The Cardinal softball team (5-4) heads to south Texas this weekend for a five-game slate against Louisiana, Colorado State and the hosting No. 2 Texas Longhorns. The Card fell to Texas last week in Clearwater, and will be looking for revenge in the final trip before the team's home opener on Feb. 29.
Caelan Koch's return
After an injury ended last season, senior Caelan Koch has opened the season on a hot streak. On opening day, she slugged a two-run homer to pad the Cardinal lead in a 3-0 win. Through nine games, Koch leads the Cardinal in hits (9) and is second in batting average (.310) and homers (2).
Kaneshiro crushing
Senior Aly Kaneshiro hit three homers in last weekend's win over Georgia Tech, after hitting seven all of last season. The pwerful afternoon marks the first time since at least 1999 that a Cardinal hitter has smacked three long balls in a single game. Through two weekends of play, Kaneshiro leads the team in homers (3), RBI (8), slugging percentage (.571) and total bases (16).
Making their debuts
Freshmen Ava Gall and Jade Berry joined junior Johnna Schroeder in hitting their first collegiate homers last weekend. Schroeder and Gall went yard against Georgia Tech, while Berry's first round trip came against No. 3 Texas.
NiJaree still doing NiJaree thing
Through three games, sophomore pitcher NiJaree Canady leads the Pac-12 in strikeouts with 44. Canady made two appearances in Clearwater last weekend, going 1-1 with just one earned run allowed in 12 innings pitched. The sophomore struck out 11 and allowed just eight hits, and threw 6.1 shutout innings of relief in the win over No. 2 Tennessee.
Power surge in Florida
After hitting just one home run in the first five games of the season, the Cardinal hit seven in last weekend's four games. Stanford has now hit nine home runs through nine games, after hitting just 26 all of last season.
Because she gets on base
Through nine games, sophomore Taryn Kern leads the Cardinal in walks (9) and HBP (5). The walk total is good for 2nd in the Pac-12 and 13th in the country, while the HBP total is the most in the Pac-12 and tied for the second-most in the country. Despite a slow start to the season swinging the bat, Kern's .471 is the second-best among Cardinal hitters.