STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford produced baserunners in five-of-six innings but could not find the hits needed to keep pace with No. 9/8 UCLA Sunday, dropping the series finale 10-2 in six innings.
Hanna Winter stole her 10th base of the season and 57th of her career to move into sole possession of third all-time in Stanford history in stolen bases. Sarah Hassman (’13) holds the Cardinal record with 99 stolen bases and Jessica Mendoza (’02) is second with 86.
A photo posted by @stanfordsoftball on Apr 12, 2015 at 1:08pm PDT
The Cardinal (16-25, 1-11 Pac-12) showcased its defensive muscle again Sunday afternoon in front of a full crowd at Boyd and Jill Smith Family Stadium, playing errorless softball for the fifth time in the past six games.
Cassandra Roulund provided the defensive highlight of the game in the top of the fifth inning when she made a sprinting catch near the warning track in centerfield to rob UCLA’s (35-8, 9-3 Pac-12) leadoff batter of a hit. She also made a pair of nice plays during the game, sliding to cut of hits headed for the gaps to limit the Bruins extra-base hits.
While the rest of the Cardinal defense was also sound, UCLA continued to swing a big bat at the plate and capitalized on Stanford’s limited pitching options due to injuries. The Bruins produced 10 runs on 15 hits.
“We knew UCLA was going to be a tough matchup but we battled,” said Stanford head coach Rachel Hanson. “We need to be a little more disciplined at the plate but defensively we really competed this weekend and did well.”
Kylie Sorenson (4-6), typically Stanford’s starting shortstop, made her fourth consecutive start in the circle. She was relieved after 2.0 innings by Kayla Bonstrom who dealt 2.0 innings of her own. Kaitlyn Lagattuta and Erin Ashby pitched an inning apiece to close the game.
“Our position players who were pitching did a great job of managing the game the best they could,” said Hanson. “Each of them did a good job today of limiting UCLA to no huge innings offensively.”
Bessie Noll hit a deep two-run homer to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning to generate both of the Cardinal’s runs. It was her second home run in as many games.
Along with moving up the Stanford record books in career steals, Winter led Stanford with two hits. Kaitlin Schaberg contributed a hit as well.
UCLA jumped out to a 7-0 lead after posting four runs in the first inning, two in the second and one in the third.
The Cardinal continued to battle despite the score, generating baserunners in each of the first five innings. Stanford broke through in the fourth when Noll hammered a two-run home run to left field to cut the lead to 7-2.
After being held scoreless in the top of the fourth inning, UCLA added a run in the fifth and two in the sixth to take an eight-run lead.
The Cardinal could not generate the offense needed to close the gap and avoid the run-rule decision.
Stanford plays host to Saint Mary’s on Wednesday at 6 p.m. (PT) before welcoming No. 2/2 Oregon to The Farm for a three game series Saturday through Monday.
Wrapping up the weekend with autographs for our young fans. A big THANK YOU for coming out to support us! #gostanford pic.twitter.com/yluzqUIT2r
— Stanford Softball (@StanfordSball) April 12, 2015