Sunday Split

STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford split a pair of games Sunday morning to conclude play at the Easton Classic, falling to Cal Poly and defeating Lehigh.
 
The Cardinal (16-10) dropped a tough 1-0 decision to the Mustangs (16-7) with the game being decided by a two-base wild pitch in the top of the seventh inning.
 
Stanford jumped out to an early lead against the Mountain Hawks (4-10) and weathered a late comeback bid to secure the weekend-ending victory. The Cardinal used four pitchers throughout the game to earn the win.
 
Stanford finished the weekend 3-2 with two wins against Lehigh and a victory against Connecticut.
 
After a tough start to the tournament against Grand Canyon, Stanford's pitching staff was terrific and held its final four opponents to eight runs in 28.0 innings.
 
Carolyn Lee (7-6) led the staff on the weekend, logging 14.1 innings and a 1.95 ERA. Kiana Pancino contributed quality innings, holding opponents to a .172 batting average in 8.1 innings.
 
Bessie Noll paced the Cardinal offensively, going 4-for-10 (.400) with six walks, two doubles and two RBIs. Alyssa Horeczko appeared in three games and hit .444 (4-for-9) with a walk and two stolen bases.
 *** 
Stanford opened the day with a pitcher's duel against Cal Poly.
 
Lee got the start and was excellent, holding the Mustangs to one run on three hits and three walks with five strikeouts.
 
Stanford had trouble figuring out Cal Poly's starter, Sierra Hyland, who limited the Cardinal to four hits and two walks in 7.0 innings.
 
Stanford got its offense going in the bottom of the fourth inning with back-to-back one-out singles by Bessie Noll and Teaghan Cowles. However, the Cardinal was unable generate the offense needed to bring them in.
 
The Cardinal produced another pair of runners in the bottom of the fifth inning with two outs but was again unable to bring them home.
 
Cal Poly drew a walk to lead off the top of the seventh inning and moved the runner to second with a sacrifice bunt.
 
The next pitch was wild and the runner advanced to third. Catcher Montana Dixon had trouble locating the ball behind the plate and the Mustangs runner advanced home.
 
Lee struck out the batter and Kiana Pancino entered the game to register the final out.
 
The Cardinal put the ball in play in the bottom of the seventh inning but it was right at the defense and Stanford was retired in order.
 *** 
Stanford jumped out to an early lead against Lehigh and weathered a late Mountain Hawks rally to secure the victory.
 
After two scoreless innings, the Cardinal jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. Lauren Bertoy contributed an RBI-single and was followed by Noll who hammered a two-RBI double to the left-center field gap.
 
The Cardinal added two runs in the next inning to extend its lead to 5-0. Lauren Frost pinch-hit with the bases loaded and drove a sacrifice fly to center field. Cowles followed with a single up the middle to bring in a second run.
 
Lehigh cut into the Cardinal's lead in the top of the fifth with an infield-RBI-single.
 
Stanford got the run back in the bottom half of the inning when Victoria Molina delivered a pinch-hit sacrifice fly to left field and put the Cardinal up, 6-1.
 
Stanford ran into trouble in the sixth inning when Lehigh rallied for three runs to cut the Cardinal's lead to 6-4.
 
The Mountain Hawks threatened again in the top of the seventh with its leadoff batter reaching base.
 
Lee entered the game and retired the next three batters, including striking out the final two, to secure the 6-4 victory.
 
Stanford will return to action in two weekends when it opens Pac-12 play March 25 with a three-game series at California.