GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Playing in its first NCAA regional since 2013, Stanford (32-19) committed a pair of costly errors that led to six unearned runs in a 9-1 setback at the hands of Boise State (35-14) on Friday afternoon from KSP Stadium in Gainesville, Fla.
After three scoreless frames to start the contest, Rebekah Cervantes broke the stalemate for Boise State, lining a home run over the wall in left field to open a five-run fourth. After Boise State loaded the bases later in the inning, Stanford starter Carolyn Lee got the one-out ground ball she needed, but it trickled under the glove of Kristina Inouye at third and down the line to score two. An RBI-single from Alison Seng made it a four-run inning for Boise State before Nikki Bauer took over in the circle for the Cardinal. Bauer allowed an infield single to Kora Wade to extend the lead to 5-0, but she induced another ground ball to Inouye on the ensuing play that resulted in an inning-ending double play to end the rally.
Bauer, who tossed 3.1 innings, managed to keep the Broncos off the board in the fifth and sixth, but Boise State took advantage of another Stanford error in the seventh to score four unearned runs and blow the game open at 9-0. Stanford allowed a one-out single to Cervantes before Bradie Fillmore reached on a dropped pop up in shallow right field by second baseman Emily Klingaman. Bauer got the next batter without incident, but Boise State went on to plate four runs, including two on a two-RBI single from Karlee Johnson, to run away with the game.
The Cardinal caught a break of its own in the bottom of the seventh, taking advantage of an error to score its lone run of the game on an RBI-single from Teaghan Cowles. A second error in the stanza loaded the bags for Inouye, but Kelsey Broadus struck out the Cardinal third baseman to end the threat and game.
Broadus went the distance to pick up the win and move to 14-6 after allowing just the one unearned run on six hits and two walks.
Lee was saddled with the loss after surrendering five runs (three earned) on five hits and two walks. The decision moved the right-hander to 11-10 on the season.
Stanford will now face an elimination game at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday against Boston University.