STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford jumped to an early lead and cruised to an 8-2 victory Thursday night against Oregon State.
With its postseason fate seemingly on the line this weekend, the Cardinal (30-23, 5-17 Pac-12) delivered exactly the series-opening performance it needed against the Beavers (16-31, 3-17 Pac-12). Four Stanford batters combined for seven hits and Madi Schreyer (22-13) delivered a strong performance in the circle.
Schreyer pitched her 24th complete game on the season, striking out two and limiting the Beavers to two runs on six hits and four walks.
Jessica Plaza went 2-for-3 at the plate, while Kylie Sorenson and Bessie Noll each registered two hits in four at-bats.
Stanford capitalized on extra opportunities provided by Oregon State which made six errors. Seven of the eight runs the Cardinal scored were unearned.
Stanford jumped to an early lead, scoring five runs in the first inning. White led off with a single and scored the game’s first run when Erin Ashby put a ball in play that the Beavers’ shortstop was unable to handle. Two additional hits and two more errors kept the rally going, as Stanford added four runs to take a 5-0 lead.
Oregon State responded in the top of the third when CJ Chirichigno hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to cut Stanford’s lead to 5-1. After the next batter walked to load the bases for the second time in the inning, Schreyer halted any potential rally by getting the following hitter to ground into a fielder’s choice.
Stanford immediately extended its lead back to five in the bottom half of the third when Plaza singled up the middle to score Noll from second.
The Beavers scored their second sacrifice-fly run in the fourth inning to again close the gap to four. Hannah Bouska led off with a double and after advancing to third, was brought home by a sac-fly to centerfield by Kori Nishitomi.
The Cardinal again responded in the bottom half of the inning, adding two runs to take an 8-2 advantage.
Schreyer retired seven consecutive batters spanning the final two outs of the fifth inning and the first two hitters in the seventh. After walking the third Beavers batter in the seventh, Schreyer struck out the next hitter to end the game and secure the victory.
Stanford will take on Oregon State again Friday at 5:30 p.m. (PT) in a game that will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.