On Friday, No. 19 Stanford softball defeated Syracuse 4-3 in the opening game of their three-game home series. Kylie Chung (6-1) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal in a starting role while Zoe Prystajko picked up her first save of the season. Madison Knight (6-2) was the losing pitcher for the Orange in a starting role. Stanford improves to 15-3 overall and 3-1 in the ACC while Syracuse falls to 16-4 overall and 0-1 in the ACC.
BOX SCORE: Syracuse at Stanford-Friday, March 7th
“It was a great game,” Stanford head coach Jessica Allister said after the game. “Those are good outings for Zoe to get comfortable in and it was big time coming back in, you know, getting the two pop ups and Kylie had a great start. So yeah, it’s good.”
Stanford scored all four of their runs in the top of the 2nd inning to go up 4-0. After Kyra Chan got on base thanks to an error, Joie Economides hit a triple to bring home Chan, making it 1-0. Caelan Koch then singled to bring home Economides, making it 2-0. Dani Hayes would then pinch run for Koch and steal second base with two outs. Taryn Kern then hit a triple to bring home Hayes after which Emily Jones hit an RBI single to bring home Kern. That made it 4-0. Jade Berry then hit into a fielder’s choice as Jones was out at second base to end the inning.
“I think there’s a couple things,” Allister said of the key to their four-run inning. “We strung them together and when you string them together you score. And then I think when you go throughout, Zoe hits at 219, Joie hits at 204, like those balls just get a little lift and we don’t score there. So, I think when you can string them together, you got a shot.”
“I think just folks in having quality at-bats,” Kern added. “You know, moving runners, keeping it simple, and string things together.”
In the top of the 5th inning, Syracuse scored two runs as Kylie Chung gave up a pair of RBI singles to Jadyn Burney and Madelyn Lopez. That made it 4-2. With two outs and Burney and Lopez on second and third base, Chung’s day pitching was done as Zoe Prystajko came in to get the final out of the inning. Prystajko would strike out the next batter, keeping it at 4-2.
In the top of the 6th inning, Prystajko got three straight batters out, keeping it at 4-2. In the top of the 7th, Alyssa Houston came in to pitch for Prystajko, who stayed in the game in a designated hitter role. After allowing runners to get on first and third base with no outs, Houston’s day pitching was done as Prystajko came back into the pitching circle.
Prystajko would give up a bunt to load up the bases before getting a strike out. Prystajko would then walk a batter with the bases loaded, making it 4-3. From there, Prystazjko settled in by getting the next two batters out by forcing back-to-back fly outs to left field. That ended the game. 4-3 victory for the Cardinal.
“Just the utmost confidence, confidence in my ability to throw the ball well and for my defense to back me up,” Prystazjko said of the key to closing it out. “Just letting them have it knowing I couldn’t walk anybody, except for that one, but yeah, pounding the zone, getting ahead.”
“The composure was great,” Allister said of Prystajko. “And that’s gonna be really important as we move along and you know, we’ve talked how this all goes about our offense and our defense, we are gonna need to be able to protect our pitching as they grow and learn and you can see there’s Zoe growing and learning. So, to be able to draw from that experience and come in with that in her back pocket, that’s great.”
For Stanford, this was a good win for them. They did just enough offensively and then they bended but didn’t break defensively. They found a way to get the job done and a lot of credit goes to the freshman Zoe Prystajko for stepping up in crunch time and getting her team out of a difficult situation in the top of the 7th inning.
“I mean, to be honest, it’s not so nice,” Kern said of winning a close game. “I’d prefer an 18–0 win, of course. But yeah, I mean we were also talking about today like you just got to have to do what the game asks of you for the day and if that means you win 7-6 or 15-14 or 18-0. You just gotta stay in it and just be present in the moment. Do what you can.”
“Their versatility, they can put the ball in play, bunting, they can also hit away and they can choose a good pitch,” Prystajko said of Syracuse. “They can swing it definitely.”
Stanford won game two of the series on Saturday 5-1. Full recap to come.
“Consistent at-bats,” Allister said of the key to winning the series. “Syracuse has two really good pitchers. We saw one of them tonight. They have another one. Like I said, they got kind of a two-headed monster there, so I’m sure we’ll see her tomorrow and we’re gonna need a consistent offensive pressure from the get go and I think we can continue to have consistent offensive pressure after we score.
“You know, we talk in the huddle about we wanna play like we’re chasing a couple run lead and I think we lost a little bit of that and if we can just have some more productive outs with runners on base I think we can push across a couple more runs.”
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