SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Stanford softball went down 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning and could not rally in a 4-0 loss to Santa Clara, Tuesday at the SCU Softball Stadium.
The Broncos (1-1) scored on an RBI single to left field in the bottom of the first and added three runs in the bottom of the sixth to enter the final frame with a 4-0 lead. The Cardinal (4-1) put the ball in play 18 times but ended the afternoon with two hits.
Despite taking the loss, freshman Regan Krause struck out four batters in 4.1 innings of work. She exited in the fifth inning when Santa Clara put a runner on third, but the runner was stranded after Maddy Dwyer struck out the next two batters to end the inning. Dwyer struck out two in 1.2 innings of relief.
Sydney Steele led Stanford on the day with a double off two at-bats.
The Cardinal return home this week for the Stanford Invitational, Feb. 26-28, hosting California and California Baptist. All four games featuring Stanford will be streamed through the Stanford Live Stream. The games against California will not count towards the Pac-12 standings.