May 10, 2002
STANFORD, Calif. - No. 8 Stanford (42-17, 6-13 Pac-10) recorded a 2-1 victory over No. 15 Oregon State (38-21, 7-12 Pac-10) on Friday night at Boyd & Jill Smith Family Stadium. Senior Robin Walker's (La Palma, Calif.) RBI double in the bottom of the sixth proved to be the difference for the Cardinal, who swept the season series with the Beavers.
Both squads went quietly through the first three innings, with Stanford's Cassi Brangham's (Clovis, Calif.) recording the game's only hit entering the fourth.
The Cardinal opened the scoring by pushing a run across in the bottom of the fourth to take a 1-0 lead on the Beavers. Senior Sarah Beeson (Tucson, Ariz.) reached base on an error by Oregon State centerfielder Michelle Chariton and advanced to second on the play. Junior Kira Ching (San Lorenzo, Calif.) then smoked an RBI double to left center, plating Beeson for the first Cardinal run.
Oregon State came right back in the top of the fifth with a run of its own to knot the game at 1-1. Jessica King led off with a walk and moved to second on Alana Mendoza's single. Both runners advanced on a passed ball one batter later, and Kelly Petersen drew a walk to load the bases. Clare Burnum followed with a sacrifice fly to bring home King, making it 1-1.
Stanford answered in the home half of the fifth, tacking on a single run to claim a 2-1 lead. Jessica Draemel (Omaha, Neb.) reached base on an error with two outs in the inning and came around to score on Walker's RBI double to left.
Cardinal starter Tori Nyberg (Belmont, Calif.) went the distance for the Cardinal, allowing five hits with three walks and two strikeouts. She is now 24-9 on the year.OSU's Crystal Draper suffered the loss and is now 13-7.
The Cardinal closes out its regular season against Oregon on Saturday, when the two schools face off in a doubleheader at 1 p.m.