STANFORD, Calif. - Opening the final day of the Stanford Invitational on Sunday, Stanford (15-2) broke a 2-2 tie with a run in the fifth en route to capturing a 3-2 victory over North Dakota State (9-8) from Smith Family Stadium.
With the victory, Stanford has now won nine straight games.
Freshman Emily Klingaman led the way offensively, going 2-for-3 with a double, a triple, a run scored and two RBI while hitting out of the second spot in the order.
The Cardinal jumped on NDSU starter Paige Vargas early, as Teaghan Cowles contributed a leadoff triple – her second of the weekend – before coming in to score on an RBI-double from Klingaman. Klingaman would ultimately score as well, scampering home on a sacrifice fly from Whitney Burks in the first inning.
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— Stanford Softball (@StanfordSball) March 3, 2019
Teaghan Cowles with her second triple of the weekend and the 12th of her career to take sole possession of third in the Stanford record book!@EmilyKlingaman follows with a double & @_whitneyalexis notches a sac fly as the Card takes the early lead!#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/Pxv6CrMRuP
Unfortunately for the Card, Vargas would settle in nicely after the consecutive extra-base hits, holding Stanford hitless from that point through the end of the fourth.
Leading 2-0 headed into the third, the Stanford advantage was erased on single Bison runs in the third and fourth. Maddie Hansen delivered the two-out run-scoring single in the third inning, plating Katie Shoultz, while Sam Koehn tied the game with a single into centerfield to chase Stanford starter Carolyn Lee in the fourth.
Lee would not factor in the decision after tossing 3.1 innings and allowing two runs on five hits and a walk before handing the ball over to Kiana Pancino. Pancino took the Card the rest of the way, allowing just one hit and a walk over 3.2 scoreless innings of work to improve to 4-0 on the season.
The Cardinal nearly reclaimed the lead in the fourth as Emily Young laced a comebacker back up the box with runners at second and third and two out. The ball deflected off of Vargas, but rolled out to Montana DeCamp at shortstop who showed a strong arm in throwing her out at first to end the threat and keep the teams knotted at two runs apiece.
Stanford ultimately broke through in the fifth inning, plating a run on Klingaman's second hit of the day. Alyssa Horeczko got the inning going with a slap single to shortstop before moving to second on a productive out from Cowles. Batting with the speedy Horeczko in scoring position, Klingaman punched a ground ball off the glove of a diving DeCamp at shortstop and Horeczko raced around to beat the throw to the plate and score the eventual winning run.
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— Stanford Softball (@StanfordSball) March 3, 2019
KLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!@EmilyKlingaman with her second RBI of the day as she drive in @alyssahoreczko to reclaim the lead!#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/WpmsLkKnz6
The Cardinal will look to finish the weekend 5-0 when it hosts Cal Poly at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.