Recap: No. 8 Stanford SB advances to College World Series back-to-back
On Sunday, No. 8 Stanford softball defeated LSU by a final score of 8-0 in six innings to advance to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. Stanford sophomore NiJaree Canady (23-5) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal in a starting role while LSU sophomore Sydney Berzon (20-9) was the losing pitcher for the Tigers in a starting role.
BOX SCORE: LSU at Stanford-Sunday, May 26th
“Yeah, I don’t really have many thoughts outside of I am so incredibly proud of this group of women,” Stanford head coach Jessica Allister said after the win. “And to come back during regionals and then to come back after a tough first day, it takes so much grit, it takes so much tenacity and I think it speaks to the strength of our team and obviously NiJa put together an unbelievable weekend. And Caelan Koch has been hitting the ball all week and finally gets the payoff today. But just, what a magical day. What a fun day to celebrate with our crowd. Our crowd was awesome this weekend and we are thrilled to be heading back to Oklahoma City.”
This game was a pitcher’s duel for much of the game as neither team scored through the first four innings of the game. Both teams were able to get some hits, but not enough to bring anyone home.
In the top of the 1st inning, Ciara Briggs hit a single to center field for LSU. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, Caelan Koch hit a double to right center for Stanford after which Dani Hayes came in to pinch run for her. Jade Berry then grounded out to short stop, advancing Hayes to third base. However, River Mahler then popped up to short stop to end the bottom of the inning.
In the top of the 3rd inning, Madyson Manning hit a single to right center for LSU and was advanced to second base via a sacrifice bunt but would be left stranded at second base. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Taryn Kern got on base for Stanford thanks to an error but wasn’t able to advance beyond first base.
In the bottom of the 4th inning, Stanford had a great opportunity to score but failed to do so. With two outs, Koch doubled down the left field line after which Berry singled through the right side only for Koch to be waved home and tagged out at home plate. The play was reviewed for possible obstruction, but the call was upheld. It remained 0-0 at the end of the 4th inning.
In the top of the 5th inning, LSU nearly broke the game wide open. With one out, Maci Bergeron hit a double to left center after which Manning got walked. Then, Karli Petty got hit by a pitch to load up the bases. At this point, LSU had all the momentum and Canady was looking fatigued. Amazingly, Canady was able to settle in, forcing McKenzie Redoutey to hit a shallow fly ball to left field. Kyra Chan made the catch for Stanford for the second out and then made a clutch throw to home plate to catcher Aly Kaneshiro who tagged pinch runner Savanna Bedell out at home plate. Another replay took place and once again the play was upheld. It remained a 0-0 game.
“Just again, we like to just focus on the pitch at hand,” Canady said of getting out of that jam. “So, you can’t really control the outcome of everything. All you can do is just focus on the pitch and throwing each pitch as best you can. So that’s what I tried to do and then Kyra made an amazing throw at home and Biggy [Kaneshiro] with the tag was just incredible.”
“I think that’s the fun of it all,” Allister added. “You know, and if you can allow that to be the fun of it all. It’s why we do this and to see big people make plays in those moments and in that situation, I’ll take NiJa on the mound every single day and I don’t care how many outs. I don’t care who’s up. I don’t care who’s on the bases. Like, I pick NiJa and just seeing her compete out there, it’s a real pleasure.”
In the bottom of the 5th, Stanford broke the game wide open as they scored seven runs. NiJaree Canady had time to take a nap if she wanted. Emily Jones, Ava Gall, Aly Kaneshiro, and Caelan Koch each had an RBI after which Jade Berry hit a three-run home run to center field. At the end of the 5th, it was a 7-0 lead for the Cardinal. They were in the driver’s seat.
“I think for me, it was just today I wanted to lay it all out on the field for my teammates,” Koch said. “And just for like everyone that supports us and I try to take that into my bats just seeing it as an opportunity to succeed and this is our chance to punch our ticket to the World Series. So, I just think that mindset was really helpful. The team is amazing and they have my back.”
In the top of the 6th inning, Canady was lights out as she got three straight batters out. Now, the Cardinal had a chance to close it out in the bottom of the 6th if they could get one more run to force the mercy rule.
“I dunno, just this has been the dream for so long,” Canady said of the key to her success. “So, just to have the opportunity to just play on this stage and to fight for my team and fight to get to Oklahoma City. I feel like that just outweighs everything.”
Up first to the plate for the Cardinal was Kaitlyn Lim, who crushed the ball deep over the right field fence to make it an 8-0 victory for the Cardinal. Her teammates came out of the dugout cheering, knowing they had officially won the game and punched their ticket to the College World Series for a second straight year. The first time in program history that they reached the College World Series back-to-back seasons and the fourth time overall (2001 & 2004 the other two times).
“It was awesome,” Koch said of Lim’s home run. “I don’t even think, I saw like half of her swing and I just saw the ball fly and I was like (gasp) and my heart just stopped. Oh my! It was awesome! Just an incredible moment and she is such a good hitter. And like Coach Allister was saying, we’ve just been hitting the ball so hard all game. So just to have her do that and I think it was the first pitch of the at-bat. Just amazing and such a good way to end it. It was an all-around effort with NiJa just dominating.”
“We were saying in the huddle actually to end it this inning,” Canady added. “And personally I thought it was gonna take a couple more batters, but Kaitlyn took it in her own hands.”
For Stanford, this is obviously an emotional win. To reach the College World Series is always a big deal. But to punch their ticket at home in front of their fans makes it even sweeter.
“Oh, it’s so great,” Allister said of getting to punch their ticket at home. “All the fans staying and cheering and clapping. It’s just, it’s special and it’s something that we don’t take for granted.”
As for Allister, she’s been a part of every Stanford team to reach the World Series. Twice as a player and now twice as a head coach. That’s a pretty rare feat for anyone to make. Especially at their alma mater.
“Yeah, I think NiJa just touched on it and actually hearing her say it, we went my freshman year,” Allister recalled. “And I had the same thought. Like this is just how it goes and then we didn’t get back again until my senior year and I know how hard it is to get to Oklahoma City and there are so many good teams and the margins are so small. You gotta play good ball at the right moment. You gotta get some breaks and I’ll say the same thing that I said at the end of last year, but it’s just true. Like, it’s wonderful because you get to see these young women live their dreams and they’ve been phenomenal all year.
"The work that they put in the summer, the work that they put in the fall, just what a great team they are. You guys see the product on the field, but you don’t see how much they actually care about one another and how much they’ve poured into one another and I think you can see that on weekends like this weekend when it’s hard and we stick together and we fight and not a lot of teams do that, but I think that speaks to the strength of our team and we just wanna continue to play together because it’s special.”
If I had to pick an x-factor for Stanford during their postseason run, it would be Kyra Chan. She has had many clutch hits and also made some big plays in the outfield. She’s really taken a leap as a sophomore and done a great job of elevating her game.
“Well, I was just thinking there’s two outs and this is what a little kid, a little me dreamed of,” Chan said on Saturday about a key RBI she had. “Being in the postseason, like I’m just excited to be out in these moments and I was gonna get a hit.”
“Kyra is best in the biggest moments,” Alliser said of Chan. “She always has been and she just really shines in that stage. So I think that serves her well and then this is her first postseason that she actually gets to play in. She got at the end of last year after coming on strong and just because of medical advice and travel and whatnot, she was not able to come to supers with us. She wasn’t able to come to Oklahoma City with us. So this is like her chance to get back there and get to play. So to see her shine on this stage, I’m not surprised at all. She’s as tough and competitive as anybody that I’ve ever coached and it’s been wonderful to see her really shine.”
Touching quickly on LSU, Stanford has the utmost respect for them as a team. They knew they beat a really good team and that it took everything they had to advance.
“That LSU pitching staff is really good,” Allister said. “Berzon is really good. They have the second best numbers in the SEC. They’re top ten nationally. Like she is a good pitcher and that is a good staff…To have the offensive performance that we did against them this weekend. Like, is really impressive and we should feel really good about that.”
Looking ahead to the College World Series, Stanford will look to go deeper than they did last year. They were not able to reach the final last year as they fell to Oklahoma, so that’s something for them to shoot for. You don’t go to the College World Series to not win it all, so coming up short last year should give them plenty of hunger to finish the job this year.
On that note, Stanford’s opening game will be on Thursday, May 30th against No. 1 Texas at 5:00 PM PT. TV TBD. KZSU radio will carry the game.
Note: The two teams split during the regular season. Texas won 9-2 in their first meeting in Clearwater, Florida on February 16th. Stanford bounced back to win 4-3 on February 24th on the road in eight innings. Canady pitched in the second game, but not in the first game.
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