STANFORD, Calif. – A strong defensive effort by Stanford was not enough to slow down No. 9/8 UCLA’s offense as the Cardinal fell to the Bruins Saturday 18-3 in five innings.
The game against UCLA coincided with Cardinalpalooza, a free all-day sports festival that featured tailgating opportunities, food trucks in Pac-12 plaza and merchandise discounts, along with six other Cardinal teams in action.
Stanford (16-24, 1-10 Pac-12) made the routine defensive plays and added in a couple highlight-worthy gems against the Bruins (34-8, 8-3 Pac-12), much to the delight of a full crowd at Boyd and Jill Smith Family Stadium.
Hanna Winter set the tone early, robbing UCLA’s leadoff hitter Ally Carda of a hit down the left field line with a quick-reaction snag at third base and throw to first to start the game.
Winter made another outstanding play in the third inning, fielding a bunt with a runner on third and faking the throw to first to draw the baserunner of the bag at third. She was able to get the baserunner in a run-down and the Cardinal secured the out.
“We have our position players battling in the circle and for them to know that behind them the defense is going to pick them up and make plays when they have the opportunity, that’s a pretty big deal,” said Stanford head coach Rachel Hanson. “Hanna certainly leads the way in that and everyone is taking her lead in making the routine plays and some highlight ones as well.”
Rightfielder Bessie Noll has arguably one of the strongest arms of any outfielder in the Pac-12 and showcased her throwing abilities again tonight, gunning down a runner trying to score from second at home plate in the fourth inning.
“Bessie is an exciting player,” said Hanson. “What you saw today is a taste of what she can do, making plays all over the field. She has a cannon for an arm, she’s fast, has a lot of range in the outfield and a capacity for power as well. She’s a pretty special athlete.”
However, the defensive highlights were not quite enough to slow down the top-10 ranked Bruins, which racked up 18 runs on 16 hits. UCLA capitalized on Stanford’s limited pitching resources that consists solely of position players due to injuries to starting pitchers.
Kylie Sorenson got the start in the circle and went 2.0 innings before being relieved by Kayla Bonstrom (0-1) who picked up the loss after 1.0 inning. Kaitlyn Lagattuta and Erin Ashby also saw time at pitcher for the second consecutive game.
UCLA jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning but the Cardinal responded with two runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning to level the score.
The Bruins erupted for eight runs in the third and fourth innings to take a commanding 18-2 lead.
Noll provided Stanford’s offensive highlight of the night, blasting a home run to deep left-center field in the bottom of the fourth inning. It is Noll’s third home run on the season.
Stanford will look to get back in the win column Sunday at Noon when it concludes its three-game series against UCLA.