On Sunday, Stanford softball found out their NCAA tournament fate as they were awarded a No. 8 seed, which guarantees home field advantage through the College World Series. In addition to hosting a regional this weekend, should they win, they’ll also get home field advantage in the super-regional round, which is played among the final 16 teams in the NCAA tournament.
The four teams in Stanford’s regional are St. Mary’s, Mississippi State, and Cal State Fullerton. Stanford will open up against St. Mary’s on Friday at 7:00 PM PT on ESPN2 and KZSU radio. They’ll also play on Saturday against either Mississippi State or Cal State Fullerton depending what happens on Friday. The time for Saturday’s games are TBD. For those that are curious, Mississippi State and Cal State Fullerton will play on Friday at 4:30 PM PT on ESPN+. So, it’s possible Stanford’s game starts a bit later, but no earlier than 7:00 PM.
Stanford is coming off hosting the Pac-12 tournament, so they’ve been at home for a little while now. They took care of business against Cal 4-2 in the quarterfinals but fell to Utah in the semifinals by a final score of 2-1. UCLA ended up defeating Utah 2-1 to win the Pac-12 tournament.
Stanford has had a strong season to get a top eight seed in the NCAA tournament. They are 43-13 overall and 17-7 in the Pac-12. They have been really tough to beat at home, sporting an 18-5 record. Funny enough, they are even better on the road with a 16-3 record. However, they are 9-5 in neutral site games. Fortunately for them, they are at home both this weekend and the next should they advance.
Sophomore infielder Emily Jones has been the top contact hitter for the Cardinal, batting .366 for two home runs, 19 RBIs, a .470 slugging percentage, and a .424 on base percentage. The top power hitter has been senior catcher Aly Kaneshiro, who has been batting .267 for 10 home runs, 35 RBIs, a .494 on base percentage, and a .345 on base percentage. The player who has gotten on base the most has been sophomore infielder Taryn Kern, who is batting .297 for seven home runs, 30 RBIs, a .538 slugging percentage, and a .516 on base percentage.
All three of those players have been doing a great job at the plate all season long. The Cardinal definitely have a more potent offensive attack than they did a season ago. And it’s not just those three players. Up and down the lineup, they have players who know how to get on base and get hits. Sophomore outfielder Kyra Chan is second on the team with her .301 batting average, really improving from her freshman year.
As for the pitching, that continues to be the bread and butter of this Stanford team. Sophomore NiJaree Canady has an 18-4 record and a ridiculous 0.50 ERA. She has been other-worldly. And then senior Regan Krause is 20-6 with a 2.34 ERA. As a team, Stanford has a 1.68 ERA. So just up and down the pitching lineup, they’ve been excellent with Canady and Krause leading the way.
Overall, Stanford appears to be feeling confident coming into the tournament. They would have liked to have won the Pac-12 tournament, but they don’t seem to be too down about it. Head coach Jessica Allister will have her team ready to go and hungry to prove that they are better than how they played last week.
“Your hope is to gain a little bit of momentum,” Allister said looking ahead to the NCAA tournament. “Be playing some good ball down the stretch and I think we have some people who are starting to grab some offensive momentum back. I think Jade Berry is on the upswing. I think Emily Jones had a bit of a rough patch and is getting a little bit better and I think that’s good. I think we have some other people. River Mahler is getting a little bit better, too. So we got some people individually that are starting to get on a little bit of an upswing.
“We gotta fight to defend our confidence a little bit as a group and gain a little bit of that. But that’s kinda the game we play. You gotta be able to survive the lows and manage and enjoy the highs. So, there’s plenty of things that we should draw confidence from. We’ve had a lot of successes throughout the season and we’re gonna need to lean on those. Come back out on whatever day it is that we play and be ready to go.”
Keys to the weekend: If Stanford wants to win the regional this weekend, it’s gotta start with their pitching. If Canady is lights out and doing her thing and then Krause pitches up to her standard, they should be fine. That pitching got them to the College World Series last year and will be what takes them back should they get there.
One thing that will be interesting to see is how Allister handles the rotation. It would be nice to save Canady for Saturday if possible, though it can also help to have her set the tone on Friday night. Softball pitchers can pitch more frequently than baseball pitchers, so perhaps that makes it easier to have her pitch on Friday. But, if Canady does start on Friday, she should be pulled as soon as they get a lead so as to rest her for Saturday.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is find the home run ball. They’ve been doing better at that this season and they need it come alive this weekend. If they can go yard this weekend a few times, that would take some pressure off the pitching and allow the defense to breathe more. While home runs aren’t the only way to score runs, they are certainly the most efficient. With the crack of a bat, at least one run can come home if not more. The more of those you get, the better.
Finally, Stanford needs to play sound defensively. They can’t commit silly errors or allow teams to get any free runners on base. They need to make their opponents earn every single runner they get on base. If Stanford plays good defense behind their pitching, they should be in a really good spot.
Prediction: I got Stanford advancing out of this weekend with one loss. They did advance out of the regional last year without dropping a game, but their 1-0 win over Long Beach State was a nailbiter. I have a feeling the bats going cold will cost them a game, but they’ll still advance out of the regional and on to the super-regional round.
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