Walking Off with SplitWalking Off with Split
Karen Ambrose Hickey/isiphotos
Softball

Walking Off with Split

  • Game 1
  • Game 2
Box Score

STANFORD, Calif. - Sophomore Taylor Gindlesperger connected for a walk-off two-run home run in the 10th inning to hand Stanford (6-2) a split of two games against Seattle University (1-6) on Thursday night from Boyd and Jill Smith Family Stadium.

Gindlesperger's homer was the second of her career – with the previous being a grand slam on April 9, 2019 at Santa Clara. The walk-off home run, which handed Stanford a 3-1 victory, was the first for the Cardinal since Victoria Molina's two-run homer in the ninth inning to beat Arizona State, 4-2, on May 3, 2015.

Stanford has now won four games this year in its final at bat, including a pair of walk-off victories.

The Cardinal held a 1-0 advantage headed into the seventh inning, but Seattle U pushed the tying run across. The Redhawks nearly scored the go-ahead run in that same inning, but Teaghan Cowles threw out that potential run at the plate to retire the side and keep the game tied at a run apiece.

Cowles, who drew a pair of walks as part of a 1-for-3 day, scored what proved to be the winning run in the 10th after leading off with a single to left field.

Freshman Tatum Boyd impressed in the circle despite getting a no-decision. The right-hander dealt 7.1 innings and allowed just one run on five hits and two walks with one strikeout. Boyd held Seattle U to just one hit through 5.1 innings. Senior Kiana Pancino was credited with the win and moved to 2-0 after logging the final 2.2 scoreless innings of one-hit ball.

Carley Nance was charged with the loss after pitching all 9+ innings and allowing the walk-off homer. With the loss, Nance fell to 0-3 on the season.

The Cardinal dropped game one of the doubleheader on Thursday by a score of 5-4. All five Redhawk runs came in the third inning, and all five went unearned on the line of junior Maddy Dwyer.

Dwyer tossed five innings, allowing nine hits and two walks with six strikeouts before dropping to 1-2 with the loss.

Shi Smith was credited with the victory for Seattle, improving to 1-2 on the year. Nance finished the opener in the circle, tossing 2.1 perfect frames with five strikeouts to pick up her first save.

Kristina Inouye, Emily Schultz and Sydney Steele each collected two hits in the setback, with Steele driving in a pair with a double in the fifth to cut the deficit to one at 5-4.

Stanford will return to action on Friday when it welcomes Drake and Hofstra to The Farm for the Stanford Invitational. Those two teams meet in a neutral game at 2:30 before Stanford and Hofstra meet at 5 p.m.