TUCSON, Ariz. – No. 24/24 Stanford is making a habit of playing thrilling high-scoring Pac-12 series-opening games, and Friday night’s showdown at No. 10/10 Arizona was no different.
Six Cardinal players combined for 11 hits and Stanford (24-12, 1-6 Pac-12) held the lead through the middle innings, but Arizona (30-8, 5-5 Pac-12) capitalized on two grand slams to earn the victory, 18-12.
Stanford was strong offensively, paced by Kylie Sorenson who went 3-for-5 with a team-best four RBI. Leah White, Erin Ashby and Hanna Winter recorded two hits apiece. Kayla Bonstrom was second on the team with three RBI.
The Cardinal had additional opportunities throughout the game to tack on more runs but could not find the hit it needed to break through, leaving 10 runners on base.
Madi Schreyer (17-6) got the start in the circle for Stanford and went 5.2 innings with five strikeouts, allowing 14 hits and five walks.
After the Wildcats opened the game’s scoring with a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning, Stanford responded with a six-run second that saw 11 Cardinal batters. Ashby got the Cardinal going with a leadoff home run to left field. It was a huge shot that hit high off the left-field light pole.
Arizona responded with two runs in the bottom of the second to knot the game at six. Stanford retook the lead in the top of the third with an RBI by Bonstrom, and RBI-singles by Sorenson and Ashby, giving the Cardinal a 9-6 advantage.
Stanford remained in the lead until the bottom of the fifth inning when Arizona hit its second grand slam of the game and rallied for eight runs to take its first lead of the game since the first inning, 16-12.
The Cardinal had a chance to cut into the Wildcats’ lead in the sixth inning when Cassandra Roulund reached base on a leadoff walk. However, a pair of fielder’s choices halted the rally and the Cardinal’s deficit remained six.
Arizona added two runs in the bottom of the sixth to extend its lead to 18-12. The Cardinal went into the top of the seventh inning looking for another big rally, as it had done earlier this season against California and Arizona State, but was unable to get the hits needed to extend the game.
The Cardinal will look to get back in the win column against the Wildcats tomorrow at 6 p.m.