April 4, 2000
This Week: The eighth-ranked Stanford softball team (30-7, 1-4 Pac-10) will take to the road for a non-conference doubleheader against Saint Mary's (15-21) on April 4 and three Pac-10 games versus Arizona State (34-6, 2-1 Pac-10) and Arizona (39-3 overall, 3-0 Pac-10). Stanford will look to extend its 13 game win streak against non-conference opponents against the Gaels and snap a three game conference losing streak that began last weekend versus Washington when they face Arizona State on Friday. Stanford swept Saint Mary's in the fourth and fifth games of the 1999 season by scores of 18-1 and 4-0 at the Stanford Softball Complex. The Cardinal will look to get its offense back on track since they haven't scored a run in the last 21 innings, which consists of the last two innings of the UC Santa Barbara game through last Sunday's five inning, 8-0 loss to UCLA. The Cardinal did, however, bang out 24 hits, three doubles and drew eight bases on balls in four games last week.
Ranking Review: Stanford remained at No. 8 in the March 29 USA Today/NFCA Coaches Top 25 following a 30-4 start and seven wins over ranked teams. The Cardinal began the season ranked 21st and has appeared in the top 25 of every regular-season poll since early in the 1998 season, reaching a high of No. 7 during 1999. Pac-10 teams hold the top five spots in the poll, and seven of the top 11. All eight Pac-10 teams are ranked in the top 23 in the latest poll and the conference has gone 234-32-1 (.878) against non-league opponents this season. In 2000 Stanford is scheduled to play each of the top seven teams in the poll (18 total games) and 31 games against top-25 teams.
Scouting the Opposition: Stanford will play a non-conference doubleheader at Saint Mary's College on Tuesday, April 4, before returning to Pac-10 play at Arizona State and Arizona this weekend. The Gaels have lost their last four games, including a doubleheader at Santa Clara on April 1. Saint Mary's is led by Trisha Dean, who is hitting .358 for the season with 10 doubles and 21 runs batted in. Jennifer Fawkes (.351 BA) and Jenn Price (.348) are second and third on the team in batting average and add speed to the base paths for the Gaels, stealing 12 and 13 bases, respectively. In the circle, Jenn Pick brings a 13-11 record into Tuesday's games, while Tracy Bealer is 2-10 for the season. Pick has posted a 2.57 ERA and struck out 127 batters in 28 appearances and 154.0 innings pitched.
In the circle: Stanford's team ERA inched above the school record of 1.30. It is currently 1.31 despite the fact that four freshmen have pitched every inning for Stanford this year. All continue to show improvement under the tutelage of pitching coach Lonni Alameda.Tori Nyberg made appearances in all four games, starting three, for the Cardinal last week. Nyberg compiled a 1-1 record with a 2.90 ERA in 19.1 innings pitched. Her best game of the week came against UC Santa Barbara, pitching seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits. Nyberg relieved Maureen LeCocq in the second inning against Washington and pitched just two innings in a 1-0 loss to UCLA last Saturday. Jaime Forman-Lau (6-0, 1.35 ERA, 1.16 strikeouts per inning) is battling to return from a finger injury and remains questionable for this weekend.
At the plate: Sophomore Robin Walker hit .455 for the Cardinal last week, banging out five hits in 11 at-bats. Walker had a double and a single, scoring two runs in three at-bats against Santa Barbara... Jessica Mendoza continues to lead the team in hitting with a .444 average. Mendoza has five home runs and 21 RBI this season and posted a 19-game hitting streak earlier this year. She was 2-for-4 against UCSB Monday. Her 35 runs scored are three short of her own single-season school record, and her 50 hits have her on pace to break that record as well.
Record Setter: Senior Kellie Wiginton tied former Cardinal Michelle Schneider on the Stanford career record list for hits (195) with a first inning single against UCLA on Sunday. Wiginton has four hits last week and has tallied 27 for the season. Also this season, Wiginton has in runs scored against Santa Clara then broke the career putouts record against Cal Poly. She needs three hits to become the school's all-time hits leader and three at bats to break that record. She has scored 34 times in 34 games, and should crush the single-season record of 38 runs...Sophomore Robin Walker went 13-for-29 in the last four doubleheaders, including four RBI in one game, and is now hitting .407 on the year...Sophomore Sarah Beeson was 3-for-4 Monday against UCSB, driving in four runs. Two of her three hits were doubles, giving her 11 on the year.