On Thursday, No. 8 Stanford softball fell to No. 1 Texas in their first game of the College World Series. Teagan Kavan (19-2) was the winning pitcher for Texas while NiJaree Canady (22-6) was the losing pitcher for Stanford.
BOX SCORE: Stanford vs. Texas-Thursday, May 30th
Texas scored two runs in the bottom of the 3rd and 6th innings to make it four runs on the day:
In the bottom of the 3rd inning with runners on second and third base, Bella Dayton hit a single to second base and advanced to second base on the throw while Kayden Henry came home to score and Ashton Maloney was out at third base. Mia Scott then hit a single through the right side and advanced to second base on the throw while Dayton came home to score. In the bottom of the 6th, Henry hit a two-RBI single with the bases loaded and two outs to bring home Katie Stewart and Mia Scott.
Canady overall pitched a good game, but Texas’ lineup wore her down in the end. It’s an explosive lineup and very difficult to contain. One can’t pin this loss on Canady. She came to play like she always does, but Texas showed why they are the top team in the nation.
As for Stanford’s offense, that’s where you have to place most of the blame for this loss. They only had one hit and left six runners on base. They really needed to get some extra base hits and put some pressure on Texas once they got a runner on base, but they just were not able to do so. Obviously, a lot of credit has to go to Teagan Kavan for the way she pitched, but at the same time, this has been an issue for Stanford’s offense all postseason long. They have stretches where they just go cold and that’s what happened in this one.
Stanford’s defense also hurt them a bit in the field. An error by Kaitlyn Lim in the outfield helped to bring home an extra runner for Texas in the bottom of the 6th inning. When you are having a hard time putting up runs, the last thing you need is to make mistakes that cost you even one run. Especially in the College World Series.
At this point, all that Stanford can do is move on from this loss. It’s a double elimination tournament, so they’ll get a chance on Friday, May 31st to stay alive. They’ll face either Oklahoma State or Florida at 6:30 PM PT on ESPN2.
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