On Saturday, No. 19 Stanford softball defeated Syracuse 5-1. Stanford senior Kylie Chung (7-1) was the wining pitcher for the Cardinal in a relief role, pitching the final four innings of the game. Syracuse junior Julianna Verni (7-1) was the losing pitcher for the Orange, pitching all six innings. Stanford center fielder Emily Jones went 1-2 for two RBIs while 1st baseman Joie Economides hit a solo home run for the Cardinal. Stanford improved to 16-3 overall and 4-1 in the ACC while Syracuse fell to 16-5 overall and 0-2 in the ACC.
BOX SCORE: Syracuse at Stanford-Saturday, March 8th
“Yeah, I thought it was a good job by Alyssa coming out after maybe a little bit of a rough patch there yesterday. Getting the ball to start and giving us a really solid start and then Kylie coming in and shut the door,” Stanford head coach Jessica Allister said after the game. “I thought it was excellent, I thought we had some good at-bats throughout. So, good job coming out, taking the series and got to be ready for tomorrow.”
Similar to Friday’s game, Stanford did most of their damage in the bottom of the 2nd inning. After both teams were scoreless in the 1st inning and Syracuse was held scoreless in the top of the 2nd inning, Stanford added three runs in the bottom of the inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Taryn Kern got hit by a pitch to bring home Jade Berry, who was on 3rd base. Emily Jones then hit a two-RBI single to bring home Sydney Boulaphinh and Joie Economides. Stanford would not score any more runs the rest of the inning, making it a 3-0 lead for them at the end of the 2nd inning.
“I think we just chipped away at that point,” Economides said of their 2nd inning success. “We just honestly all got on base, we knew that the pitch was gonna be thrown like drop balls, you know? So I think chipping away was the best part even though it was only singles, I feel like we did really well and just, you know, put the bats in play and let everything work out.”
In the bottom of the 3rd inning after Alyssa Houston pitched another shutout inning for Stanford, Economides went yard to left field with two outs, making it a 4-0 lead for the Cardinal. Boulaphinh then flied out to center field to end the inning.
“I came back struggling from the Georgia Tech game and I wanted to redeem myself and first pitch, I knew it was gonna be a good one and I was talking to everybody in the dugout and they were saying first pitch strikes, swing at them, and I just went for it,” Economides said of her home run. “Did what I do best and just unleashed the bat.
“I have to give all credit to my team, honestly. The support that they have. Believing in me, trusting me to do it and get the job done. It feels really good to have my teammates support me and back me up through everything.”
“She’s obviously doing a great job, having that power potential, especially in the seven spot down there, just giving us an opportunity to score up and down the lineup,” Allister said of Economides. “I think that’s one of the things that I’ve really appreciated about this team thus far is nobody’s had to carry too heavy of a load. No matter where we’re at we can score. She’s been a big piece of that.”
In the top of the 4th inning, Houston walked Madelyn Lopez, who was the first batter she faced in the inning. Houston then gave up a single, advancing Lopez to second base. That ended Houston’s day in the pitching circle as Kylie Chung came in for relief. Chung would do a good job of stopping the bleeding as only one run scored (Lopez) thanks to a fly out to left field. 4-1 Stanford led entering the bottom fo the 4th inning.
“I think they’re growing,” Allister said of their pitching staff. “I think they’re learning and they’re growing. And that’s all you can ask, but I think they’re gaining confidence. I think they’re starting to understand the things that make them successful and really, you can’t learn it until you’re out there doing it and I’ve been impressed thus far.”
“I think just having the confidence to throw it through the zone,” Chung said of the key to her success. “I haven’t been in this role for the last three years, so trying to find my identity and each game I feel like I’m chipping away at the person that I think I can be. And so, just trying to pound the zone and belief that my stuff is good enough to throw through the zone.”
In the bottom of the 4th inning, Stanford added one more run as River Mahler grounded out to 1st base, which brought home Dani Hayes, who was on 3rd base and pinch running for Caelan Koch. That would be the only run Stanford scored in the inning, making it a 5-1 lead.
From there, Stanford would win 5-1 as Syracuse was unable to add any more runs the rest of the way. Stanford’s offense did what it needed to do while the defense was more sound than it was on Friday. As a result, it was a fairly comfortable win with a solid four run cushion.
“I thought similar to yesterday we strung them together in an inning and put up a pretty good crooked number there, which is good,” Allister said. “I thought answering back after they scored was great, that’s something that maybe we didn’t necessarily do yesterday, but Syracuse has a really good pitching staff. You look at their team ERA, it’s pretty spectacular. So I think coming out and putting up four yesterday and putting up what was it, five today, six today? And feeling like we left some on the table. Like, I think that’s a good sign. So we’re probably gonna get Knight again tomorrow or some version of the rest of their staff and we better be ready.”
“I think today, a little bit more than yesterday, we were a little bit more competitive in the box,” Chung said. “Like the entire game we were dialed in a little bit better. I still think, like that these two games were only a shell of what we can be. We haven’t been playing our best ball. So hopefully tomorrow we show up with a little bit better version of ourselves. A little bit more competitive.”
Stanford would go on to win game three on Sunday by a final score of 9-0 in six innings to get the sweep. Full recap to come.
Connect with CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), & Blue Sky: @StanfordRivals
Connect with Ben Parker on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), & Blue Sky: @slamdunk406
Email: slamdunk406@yahoo.com
