STANFORD, Calif. – The No. 12 Cardinal caps the season-opening homestand this weekend, hosting the DeMarini Invitational from Thursday to Sunday.
The 8-1 Card is coming off a 3-1 home weekend, topping Kentucky and Cal State Fullerton before capping the weekend with a 5-4 win over No. 14 Oregon on Sunday.
Stanford kicks it off against No. 15 Arizona at 5:00 p.m. PT on Thursday, then follows it up with another 5:00 p.m. PT game against No. 3 Texas on Friday.
Tickets for the weekend are available at Tickets.GoStanford.com, and all Stanford games will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
New Home Sweet Home // The Cardinal enters year one in Stanford Softball Stadium coming off of a 2025 season played in the regular home of Stanford Football. The Card went 5-0 in the stadium's first weekend.
- While playing at Stanford Stadium the Card went 22-4 and broke the NCAA softball single-game attendance record with 13,207 fans in attendance on April 19 against California.
- Since 2018, Allisters first season at the helm, Stanford owns a 136-55 (.712) record on The Farm.
- Stanford has posted a home winning percentage of .750 or better in five-straight seasons.
- Over the last three seasons, Stanford has gone 82-18 (.820) with only three series losses in the span.
Closing in on History // Allister is close to a pair of milestones, entering the weekend with a 298-145 record at Stanford – just two wins shy of 300 wins as the head coach of her alma mater.
- Allister also enters with a 588-252 career record, including her time as the head coach at Minnesota. 12 more wins will give her 600 career victories.
Taryn Torching » Taryn Kern has been on a tear to start the season, doing it all for the Cardinal in the leadoff spot.
- Kern has posted a .600/.647/1.320 slash line through nine games, good for a staggering 1.967 OPS. All four of which lead the team.
- The batting average is the ninth-best in the country, and third-best in the ACC.
- Kern's 29th career home run last week pushed her out of a tie and into sole possession of the eighth-most in program history.
- Kern's 15 runs scored are the 13th-most in the country, and second-most in the ACC. Her 13 RBI are good for 13th-best in the conference as well. Both lead the team.
- The senior earned the first ACC Player of the Week award of the season for her efforts.
Welcome to The Farm » Addyson Sheppard made an immediate impact in her first collegiate action, finishing the first two weekends 10-for-23 (.435) at the plate.
- Sheppard has driven in nine runs and scored five, and is slugging .696 with three doubles and a homer
- Sheppard earned the first ACC Freshman of the Week award of the season in week one, then earned Co-Freshman of the Week honors in week two.
Zoe PryStrikeout // Zoe Prystajko has been electric to start 2026, earning a win in each of her first four appearances.
- Prystajko leads the Card with 24.1 innings pitched, going 4-0 in four starts.
- After entering 2026 with a single-game best of eight strikeouts, the sophomore has topped that mark in every outing, punching out 40 across the four outings.
- The strikeout total is good for ninth-best in the country and tops in the ACC.
- In 2025, Prystajko struck out 5.4 batters per seven innings. In 2026, that rate is more than double at 11.5.
- The 11.5 strikeouts per seven innings are the seventh-best in the country and best in the ACC.
- Last season, Prystajko tossed five innings in one game just five times. All four of her appearances in 2026 have gone at least five innings.
Houston, We Have a Problem // Alyssa Houston has been sharp in relief to open the 2026 season, still having not been tagged for an earned run in 11.0 innings pitched.
- Houston's one of just nine pitchers in the country with more than 10 innings pitched that has yet to allow an earned run.
• The junior's two saves are tied for the fourth-most in the country.