In a rematch of Sunday’s game, Stanford softball (4-0, 0-0 Pac-12) will take on the Santa Clara University Broncos (0-1, 0-0 WCC) on Tuesday, this time at Santa Clara. The Cardinal seek to extend their winning streak, starting the season 5-0 for the first time since 2014.
In Sunday’s game, a few innings of strong defense supplemented two power-hitting innings for the Cardinal as they cruised to an 8-0 victory. In that game, sophomore pitcher Alana Vawter allowed only two hits as the Cardinal played nearly flawless defense.
The offense stalled for the first few innings, but in the bottom of the fourth, the Cardinal went through its entire lineup, seeming nearly unstoppable. The hitting streak continued in the bottom of the fifth, with junior Kate Cressey and freshman Chloe Doyle coming in as pinch hitters and immediately making a difference, bringing in the final two game-winning runs. Altogether, six different Cardinal recorded a hit in that game, with graduate third baseman Christina Inouye and junior shortstop Emily Young both recording two hits apiece.
In Tuesday’s rematch, the team will seek to continue its winning ways with graduate infielder Eleni Spirakis returning to her undergraduate alma mater for the first time in a Stanford uniform. Santa Clara will be looking for revenge after losing via the run-rule on Sunday.
Keep an eye out for the hitting of Young and fellow juniors Taylor Gindlesperger and Emily Schultz. All three are hitting above .500, with Schultz leading the team in several major hitting categories including batting average (.727), slugging percentage (1.273), on base percentage (.786), and RBI (9). Santa Clara let Schultz hit only once on Sunday, walking her in her other two at bats.
Young leads the team with five stolen bases on five attempts, Gindlesperger leads the team in taken bases with 15, and graduate outfielder Teaghan Cowles leads the team with four walks, which makes sense given what an experienced threat she is when at bat.
First pitch is Tuesday at 4 p.m. PST at Santa Clara University.