No. 23 Stanford softball started their season last weekend with the Stanford Invitational going a perfect 4-0 with wins over Seattle (5-2), Fresno State (3-0), Seattle (17-7 in 5 innings), and Fresno State (10-2 in 5 innings). I was present for the 5-2 win over Seattle and the 10-2 win over Fresno State, so I’ll be focusing in on those two games.
BOX SCORE: Seattle at Stanford-Friday, February 7th
BOX SCORE: Fresno State at Stanford-Sunday, February 9th
In the 5-2 win over Seattle on Friday, Stanford senior Kylie Chung was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal giving up two runs and registering six strikeouts in 4.2 innings while sophomore Alyssa Houston picked up the save in 2.1 innings, striking out five batters. Stanford fifth year senior Caelan Koch had a strong performance with one hit for two RBIs in addition to scoring a run herself. All three of those runs came in the bottom of the 3rd inning for the Cardinal to give them a 5-2 lead, which would end up being the final score.
“Kylie Chung gave us a really good start on the mound,” Stanford head coach Jessica Allister said after the game. “I thought she was really tough. Got into a little bit of trouble early, gave up the runs, and then came in and shut them down. I thought she was really resilient and tough on the mound. And then Alyssa came in and did an exceptional job after her. So, I thought our pitching staff was really really good tonight. I thought we really swung the bat: five runs, 11 hits. I think very easily could have been 12 runs, 20 hits. A couple balls scorched the second baseman, she makes the play. Scorched at the short stop, scorched left field. You know, I think they made good defensive plays. So, overall I thought it was a good start.”
Stanford came from behind as Seattle jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the 1st inning. Stanford quickly responded in the bottom of the inning with two runs as River Mahler hit a single to bring home Taryn Kern before later coming home to score the second run thanks to a ground out by Allie Clements.
Stanford was scheduled to play Long Beach State the day before, but it ended up not getting played at all due to rain. So, the 5-2 win over Seattle was the first game for Stanford, which not only opened up the 2025 season but also opened up the era of playing at Stanford Stadium while the softball field gets renovated.
Playing at the football stadium is unique and has its own challenges, but on the whole, the setup is actually quite good. Stanford seems to be enjoying the experience and grateful that they still get to play on campus as opposed to having to find some off-campus site to play their home games.
“It’s awesome,” Allister said of playing at Stanford Stadium. “It just feels like our field. We’ve kind of settled in, but every day I still walk out here and I think what a cool experience. To see all the work that the facility staff has put into this place, just coming to life you know, get our first win out here, it was awesome…It’s amazing! I just keep saying this, but I can’t say enough how grateful I am to Bernard [Muir] and the administration for making this happen. For us to have an on campus home and like a real on campus home.
“You know, this is going to be an experience that these student athletes remember for the rest of their lives. And it’s gonna be part of their 20 year reunion, you remember when we played in the football stadium and it’s unbelievable.”
“It’s awesome,” Chung said of pitching at Stanford Stadium. “When they told us we were gonna play on the football field I was like, no, like, I don’t get to play in the new stadium because I’m a senior, but this is better than I could have ever imagined. It feels like it belongs here and I love the environment. I hope we get it packed for some of our big series’.
“I like how Stanford came together to make this happen for us because a lot of teams, when they get renovations on their stadiums, they got to go play on the road and for me as much as I love exploring new places, I love playing at home, I love staying, I love the weather, and so the thing about this field is it just reminds us of in the fall when we come to football games and even though obviously the football games don’t go how we want, we always have a lot of fun and always reminds me of good memories. It’s a really good end cap to my career. I’m super excited for this season.”
Switching gears to the 10-2 win over Fresno State that was played on Sunday, Alyssa Houston picked up the win for the Cardinal as she once again came in for relief for Chung to pitch the final 2.0 innings. While Chung had two earned runs, Houston had zero and struck out four batters.
“I thought they did a great job,” Allister said of how the pitching rotation did for the weekend. “Kylie and Alyssa were a really good combination and I thought Zoe [Prystajko] did a good job of staying tough and competing in her first outing. I’ve talked about it for a while now, but they just need to get out there and get comfortable and get settled and they have the chance to be really really good. So, I thought it was a good start and excited to get them back out there next weekend.”
While the final score was rather decisive, it was actually a pretty close game for much of the afternoon as Stanford led 3-2 entering the bottom of the 5th inning. Stanford would put the Bulldogs away in the 5th inning as they scored seven runs. Jade Berry got walked with the bases loaded to bring home Emily Jones after which Kyra Chan hit a grand slam to make it 8-2. Shortly thereafter, freshman Sydney Boulaphinh hit a two run homer to bring home freshman 1st baseman Joie Economides, ending the game.
“She’s put together a really good offensive January,” Allister said of Economides. “That’s why you see her get the start at first base. I thought she did a good job in her first game of being settled in and playing the game at the pace that it needs to be played at and putting a good swing on a good pitch, so really good right-handed power bat and good presence in the box.”
For both Chan and Boluaphinh, it was a fun way to cap off the weekend. It doesn’t get any better than to hit game-winning home runs. This game spoke to the talent in Stanford’s lineup and their ability to come up big in crunch time.
“Honestly, I didn’t even realize that if I were to hit a home run I was gonna walk off the game,” Boulaphinh said. “I just went in there and it was my chance to go in there, just help the team get more runs, so that was my goal.”
“It’s awesome,” Allister said of Boulaphinh’s walk-off. “Those are some of the fun memories and the fun moments in the season. So for her to get down, get two strikes, and still get off a good swing was awesome.”
“Well, it was a 3-2 count and I wanted to hit the runners in,” Chan said of her grand slam. “Just wanted to get a hit or get something through, something productive, so happened to be aggressive, which was great. It feels great. It’s nice to help us get a good lead late in the game and it just felt great.”
Overall, the Stanford Invitational was a great start to the season for the Cardinal. The bats came alive, the pitching was sound, and everyone seemed to have a great time out at Stanford Stadium. They really couldn’t have asked for anything better.
“Yeah, it’s a good first start,” Allister said of the weekend. “I think to come out and win four games, opening weekend is great. So yeah, happy with it.”
“I really want to show not only my team, but the world who Stanford Softball is,” Chung said. “Even though a lot of people are doubting us coming into the season, we’re here to show Stanford softball it wasn’t, it’s not one person, it’s an accumulation of all of us and I’m super excited for that.”
“It’s been good, I think it shows the work we’ve been putting on this whole fall throughout this whole winter quarter,” Boulaphinh added. “We’ve been hitting the ball, practiced good, and we’ve been doing good in our live scrimmages and I think it’s really showing right now…I just love being with my teammates and just going through this together with my other freshmen teammates and just learning how to be a college student and be a student athlete.”
Up next for the Cardinal is the Cardinal Classic, which will also be played at Stanford Stadium. Their opening game of that series will be on Friday, February 14th at 3:30 PM PT against UC Davis on ACCNX. For the full weekend schedule, click here.
“I think we got really good lineup chemistry this year,” Chan said. “Our bats look great. We all have really good team chemistry also. So we just kind of play for each other and it’s really fun.”
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