On Saturday, No. 8 Stanford softball defeated Mississippi State 2-1 in the regional round of the NCAA tournament. Stanford sophomore NiJaree Canady (20-4) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal in a starting role while Mississippi State fifth year senior Aspen Wesley (15-7) was the losing pitcher for the Bulldogs in a starting role.
BOX SCORE: Mississippi State at Stanford-Saturday, May 18th
“Yeah, it was a great win,” Stanford head coach Jessica Allister said after the game. “It’s a huge win, actually. That’s a really good team. Any time you can end up in the winner’s bracket on the third day of regionals you feel good about where you are at. So, NiJa was outstanding in the circle today and I thought we got off some really good swings. Obviously Ava included in there. And I was really proud. I thought offensively we have five hits and two runs on the board, but I think it could have been way more. We got a lot of barrel and I just thought we had really good consistent offensive pressure all day. So, it was a good win.”
The first team to score was Stanford, who added a run in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Kyra Chan got on first base via a throwing error from third base with no outs after which Jade Berry hit a double to center field to bring home Chan. Wesley got the next three batters out to end the inning. It was now a 1-0 lead for the Cardinal at the end of the 2nd inning.
“I thought she did a good job at getting an aggressive swing off a good pitch,” Allister said of Berry’s RBI. “And I think Jade is really starting to hit her stride. She’s a hitter and I think she’s starting to get a little bit of confidence and get going and I think everyone is starting to see what we’ve seen all year in practice. So, she’s taking aggressive swings, she’s making the pitcher come into the zone, and when the pitcher comes into the zone, she’s putting a good swing on it. So yeah, scoring first is really important.”
After Canady got three straight batters out in the top of the 3rd inning, Stanford added another run in the bottom of the 3rd. With two outs, Ava Gall hit a solo homer down the right field line to make it a 2-0 lead for the Cardinal. After Aly Kaneshiro was walked, Chan struck out swinging to end the bottom of the inning.
“I was kind of hunting that pitch all game,” Gall said of her home run. “And I finally saw it and actually coach Nyberg had yelled “hit it over the fence!” and I didn’t hear that until afterwards, but I just saw it, it was in my zone and just got a good swing off on a good pitch and I’ve been working at it and just all fell into place.”
Mississippi State immediately responded in the top of the 4th inning as Sierra Sacco hit a solo shot to center field to make it 2-1. Canady then settled in, getting three of the next four batters out, only giving up a single to Matalasi Faapito. In the bottom of the 4th inning, Berry doubled to right center and with one out, River Mahler was walked. However, nobody was able to bring them home.
From there, neither team would score as Stanford went on to win 2-1. Canady’s pitching was excellent for Stanford down the stretch only giving up a walk in the top of the 5th and a single in the top of the 7th. She was throwing really well from the circle. With the way she pitches, you can feel pretty comfortable with a one run lead.
“Honestly, I’m just ready to go tomorrow,” Canady said. “Like I said yesterday, this is what postseason is all about. Is leaving it all on the field. So, I’m excited to do that.
“My approach and honestly our whole staff’s approach is throw each pitch as best you can. So, we try to do that whether it’s a ten run lead or a one run lead or if we’re down, honestly. Like, just throw each pitch as best you can.”
As a result of winning this game, Stanford won’t play again until Sunday at 2:00 PM PT. They’ll play either Mississippi State or Cal State Fullerton. Whichever team wins on Saturday night. If Stanford wins the 2:00 PM PT game, they’ll advance to the super regional round of the NCAA tournament, which they would host. If they lose, they’ll run it back again at 4:30 PM PT. Winner of that game will advance to the super regional round.
UPDATE: Stanford will face Cal State Fullerton, who defeated Mississippi State 7-0 on Saturday night.
Stating the obvious here, it’s huge for Stanford to be in a position where they have to get beaten twice on a Sunday in order to get eliminated. That takes a lot of pressure off of them. What will be interesting to see is how Allister handles the pitching rotation since she had to roll with Canady the entire game on Saturday and a good chunk of Friday’s win over Saint Mary’s. Odds are really good Regan Krause will pitch on Sunday. The question is whether she’ll start or come out of the bullpen. I could see it going either way.
“We’re gonna go back and look at it,” Allister said when asked about how she’ll handle the pitching. “We keep saying that we use the staff for a reason and it’s so that we have a staff available and we’re gonna continue to utilize our pitching staff. So same thing I said last night. This is the reason you do all the work in the summer, this is the reason you do all the work all fall, all winter, so that physically you’re ready to at this time of year. NiJa is going to drink a lot of water tomorrow or tonight to be ready. But you know, we’re gonna utilize our staff. So, it’s been a strength of ours all year and we’re gonna continue to lean on it. But we’ll figure out what that game plan looks like as the evening goes on.”
Touching more on Canady, she’s been phenomenal all season long and that has carried into the postseason. A source of inspiration for her play is coming from across the Bay in Berkeley. Her brother BJ Canady is an incoming freshman for Cal football. He just finished spring football with the Bears as an early enrollee and is currently rooting for his sister and the Stanford softball team. Even if they are the rival academic school.
“Yeah, so we’re really close in age, too. So we’ve just grown up together always competing,” Canady said of her brother. “We both played tackle football, actually. So we just, I dunno, just growing up together. And then being able to continue that rivalry it’s been really fun. But, when we played Cal actually, no one knew if he would wear a Stanford shirt or a Cal shirt and I think he wore like a random shirt. He didn’t pick a side…I’m not sure. I try to ask, he never gives me an answer. So, I’m sure he’s rooting for us a little more with softball, but then yes, just softball I feel like he’s more of a Stanford fan. But everything else is definitely more Cal.”
“He picked a side,” Allister said with a smile. “He was rooting for us, come on!”
Overall, Stanford is in a good spot going into Sunday. They have to win one game to advance and can afford to drop a game. They just need to not get complacent and make sure they finish the job.
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