On Saturday, No. 8 Stanford softball defeated No. 9 LSU 3-0 to even up their three-game Super Regional series. Stanford sophomore NiJaree Canady (22-5) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal in a starting role while LSU graduate student Kelley Lynch (9-3) was the losing pitcher for the Tigers in a starting role.
BOX SCORE: Stanford vs. LSU-Saturday, May 25th
“Yeah, what a wonderful day of softball,” Stanford head coach Jessica Allister said after the game. “I thought the atmosphere was excellent. I thought the play was excellent. Really really really proud of the entire team. NiJa was exceptional and Kyra was exceptional and I just thought we showed up ready to compete. So, excited we get to play another day and ready to go at it again tomorrow.”
After getting shelled on Saturday, Stanford bounced back strong as Canady pitched a shutout. She only gave up two hits and three walks while striking out nine batters. After being out of rhythm in game one, Canady was back to her regular self: Stomping after a big strike out and instilling fear in the eyes of LSU batters. The Tigers knew they were in for a different Canady and Cardinal team than they saw the night before.
“Yeah, I just talked a lot to Coach Nyberg and we both agreed. Just hit better lanes this time around,” Canady said of her bounce back performance. “And it worked out…Yeah, absolutely [I took everything personally]. A thousand percent.”
As for Stanford’s offense, they were good enough. In the top of the 3rd inning, Taryn Kern hit a triple for the Cardinal with two outs. She hit the ball deep into right field as it nearly cleared the fence but bounced back into play. Stanford challenged the call as they thought it should have been ruled a home run but the challenge was unsuccessful. Thankfully for the Cardinal, Kyra Chan came up to the plate and hit a clutch double to center field, bringing home Kern to make it a 1-0 lead. Ava Gall then grounded out to short stop to end the top of the inning.
“Well, I was just thinking there’s two outs and this is what a little kid, a little me dreamed of,” Chan said. “Being in the postseason, like I’m just excited to be out in these moments and I was gonna get a hit.”
The game remained a 1-0 lead for Stanford all the way through the end of the 6th inning. As well as Canady was pitching, Stanford would have really liked to have gotten a bit of run support for her final inning. Stanford was able to do that as they added two runs in the top of the 7th inning. River Mahler hit a triple to left center to lead things off after which Emily Jones doubled down the right field line to bring home Mahler. That made it a 2-0 lead for Stanford. With two outs, Chan delivered her second RBI of the night as she singled through the right side to bring home Jones. That made it a 3-0 lead for Stanford. Gall then grounded out to end the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the 7th, Canady delivered the goods: ground out, walk, foul out, strike out. That was the ball game. 3-0 Stanford won.
For Stanford, they live to fight another day as they force a decisive game three for Sunday. The winner will advance to the Women’s College World Series. The loser will see their season come to an end. It can’t get any clearer than that.
“It’s a character game,” Allister said. “Again, and I’m not surprised. We’ve got a group of phenomenal women and we’re ready to compete and I think these are the games that are good. And as you go, the story, you never know exactly what it’s going to look like, but we love it and we’re excited to come back out here tomorrow. But, yeah love the way we came out and were aggressive right away. Love the way that NiJa went at them right away. And this is the stuff that propels you throughout. It’s a huge win.”
As for LSU, they just have to believe that if they keep doing their thing, Canady will wear down on Sunday and Stanford’s lack of offense will catch up with them. If you are LSU, there is no reason to panic and if anything, you should like where you are sitting.
“I think our team was slow starting today a little bit,” LSU head coach Beth Torina said. “I think came out on our heels a little bit. But, I mean anytime I think you’re facing a NiJaree Canady, I mean, it’s gonna be tough. It’s gonna be hard and she had a really good day today and when she has a good today, sometimes this is going to be the outcome. So, I think we have to go back to the drawing board, play the game with more aggressiveness, make some better decisions at the plate, and kinda get back to the way we felt on Friday night instead of how we started today. But a lot of credit to Stanford and the game they played and NiJaree, she is incredibly talented and I think she’s capable of big moments like that. So, that’ll be our challenge for tomorrow.”
Sunday’s game three will be at 6:30 PM PT on ESPN2 and KZSU radio. While Canady will certainly play, it will be interesting to see how Allister handles the pitching rotation or if she just rides with Canady for as long as possible.
“Go to bed,” Allister said with a chuckle about what the message is to the team for game three. “After an exciting win like this, it’s sometimes hard. But go to bed. And then come out and compete again. The goal hasn’t changed. I told them before the game everything we want is still in front of us and now everything that we want is still in front of us. So, go home, go to sleep, you get back to the field like be ready to just compete your tails off and I thought we were excellent at that today and do it again tomorrow.”
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