March 31, 2001
STANFORD, Calif. - No. 15 Washington scored three runs in the sixth and had a home run in the seventh to defeat the No. 5 Stanford softball team 5-1 in Pacific-10 conference action on Saturday at Boyd & Jill Smith Family Stadium. The Cardinal falls to 31-3-1 overall and 1-1 in the Pac-10, while the Huskies improved to 24-11 (2-0 in conference play).
The Cardinal got on the board first with a single run in the third. Robin Walker singled down the right field line and stole second base to move into scoring position. Junior Sarah Beeson then drove her home with a two-out RBI single to right field. Kira Ching followed with an infield single, but the rally ended with a foul out to the catcher.
Stanford would keep the 1-0 lead until the sixth inning when the Huskies put three runs on the board. This rally also ended the Cardinal's streak of 61 consecutive scoreless innings. A hit batter, a walk and a base hit by Christie Rosenblad tied the game at 1-1. Stanford sophomore Tori Nyberg relieved starting pitcher Maureen LeCocq, only to be greeted with a two-run single by Kim DePaul, giving UW a 3-1 lead at the end of six.
Washington's Jaime Clark extended the lead in the top of the seventh with a home run to left, scoring Becky Simpson who had singled.
Washington freshman pitcher Tia Bollinger allowed just one hit in the final three innings (a seventh inning bloop hit by Ramona Shelburne) and went the distance to improve her record to 22-2. She struck out four and scattered six hits, while walking one.
The Cardinal was unable to mount any sort of comeback after falling behind. Bollinger silenced Stanford's leading hitter as Jessica Mendoza (batting .464 coming into the game) went 0-for-3. Beeson was the only Cardinal with multiple hits, going 2-for-3 with an RBI.
LeCocq pitched five innings and gave up three runs on four hits while picking up her second loss of the season. She falls to 11-2. Nyberg pitched the final two innings and struck out three and allowed four hits and two runs. All the Husky runs were earned.
The two teams will meet again on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. to conclude the opening weekend of Pac-10 play.
Score by Innings1234567R H E #15 Washington00000325 8 0 #5 Stanford00100001 6 0 WP - Tia Bollinger (22-2) to Amy Hanson. LP - Maureen LeCocq (11-2) to Jessica Allister. Save - None. 2B - None. 3B - None. HR - Jaime Clark (UW). E - None. LOB - UW 6, Stanford 6. Records: UW 24-11 (2-0), Stanford 31-3-1 (1-1).