April 26, 2000
This Weekend: The 12th-ranked Stanford softball team (38-12, 4-8 Pac-10) will return to Pac-10 play as they travel for a game against third-ranked UCLA on Friday and two games versus top-ranked Washington on Saturday and Sunday. The Huskies (47-5, 9-2 Pac-10) sit atop the Pac-10 Conference, while the Bruins (33-7, 8-3 Pac-10) are one game behind in the second spot. Stanford will try to reverse its fortunes against Washington and UCLA. The two teams came to Stanford March 31-April 2 and held the Cardinal scoreless in three games -- vs. Washington, 6-0, and vs. UCLA, 1-0 and 8-0. Stanford has dropped the last six games against UCLA, with the last win coming in 1998. Against the Huskies, Stanford split the regular season four game series in 1999. Stanford has posted an 11-7 record against ranked opponents this season.
Pac-10 Honors: Sophomore All-America OF Jessica Mendoza (Camarillo, CA) and freshman P Dana Sorensen (San Diego, CA) were named Pac-10 Player and Co-Pitcher of the Week for April 17-22. This is the second player of the week honor for Mendoza and the first for Sorensen this season. Mendoza hit .444 (4-for-9), with two home runs, three RBI and three runs scored last week. Sorensen, who shares honors with UCLA's Amanda Freed, did not allow an earned run in defeating No. 4 Fresno State and No. 9 California for a 2-0 record for the week.
Beeson's Blasts: Sophomore 1B Sarah Beeson (Tucson, AZ) had her best performance of the season against Sacramento State last Tuesday. In game two of the doubleheader, Beeson hit two home runs and recorded seven RBI while adding a double in three at-bats. All four of Beeson's hits in the two game series were for extra bases, as she added a double in game one. Beeson also scored three runs and raised her season average to .370.
Cardinal Chronicle: Jessica Mendoza leads the team in multiple hit games with 22, followed by sophomore 1B Sarah Beeson with 16 and sophomore SS Robin Walker (La Palma, CA) with 15... Mendoza and Walker each have one game in which they have four hits... Beeson has 13 games this season in which she has totaled two or more RBI, including four 3 RBI games, two 4 RBI games and one 7 RBI game... Junior 3B Jenni Shideler (San Jose, CA) went 3-for-4 (.750), with two RBI against Sacramento State... Senior All-American C Kellie Wiginton (Fresno, CA) is currently on a six game win streak.
Big Hitter: Sophomore All-America OF Jessica Mendoza's ninth home run of the season against Cal in the fourth inning tied the Stanford single-season record which she set as a freshman. Mendoza's home run to leadoff the inning broke a 0-0 tie in Stanford's 2-0 victory over the Golden Bears. Mendoza now sits atop the career home run list with 18. By going 4-for-9 last week, Mendoza held her average at .464 for the season and is on pace to break the Stanford single-season record. She earned Pac-10 Player of the Week honors after Stanford's trip to Arizona and recorded a 19-game hit streak earlier this season. Mendoza has already broke the single-season records for doubles (15), runs scored (49) and stolen bases (13).Sorensen's Story: Freshman P Dana Sorensen (San Diego, CA) went 2-0 last week, posting her victories over fourth-ranked Fresno State and ninth-ranked California. The two wins mark the first time this season Sorensen has tallied victories over top 10 opponents in the same week. Sorensen did not allow an earned run in 16 innings pitched, recording the first shutout of her career versus Cal. Versus the Bulldogs, Sorensen threw nine innings, striking out two batters and allowing four hits and two bases on ball. The Golden Bears recorded seven hits, but Sorensen had 10 strikeouts and stranded 8 Cal runners on base as she improved to 19-6 for the season. Sorensen lowered her ERA to 1.11, which is on pace to break the single-season school record of 1.24.
Win 150: Head coach John Rittman captured his 150th-career coaching victory with Stanford's two-game sweep of Sacramento State last Tuesday. Rittman is now 150-82-1 (.643) in his four seasons on The Farm and is the all-time wins leader at Stanford. Rittman has led the Cardinal to two consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and 30 or more wins in each of his four seasons as head coach, including a school record 41 in 1998.
Old Stomping Grounds: Head coach John Rittman and assistant coach Sara Pickering will be in familiar surroundings when the Cardinal takes on Washington in Seattle. Rittman was an assistant coach for four seasons at Washington (1992-96) and helped the Huskies to the 1996 Pac-10 Championship and three NCAA tournament appearances. Pickering finished her career at Washington, which span from 1994-97, as a two-time first team All-American and set 15 Husky school records, while tallying a NCAA record 91 career doubles.
Most Games Played: Senior All-America C Kellie Wiginton became Stanford's all-time leader in games played with 233 last Tuesday against Sacramento State. Wiginton surpassed the record of 231 games played, set by Michelle Schneider from 1996-99. This is the third career record that Wiginton has captured this season, after grabbing the top spot in career putouts (1,060) and at-bats (722) earlier in the year.
Can It Get Any Closer: Stanford continued the trend of close Pac-10 games with its 2-0 victory over ninth-ranked Cal on April 22. In 12 conference games played by Stanford, nine have been decided by 2 or fewer runs. Stanford and Cal had played two previous games decided by three runs -- a 6-5 Cal victory on March 25 and a 2-0 Stanford win on March 26.
Double Threat: Freshman P/2B Maureen LeCocq (Woodland Hills, CA/Chaminade) has given Stanford not only a threat at the plate, but a force in the circle. LeCocq has appeared in 49 of Stanford's 50 games this season, splitting time between second base, designated player and pitcher. For the season, she is hitting .263 (35-for-133) with one home run and 29 RBI. In the circle, LeCocq is second on the team in appearances (21) and ERA (1.15), posting a 6-3 record. She has pitched 79.0 innings and combined on three shutouts, while pitching four complete games. Against fourth-ranked Fresno State on April 19, she pitched a complete game seven-hitter, allowing only one run in seven innings.
Non-Conference Record: The Cardinal has posted a 34-4 record against non-conference opponents this season, after sweeping its doubleheader against Sacramento State last Tuesday. Stanford had won as many as 15 games, dating back to a 7-0 win over UMass at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Columbus, Ga. on March 4, before dropping the first game of a doubleheader with Fresno State on April 19. The Cardinal has nine wins at home and four on the road and at neutral sites during the 15 game streak.
Successful Return: Freshman P Jaime Forman-Lau made her return from injury to capture her seventh victory of the season against Sacramento State last Tuesday. Forman-Lau is now 7-0 this season with a 1.31 ERA. After giving up a home run to the second batter she faced, Forman-Lau settled down allowing five hits and no runs in six and two-thirds innings of work.
Ranking Review: Stanford improved to No. 11 in the April 26 edition of the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Top 25. Stanford had entered the week with a 36-12 record and 11 wins over ranked opponents. Stanford had been No. 12 in the April 12 poll. The Cardinal began the 2000 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 four of the top five spots in the poll, and seven of the top 12. All eight Pac-10 teams are ranked in the top 17 in the latest poll and the conference has gone 260-45-2 (.846) against non-league opponents this season.
Sac State Recap: The Cardinal is coming off a non-conference doubleheader sweep of Sacramento State last Tuesday at the Stanford Softball Complex. Stanford took game one 2-1, before an offensive explosion landed the Cardinal an 11-5 game two win. Game one turned into a pitchers dual, with Maureen LeCocq (6-3) holding the Hornets to four hits and one run in seven innings of work. Stanford scored runs in the fourth and sixth innings. Jessica Mendoza drove in Robin Walker with a double in the fourth, before Kellie Wiginton's RBI single in the sixth scored Mendoza for the go-ahead run. In game two, Stanford fell behind early after the Hornets scored five runs in the opening frame. Stanford answered with a two-run home run by Sarah Beeson in the bottom of the first inning, before exploding for six runs in the fifth inning. Beeson added to her RBI total with a two-RBI double in the fifth and added her second home run in the sixth inning. Jaime Forman-Lau pitched 6.2 innings for the win, striking out four batters and allowing only one run.