On Friday, No. 8 Stanford softball defeated No. 5 Oklahoma State 8-0 to stay alive in the Women’s College World Series. Oklahoma State’s season comes to an end. NiJaree Canady (23-6) was the winning pitcher for Stanford in a starting role while Lexi Kilfoyl (26-5) was the losing pitcher for Oklahoma State in a starting role.
BOX SCORE: Stanford vs. Oklahoma State-Friday, May 31st
VIDEO: Stanford Softball: Oklahoma State Postgame Press Conference | WCWS
“Just really proud of the team today,” Stanford head coach Jessica Allister said after the game. “Really really proud of the way we came back. Not surprised. You know, we've been resilient all year. We've been really resilient in the postseason. We've played really well in elimination games and we've pushed back. So, proud of the way we came out today. I told the team at the end of the game you know, I’d pick that team every time. I love the team that we were in the dugout, I love the team that we were on the field, and just really couldn't be more proud of the way that we came out today and you know, happy to get to stay in Oklahoma City for a couple more days.”
This game was all Stanford from the beginning. At the end of the 2nd inning, Stanford led 1-0 after a solo homer from Ava Gall in the top of the 2nd. Stanford then added two more runs in the top of the 3rd inning as Jade Berry hit a two-RBI double to bring home Aly Kaneshiro and Dani Hayes. NiJaree Canady was pitching well and now had some breathing room to work with.
“Yeah, I mean I think everybody had good at bats from the beginning,” Berry said of their offense. “Taryn’s leading off like Ava said and Ava’s one swing really set us all in and got us motivated to start being more aggressive and I think eventually they all started falling, too.”
In the top of the 4th inning, Kaitlyn Lim hit a solo home run to right field, giving the Cardinal a 4-0 lead. The Cardinal were catching fire on offense while Canady continued to dominate with her pitching.
At the end of the 5th inning, Stanford led 6-0 as Ava Gall and Emily Jones each had RBI singles for Stanford in the top of the 5th. In the bottom of the inning, Jones had a tremendous catch in the outfield to rob a home run from Oklahoma State. The shutout was still intact.
“We see Jones do that in practice all of the time,” Allister said. “And sometimes with outfield, you don’t get to see the great plays all the time because it takes kind of the perfect ball, but nothing she does out there surprises us because we see it in practice every day. But to see her make the transition from the infield to the outfield and just continue to get better as the year goes on, I mean she’s a really really really good outfielder.”
Stanford would load up the bases in the top of the 6th inning and add two more runs as River Mahler got walked with the bases loaded and no outs to make it 7-0. With one out, Emily Jones flied out to left field for the second out to bring home Jade Berry, who was ruled safe as Oklahoma State was called for obstruction at the plate. That made it 8-0.
In the bottom of the 6th, Canady shut the Cowgirls out from there, putting the mercy rule into effect. Stanford cruised to an 8-0 win and lived to fight another day in the College World Series. The hitting was excellent and then Canady was her dominant self. Just an all-around great team win.
“We were just kind of flat yesterday and we needed to play with some heart because heart is contagious,” Gall said. “And it is hard to beat a team that has it just ton of heart and a ton of pride in the name on their jersey. So that's kind of what the message was coming into today and knowing how we played in regionals and super regionals, we had to take that same energy and that same confidence and just apply it and play for each other. Play for Stanford.”
“I think we came out really fired,” Berry added. “I think that we all had the energy in the dugout. It was awesome to be there. I mean this is a crazy atmosphere and just being here is cool and I think that we came really fired up today.”
As has been the case all season long, the pitching of NiJaree Canady was the foundation of this win for Stanford. On top of her amazing pitches, the energy she brings to the team gives everyone a huge boost and the confidence to be the best they can be. When her teammates see how hard she is working for them, that motivates them to return the favor.
“NiJa motivates me so much,” Berry said of Canady. “I mean she's an amazing player. I think she's the greatest of all time and she's just a stud and so playing behind her is so easy, so fun because she motivates us because she's so good. And just seeing her lead our team in the circle it's pretty amazing because she's a stud you know, and I think we all feed off of that for our at-bats. We want to do good for each other and we want to do good for her.”
“Yeah I mean it fires us up every time she just strikes comes out,” Gall added. “Goes three up three down. It's huge and it just really helps the momentum and it really helps us offense, you know like put runs up for NiJa. Make it easier for NiJa. Do it for us so like after that home run I came in give her a hug and I was like this is for you. You know, like we're hitting we're doing for you keep on doing your job, we'll do our job and it's just that trust on both sides of the ball that is, it’s such a good dynamic.”
Stanford will return to action on Sunday at 4:00 PM PT against either UCLA or Oklahoma. Game is set to air on ESPN2, though that could of course change. With the day off, NiJaree Canady gets some time to rest, which is huge for Stanford. She’s been carrying them all post season long and needs to be as fresh as possible if the Cardinal want to go all the way.
Note: Canady missed the postgame press conference to be with the athletic trainer after appearing to injure her knee a bit while pitching. The ball hit her knee as she was pitching. That's something to keep an eye on, though in her opening postgame remarks as you'll see, Allister tried to downplay the seriousness of it.
“Yeah, she threw it off her knee, you are correct,” Allister said of Canady’s health going forward. “And you know, she’s tired. Like, she’s thrown a lot and we’ve asked her to do a lot over the last couple of weeks and I think you could see that at the end and just the performance that NiJa put on tonight. When she is tired, you know pitchers this time of the year, there’s a physical aspect to it and just to see her battle through that was, it’s one of the best performances that I’ve seen. Absolutely unbelievable.
“So just, I don’t know. I couldn’t be more proud of the work that she did and we had conversations with her. I’m being completely transparent with her this morning like you are good to go. You know, we’ve asked a lot of you. She said ‘Yeah, coach. I want the ball’ and I think that speaks to her as a competitor and then to come out and have the performance that she had, just, I can’t say enough about just what that means for the team and what she did today.
“We’ll find out [if she’s good to go Sunday], right? And you know, it’s late and it’s almost midnight. I think probably, got a day off tomorrow, which is going to be important and we’ll have those conversations as we go. But we’ll worry about that tomorrow.”
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