CLEARWATER, Fla. – The Stanford softball team went 1-1 today at day one of the Clearwater Invitational, highlighted by an offensive explosion in a 15-7 win over Georgia Tech. Senior Aly Kaneshiro led the way with a hat trick of homers, becoming the first Cardinal with three home runs in a game since at least 1999. In the late game, Stanford hung with No. 7 Florida State before falling late, 4-0.
Kaneshiro opened up the scoring for the Card in the first inning against Georgia Tech, going yard on the first pitch to score sophomore Taryn Kern and make it a 2-0 game. The shot to straightaway center was her first of the season, after hitting seven last season.
In the third inning, Kaneshiro crushed another two-run homer to give her four RBI on the day. Kaneshiro became the first Stanford hitter to hit two home runs in the same game since 2021 – when she did it herself on April 10 against Arizona State.
Georgia Tech answered back with a two-run homer of their own in the bottom of the third to cut the lead to 4-2.
The Cardinal extended the lead with three runs coming across in the top of the fourth. Freshman Ava Gall opened the scoring with her first career RBI to make it 5-2. Then two runs were able to score on an error, making it a 7-2 score heading into the bottom of the fourth.
Another homer from Georgia Tech made it 7-3 after the fourth, but Stanford would answer right back with two more runs in the top of the fifth.
Both runs came off solo homers, including junior Johnna Schroeder's first career shot. Three batters later, senior Caelan Koch continued her hot start to the season with a home run to left to make it 9-3.
Georgia Tech answered again in the bottom of the fifth, scoring to cut it to 9-5.
Stanford exploded for six runs in the top of the sixth, beginning with junior Allies Clements making her season debut. Pinch hitting for her first at bat of the year, Clements' double to drive in a run and make it 10-5. Koch kept the line moving, driving in a run on an RBI single to extend the lead to 11-5. Kaneshiro stepped into the box next, and hit her third homer of the day to make it 14-5.
Gall finished the scoring with a two-out blast, the first of her career, to make it 15-5.
Georgia Tech scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to make it 15-7.
The 15 runs scored are tied for the 10th-most in a single game in program history, and the five homers are a new program record.
Then in the Card's evening game against Florida State, the pitchers took control. Neither side was able to break through, until the bottom of the fifth inning when the Seminoles struck for three unearned runs off sophomore NiJaree Canady.
Florida State added another run in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 4-0 lead. Canady earned the loss despite a strong outing, going 5.2 innings with six hits and six strikeouts. The sophomore was surrendered four runs, only one of which was earned.
After the pair of games, Kaneshiro now leads the team in RBI with eight, and sits tied with Koch for the team lead in total bases with 15.
The Card is back in action tomorrow, with a doubleheader against a pair of top-three foes. First up is No. 3 Texas at 12:00 p.m. PT on ESPN 2, then at 6:00 p.m. PT Stanford takes on No. 2 Tennessee, also on ESPN 2.
