TEMPE, Ariz. – On the second day of the Kajikawa Classic, Stanford softball lost two games by the score of 7-5 against CSUN and North Carolina.
The Cardinal is now 1-2 after two days of competition in the first tournament of the 2015 season. Stanford will have another doubleheader on Saturday. The Cardinal is scheduled to face Bradley at 12:30 p.m. and Texas at 3:45 p.m. on field two of the Tempe Sports Complex.
In the first game of the day, Stanford took the lead in the fourth inning, but CSUN came right back to take the lead for good in the fifth.
After a scorless first, CSUN got on the board first with a run scoring on a throwing error by pitcher Madi Schreyer. The Matadors loaded the bases to and scored a run on a walk to start the third, causing Stanford head coach Rachel Hanson to make a pitching change. One more run scored on a sacrifice fly, but Haley Snyder was able to get out of the inning with a strikeout.
CSUN pitcher Zoe Conley made it through the first nine batters with no trouble, but a solo home run to left field by senior Erin Ashby kickstarted got the Cardinal on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third.
After a 1-2-3 fourth inning, Ashby came through again for the Cardinal. She singled up the middle with the bases loaded to drive in two runs. Next up was Bessie Noll, who tacked on one more run with a single down the left field line to make it 4-3 Stanford after four innings.
CSUN came firing back with four runs in the fifth inning on three hits, three walks and a hit by pitch. Stanford junior Jessica Plaza then hit a solo shot to lead off the bottom half of the fifth and cut the lead to two runs.
That was as close as Stanford would get as Daphne Pofek came in for the Matadors and pitched two innings, allowing just one hit to close the door on the win.
Ashby finished the day 2-3 with a home run and three RBI. Plaza also had two hits with a home run as well to give Stanford four players with a long ball in two games. Snyder fell to 1-1 on the mound, allowing four unearned runs in 4.2 innings.
CSUN had a balanced attack with eight hits from six players. Cortney Horne had two RBI. Jordan Sauceda earned the victory with 1.1 innings of one-run relief.
Stanford had a long wait for its late game to start as previous games in the tournament pushed the start time to just over two hours after its scheduled start time.
A pitcher’s duel through four innings broke out into a high-scoring contest in the bottom of the fifth.
North Carolina’s Amber Parrish hit a grand slam and Lauren Walker followed with a solo home run to break things open. Another run would come in on a bases loaded walk later in the inning and the Tar Heels would leave the inning up 7-0.
In the top of the sixth, Stanford refused to go down easy, taking a chunk out of the lead with five runs. The key hit was a triple with the bases loaded by Haley Snyder that brought home three runners. The Cardinal would also add a run on a walk and a fielder’s choice.
Stanford brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh. However, couldn’t get any more runs home.
Only one run was scored by the two teams combined in the first four innings. Walker singled in a run in the first inning after North Carolina. Stanford’s best opportunities came in the first and fifth innings when they put two runners on base but were unable to cash in.
Snyder drove in the three runs with her only plate appearance of the game. Snyder (1-2) took the loss on the mound as well for the Cardinal, allowing five runs on three hits and four walks in five innings. Lauren Bertoy posted a two-hit performance with one RBI in the contest.