STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford turned an early 1-1 stalemate into a convincing 5-1 nonconference victory over visiting Santa Clara on a gorgeous sun-soaked Tuesday at Boyd & Jill Smith Family Stadium. Whitney Burks steered the Cardinal with a pair of doubles. Hannah Howell also added a double as part of her multi-hit outing.
The win was the first for Stanford (23-16) in its past 11 outings, as the Cardinal now turns its attention to a three-game Pac-12 Conference series at No. 8 Arizona State (May 4-6).
The Broncos (13-28) kicked open the gate by answering Stanford's first-inning run with a score of its own in the second, but that would be all the offense the visitors would be able to muster. Cardinal hurler Maddy Dwyer (12-8) settled in after the second, and did not permit a single hit to Santa Clara over her final four innings in the circle.
Dwyer was on point in her 6.0 frames of three-hit ball, allowing one earned run with three punchouts. She issued a pair of walks in the fourth, but the Cardinal defense backed her up by leaving the two Broncos on base. Nikki Bauer closed the door with a scoreless seventh.
Stanford's opening-frame run was setup when Burks roped a standup double off the leftfield wall, moving leadoff batter Teaghan Cowles to third. Cowles trotted home on Howell's RBI single. Santa Clara's Katherine Sanchez collected her fifth double on the season and drove home Jordan Dawkins from second, knotting things at 1-1 in the second.
After a scoreless third in which Stanford left two on base, Lauren Frost's third double on the season scored a sprinting Victoria Molina from first for the go-ahead run in the fourth.
2-1 ?? | B5@maddy__dwyer keeps dealing. She has not allowed a hit since the third.
— Stanford Softball (@StanfordSball) May 2, 2018
Stanford looking to add to its lead. Burks, Howell and Inouye due up.#GoStanford
Burks' second double came in the fifth, and she traded places with Howell after another two-bagger to put Stanford ahead, 3-1. Howell touched home on Molly Fowkes' infield grounder for the Cardinal's penultimate score.
5-1 ?? | T7
— Stanford Softball (@StanfordSball) May 2, 2018
Frost drives home Wegner to make it a four-score game.
Bauer into the circle to close it out.#GoStanford
Lauren Wegner scored in the sixth for the game's final run, with Frost collecting the RBI.
Santa Clara's Aubree Kim (4-18) gave up four runs -- two earned -- and five hits in the loss.