Feb. 22, 2004
Cathedral City, Calif. - The eighth-ranked Stanford softball team closed out the Palm Springs Classic in Cathedral City, Calif., with a 1-0 shutout of Penn State. The Cardinal improve to 11-2 on the season while the Nittany Lions fall to 0-5.
Both teams were held scoreless through three complete innings until the Cardinal struck in the top of the fourth. With two outs on the board, catcher Jessica Allister reached base on an error by the third baseman. Meghan Sickler singled to advance Allister to second where pinch runner Shoney Hixson took over. First baseman Leah Nelson was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Then the PSU pitcher walked Megan Bordelon to bring home Hixson.
One run was all Stanford would need as senior Dana Sorensen picked up her sixth win of the season (6-2). Sorensen allowed only one hit over five innings with nine strikeouts on the afternoon. Marisa Hanson took the loss for Penn State, pitching four innings and allowing one unearned run.
Freshman Jackie Rinehart collected two hits for the Cardinal (2-for-3) while Meghan Sickler added a hit.
Stanford went 3-1 over the rainy weekend against Division I opponents.
Stanford is back in action next weekend at the Arizona Tournament in Tucson, Arizona.