April 9, 2011
LOS ANGELES - The No. 13 Stanford softball team defeated No. 6 UCLA, 6-2, Saturday, for its first Pac-10 Conference win of the year at Easton Stadium. The Cardinal improves to 25-8 overall and 1-4 in the Pac-10, while the Bruins drop their first conference game of the year (4-1) and are 28-6 overall.
It marks the first win for Stanford over UCLA since the 2007 season. The Cardinal won the season series that year and will have an opportunity to do so again in the rubber game on Sunday.
Senior pitcher Ashley Chinn earned her 12th win of the season, throwing 5.2 innings and tallying four strikeouts. UCLA freshman Jessica Hall took the loss, falling to 14-5 on the year.
Junior shortstop Ashley Hansen went 4-4 with two doubles and an RBI to lead the team. Freshman designated player Danielle Miller finished with two hits and four RBI, while freshman Corey Hanewich hit a solo home run.
UCLA took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning as senior third baseman GiOnna DiSalvatore recorded an RBI double in her first at-bat.
Stanford answered in the top of the third inning, taking a 4-1 advantage over the Bruins. With two outs, Hanewich hit her fifth home run of the season to tie up the score. The two-out rally continued as Hansen singled up the middle and sophomore Jenna Rich drew a walk to put two runners on base. Miller then blasted a three-run shot over the center field wall for her fourth home run of the season.
The Bruins cut the lead to two in the bottom half of the inning as catcher Dani Yudin hit an RBI single up the middle. Stanford made that up in the fifth as Hansen registered her second double of the game and then Miller brought her home with a single to left field.
UCLA threatened in the bottom of the fifth inning with two runners on, but Chinn got out of the jam as designated player Alyssa Tiumalu popped up to Rich, and then Chinn struck out first baseman Samantha Camuso looking to end the inning.
Stanford added another run in the top of the sixth. Sophomore catcher Kelsey Gerhart, who replaced Maya Burns at catcher in the fourth, was hit by UCLA pitcher Donna Kerr and junior Sarah Hassman drew a walk to put two on for the Cardinal. Hansen then registered her fourth hit of the game, an RBI single up the middle, to score Gerhart.
In the bottom half of the inning, with a runner on for the Bruins and two outs, sophomore Teagan Gerhart replaced Chinn in the circle. Gerhart, who threw 13.0 innings in Friday's game, recorded the third out of the inning.
After a scoreless seventh inning for the Cardinal, Gerhart retired the Bruins in order to seal the victory.
Stanford and UCLA will wrap-up the three game series, Sunday, Apr. 10 at 12 p.m. from Easton Stadium.