STANFORD, Calif. – No win streak, no matter how long, is safe at Smith Family Stadium.
No. 10/13 Arizona State was the latest program to learn that lesson, as the Cardinal handed the Sun Devils their first Pac-12 loss to end the nation's longest active win streak at 20 games. Alana Vawter held Arizona State (31-6, 12-1 Pac-12) to three hits, while the Cardinal offense capitalized off two errors for the 4-1 win to open the series on Friday night.
The win is Stanford's fourth top 10 win of the season, and fifth Top-25 win.
Stanford (30-12, 7-6 Pac-12) fell behind early thanks to a two-out, solo home run from Cydney Sanders in the top of the first. From that moment on Vawter limited the opposition to two hits in her 18th complete game of the season to move to 19-7.
The first three batters reached base safely in the bottom of the second, with Aly Kaneshiro advancing safely to third courtesy of a fielding error to load the bases in the bottom of the second. Back-to-back RBI groundouts from Ellee Eck and Sydney Steele brought Kaneshiro and Johnna Schroeder home for the 2-1 lead.
After retiring the side in the top of third, the Cardinal carried the momentum in the bottom half of the inning to rally for another pair of runs. Emily Young doubled to left field to put runners on second and third with no outs. Kaitlyn Lim hit a ground ball to the shortstop to bring Sydnee Huff home from third, and Young scored on the play after the shortstop made the error.
Young's double was her lone at-bat of the night, as the senior reached base in all three plate appearances thanks to a pair of hit by the pitch.
One of the nation's leading pitching and defensive units kept the fourth-ranked hitting squad at bay all night long. The Sun Devils went down in order third, fourth and seventh innings, and batted .125 (1-for-8) with runners on base – and 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
The Cardinal looks to clinch the series on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. and will be available on the Stanford Live Stream.
