May 3, 2008
Corvallis, Ore. - In what proved to be a homerun derby at the OSU Softball Complex in Corvallis, Ore. today, junior Maddy Coon belted two of the games' combined five homeruns and lifted the Stanford softball team to a 4-2 win over Oregon State. Junior pitcher Missy Penna struck out 11 to carry the Cardinal on the defensive end, and Stanford clinched the series with the Beavers for the eighth time in the last nine years.
Stanford improves to 44-10 overall and remains tied for third with a 9-8 record in Pac-10 play. Oregon State falls to 26-28 overall and 4-13 in the conference.
Penna (32-9) fanned 11 in her second complete game of the weekend and 15th complete game of Pac-10 play. The Cardinal ace is now within ten K's of Dana Sorensen's single-season strikeout record (358). Kelly Dyer took the loss for Oregon State and is now 17-22.
Coon belted two homers and accounted for three of Stanford's four RBI. Sophomore outfielder Alissa Haber also had two hits as Stanford outhit Oregon State, 7-4.
All-American second baseman Cambria Miranda put Oregon State on the board in the bottom of the first inning. Miranda connected on Penna's very first offering and drilled it over the left field fence.
In the top of the second, Cardinal senior Michelle Smith answered by drilling her eighth homerun of the year to nearly the exact spot that Miranda hit hers. Smith, who now has 39 career homeruns, needs just one more to become the second player in school history to hit 40 career homers.
Another Cardinal homerun, the first of Coon's pair, gave Stanford the lead in the top of the fourth inning and the team never looked back. Senior Erin Howe beat out a well-placed grounder to second base, and Coon tagged the first pitch she saw deep over the left field wall to give the Cardinal a 3-1 lead.
In the top of the sixth, Coon came to the plate again and bashed her second homerun of the game to left center. With homers on two consecutive at bats, the junior registered the first multi-homerun game of her career and the 30th all-time by a Stanford player. The second blast was Coon's eighth of the year, and the 21st of her Stanford career.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Beavers' first baseman, DeAnn Young, ripped the fifth homerun of the afternoon to left field to bring OSU within two. Penna and the Cardinal defense held tight, however, and closed out their 44th win of the year.
The Cardinal will play the final game of the series with the Beavers tomorrow at noon at OSU Softball Complex in Corvallis. Stanford will be looking to sweep the three-game series' with both Oregon schools in the same season for the first time in school history.