BATON ROUGE – Sophomore Maddy Dwyer dealt 6.1 innings and allowed just one unearned run to guide Stanford (10-2) to a 5-1 victory over Memphis (5-7) on Saturday from the LSU Invitational and Tiger Park.
Dwyer surrendered just five hits and one walk while striking out four to improve to 5-1 on the season. Junior Kiana Pancino finished the game in the circle for Stanford, helping to move the Card to 4-0 in Baton Rouge.
The first three hitters in Stanford's lineup each posted a hit and one RBI in the victory, with Emily Klingaman batting 1-for-3 with a run scored, a walk and a double while hitting second. Kristina Inouye, the three-hole hitter, drew two walks as part of a 1-for-2 day, guiding the patient Cardinal to six walks in the contest. Junior Alyssa Horeczko continued her stellar performance on the base paths, swiping her sixth base in as many attempts.
After stranding a pair of runners in the first, Stanford broke through in the second, scoring three runs on two hits, including a pair with two out. Leadoff walks to Emily Young and Kate Cressey came back to bite Memphis, as Taylor Gindlesperger moved the runners with a sacrifice bunt to set the table for a Horeczko RBI-groundout. Batting with two out and a runner at third, Teaghan Cowles delivered a laser into left centerfield to run the advantage to 2-0. Cowles would ultimately come around on the ensuing play, as Klingaman sliced a double over the head of Baylee Smith in left field to cap the scoring run.
The Card took advantage of a pair of errors charged to second baseman Alyssa Dean in the fourth en route to scoring twice and extending the lead to 5-0. Horeczko reached on the first of the two errors as Dean was unable to corral a throw at first while covering the bag. Horeczko promptly stole her sixth base of the year to move into scoring position, and came around to score when Klingaman reached on Dean's second error of the inning – a throwing error that allowed her to take second on the play. Inouye capitalized on the extra opportunity in the inning, punching an RBI-single down the left field line to chase home Klingaman.
Ashton Stowe broke up the Stanford shutout bid in the fourth for Memphis as she lined an RBI-single into centerfield to plate Regan Hadley and an unearned run. The inning was kept alive in part due to an error charged to Young at shortstop, as the freshman was unable to cleanly handle a ground ball from Dean. Dwyer induced a pop up to second base for the second out on the ensuing play, but Stowe jumped on the first pitch of her at bat to push home the run.
Gracie Morton paced the Tiger offense, finishing 2-for-4 while hitting out of the second spot in the order. Memphis starter Karli Perque was saddled with the loss after allowing one run on four walks over an inning of work. The Tigers utilized three pitchers on the day, with Bayleigh Wisher tossing 5.0 frames and surrendering just two unearned runs to highlight the trio.
Stanford will look to complete a perfect weekend at LSU on Sunday when it clashes with CSUN at 7 a.m. PT.
