GREENVILLE, N.C. – The No. 19 Stanford Cardinal picked up a fourth-straight win this evening, moving to 19-8 on the season with a 7-2 win at East Carolina. Ava Gall paced the Card with a career-best four RBI, while Emily Jones extended her hitting streak to eight games with a 3-for-4 day at the plate.
The Cardinal scored first for the sixth-straight game, thanks to a three-run blast from Ava Gall in the second inning. The junior belted one just over the wall in centerfield to score Addyson Sheppard and Sophia Jin, who was running for Joie Economides.
Stanford added another in the third on a River Mahler sacrifice fly, going ahead 4-0.
The Pirates broke up the shutout in the third, answering with a sacrifice fly of their own to make it a 4-1 game.
The Card came right back with a pair of runs in the fourth however, scoring on Jones’ third hit of the day. Then another run came across on the next at-bat, with Kyra Chan recording an RBI groundout to make it 6-1.
East Carolina scored in the sixth to make it a 6-2 game heading into the final inning.
Another run came around to score for Stanford in the top of the seventh, with Gall driving in another run on an RBI fielder’s choice. The RBI was Gall’s fourth, setting a new career single-game best for the junior.
Zoe Prystajko kept the Pirates scoreless in the seventh to wrap up the win. Prystajko finished with 3.1 non-consecutive innings of relief, allowing no runs on four hits while striking out seven.
Next up for Stanford is a three-game ACC series at No. 24 Duke, beginning at 3:00 p.m. PT on Friday. Friday and Saturday’s games will be broadcast on ACC Network.
POSTGAME NOTES:
- The Cardinal’s seven runs tonight make 17 games this season with seven or more runs.
- Junior Ava Gall’s home run in the second was her third of the season and 16th of her career.
- Senior Emily Jones finished the day 3-for-4 to push her hitting streak to eight games.
- Gall’s four RBI are a new career best, eclipsing her previous best of three from February 7 against Oklahoma State.
- Sophomore Zoe Prystajko picked up the win in the circle, moving to 10-2 on the season.