April 7, 2001
STANFORD, Calif. - The No. 4 Stanford softball team collected 12 hits en route to a 9-4 win over No. 16 Oregon State on Saturday afternoon in a Pacific-10 Conference game at Boyd & Jill Smith Family Stadium. With the win, the Cardinal moves to 34-3-1 overall and 4-1 in the Pac-10 while the Beavers fall to 30-14-1 and remain winless in conference play at 0-4.
The Cardinal jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Sarah Beeson walked and Kira Ching singled before Jessica Allister's double to left field scored them both. Allister would then score when Cassi Brangham reached on an error. Maureen LeCocq and Jenni Shideler both followed with singles, with Shideler's hit to left scoring Brangham.
The Beavers answered with three runs of their own in the top of the second. Steph Adams led off with a base hit and Shelly Prochaska drew a walk. Then pinch hitter Michelle Notaro and leadoff hitter Brooke Rutschman both hit doubles to the left-centerfield gap, making it a 4-3 Stanford lead.
Tori Nyberg, who relieved Stanford starting pitcher LeCocq at this point, got the Beavers to end the rally with a ground out. Nyberg pitched 5 1/3 innings to earn the win. She gave up just one run on four hits while striking out five and walking one. Nyberg improves 3-0 on the season.
The Cardinal took a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the second on Ching's RBI double, which scored Mendoza. But Stanford wasn't able to put the game away quite yet. In the fourth, Oregon State added a single run on Claire Burnum's base hit through the right side to make it 5-4 but it was the last time a Beaver would cross the plate.
Stanford scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth and a pair of runs in the sixth. Allister came through in the fourth with a single down the left field line, to score Mendoza while Robin Walker also singled and scored in the inning. Walker then led off the sixth with another base hit and it was Allister again who drove in Mendoza with her single through the right side.
For Oregon State, Monica Hoffman took the loss to fall to 11-7. She went six innings, giving up nine runs (six earned) on 12 hits with five strikeouts and three walks.
The Cardinal had three players with multiple-hit games. Allister went 3-for-4 with four RBI and a run scored while Ching and Walker were both 2-for-4. Mendoza was 1-for-2 with two walks and three runs scored and Beeson went 1-for-3 and scored twice.
The two teams will meet again on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. as Stanford concludes it's eight-game homestand.
Score by Innings1234567R H E #16 Oregon State 03010004 8 2 #4 Stanford410202x9 12 0WP - Tori Nyberg (3-0) to Jessica Allister. LP - Monica Hoffman (11-7) to Shelly Prochaska. Save - None. 2B - Brooke Rutschman (OSU), Claire Burnum (OSU), Michelle Notaro (OSU), Kira Ching (STAN), Jessica Allister (STAN). 3B - None. HR - None. E - Claire Burnum (OSU), Steph Adams (OSU). LOB - Oregon State 6, Stanford 7. Records: Oregon State 30-14-1 (0-3), Stanford 34-3-1 (4-1).