FRESNO, Calif. – No. 20 Stanford picked up a fifth-straight win today, moving to 27-12 on the season with an 11-1 run-rule win at Fresno State. Seven different Cardinal batters finished with a hit, and Alyssa Houston was sharp in the circle to take the midweek win.
Stanford jumped out to a fast start, with the first five batters of the game all scoring. Taryn Kern led off with a walk, scoring from second after a Kyra Chan sacrifice bunt resulted in an error. Emily Jones, who followed Kern with a single, scored from third on a fielder’s choice by River Mahler.
Jade Berry and Joie Economides each drove in a run with back-to-back RBI singles, before Ava Gall brought the last run of the inning home on an RBI groundout. The first half inning of the game featured five runs on three hits and a walk, with all nine Cardinal starters coming up to bat.
In the bottom of the first, Alyssa Houston limited early trouble in the circle. After a leadoff double, Houston hit a batter to put two on with no outs. Houston induced a groundout, then allowed a run to score on an inning-ending double play.
The inning turned out to be the last opportunity of the day for the Bulldogs. Fresno State finished with just one more hit in the game – a one-out single in the second. Houston picked up the win, finishing with one run on two hits in four innings. The junior struck out three and walked none.
At the plate, the Cardinal kept pouring it on. After a scoreless second inning, Stanford added two in the third and four in the fifth.
Berry led off the third with a triple, scoring on a wild pitch in the next at-bat. The third baseman would have scored anyways, thanks to a home run from Economides in the next at-bat.
The fourth inning saw the Cardinal score four runs on just one hit. Kern and Jones led off the inning with a pair of hit-by-pitches. Kern reached third on a passed ball, then raced home on a throwing error. Chan walked and stole second, putting two runners in scoring position for Mahler.
Mahler dropped a ball into right field for a single, and then kept running. The ball got past the right fielder, and Mahler raced all the way home to score on what was ruled a single and error. Three runs came in on the play, putting the Cardinal at 11 on the day.
The base knock also pushed Mahler’s hitting streak to 14 games.
Ava Bulanti came on in relief in the fifth, striking out two in a perfect inning to close the win.
The Cardinal returns home next for a three-game series with NC State, beginning Friday at 6:00 p.m. PT. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra, and tickets are still available at Tickets.GoStanford.com.
POSTGAME NOTES:.
- Senior Emily Jones stole her team-leading 11th base of the season in the second inning, still perfect on the year with 11 steals in 11 tries.
- Senior River Mahler pushed her hitting streak to 14 games.
- Sophomore Joie Economides hit her fifth home run of the season and 20th of her career.
- Senior Taryn Kern’s two runs scored today push her up in both single-season and career all-time lists.
- The 55 runs scored this season are 10th-best in program history.
- The 162 runs scored in her Stanford career are tied for eighth-best in program history.
- Stanford wins a game via run rule for just the fourth time this season.
- The Cardinal’s 11 runs today make 23 games this season with seven or more runs scored, and the eighth game with 10 or more.
- Stanford’s five-straight wins match the longest win streak of the season.