitching and defense was fantastic as Vawter pitched all seven innings and gave up only one run, which was earned. Washington got eight hits and had their chances to put up even more runs, but Stanford’s defense kept finding ways to prevent them from scoring more.
In the top of the 1st inning, the only action Washington got was Reynolds hitting a double to left field with two outs. In the top of the 2nd, very similar as Lynch doubled to center field with one out, but nobody else was able to get on base.
In the top of the 3rd, Washington had more life as Klingler singled up the middle with one out after which Huskey singled up the middle to advance Klingler to second base. Reynolds then grounded out to second base to advance both runners to second and third. But, Jadelyn Allchin struck out looking to end the top of the inning.
In the top of the 4th, Washington only hit a single to short stop via Kinsey Fileder. In the top of the 6th inning, nobody got on base as Vawter’s pitching was lights out. And then in the top of the 7th, Klingler was able to single up the middle, but that was it.
Aside from the 3rd inning and then of course the 5th inning when they gave up the run, Stanford did a great job of keeping Washington away from home plate. Their pitching and defense was fantastic as it has been all season.
“Yeah, you know, I thought AV did a good job,” Alister said of holding Washington to one run. “First of all, in setting a great tone. Competing in the zone and the hits, maybe two doubles, but mostly singles that are kinda chopping their way through. It takes a lot of those things to score. And then defensively, I thought we were solid. We played clean ball, took care of the ball, played the game at the pace it was supposed to be played.”
As for offense, Stanford was pretty quiet as they only had four hits in the entire game and two walks. Their best chance to score came in the bottom of the 1st inning. With one out, Gindlesperger singled through the left side after which Kaneshiro singled through the right side, advancing Gindlesperger to third base. Emily Young then got walked, loading up the bases. But then, Kylie Chung struck out swinging after which Kyra Chan flied out to right field.
In the bottom of the 4th, Stanford had a bit of life as Vawter got hit by a pitch with two outs after which Kaitlyn Lim came in to pinch run and steal second base. But, nobody was able to advance Lim further.
In the bottom of the 6th, Young singled through the right side and had Ella Nadeau come in to pinch run for her. Nadeau would steal second base and advance to third after Chan grounded out to short stop. Emily Schultz struck out looking to end the inning, failing to bring Nadeau home for the tying run.
In the bottom of the 7th, Lim singled through the left side and was advanced to second base as Sydney Steele hit a sacrifice bunt to advance her to second base. But like all other innings before, Stanford failed to bring the runner home as Mahler and Gindlesperger both popped up to short stop to end the game. 1-0 was the final.
For Stanford, as I said earlier, this game really summed up their strengths and weaknesses. The pitching and defense was excellent while the offense was just not able to get going. The amount of games you can win without scoring any runs is zero. You have to be able to get at least one run and Stanford was painfully reminded of that in this game.
“Yeah, like I said, I thought we had our opportunities today and we threw away at-bats in big situations," Allister admitted. "In the first inning there, she’s one the ropes and we chase ball four with the bases loaded. And then crushed one and the right fielder makes a great play. So, I think if we take ball four, that looks like a very different game. It’s really easy that we got four runs up in the board just in that moment. And then later on, we got runner at first, no outs. Chase ball four, that puts runners at first and second with no outs. So we just gotta stay within ourselves offensively and can’t allow ourselves to start guessing and letting the pitcher off the hook.”
Stanford would return on Sunday to lose 8-0 in six innings, giving the series victory to Washington. Full recap of that game to come.
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
