STANFORD, Calif. – No. 15 Stanford finished the regular season with a 14th-straight win, taking down Sacramento State 9-0 in five innings to move to 46-12. The shutout marked an eighth-straight game with under three runs allowed by the Cardinal pitching staff, and the third shutout in the last four games.
Stanford struck first, scoring five runs in the bottom of the first on just one hit. The first five batters of the game all reached base safely, and all scored in the inning as the Cardinal batted around in the inning.
River Mahler drove in the first run with a single, then Jade Berry brought in a second after being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Izzy Cacatian brought in another with a bases-loaded walk to make it 3-0, and the lead went to 4-0 when Ava Gall scored on an error in the infield.
Kyra Chan brought in the final run of the inning, stepping into the box with the bases loaded and drawing her second walk of the inning.
Alyssa Houston got a shutdown inning in the top of the second, striking out three in a row after a leadoff single.
In the top of the third, Zoe Prystajko took over in the circle for Houston. Inheriting a runner with one out, Prystajko induced a double play on just her second pitch to escape the inning.
The Cardinal promptly struck for four more in the third – Mahler brought in two more on a single, then Gall went yard to score two and make it a 9-0 lead.
Prystajko was perfect in the fourth and fifth, striking out the side in the top of the fifth to ice the game.
With the combined shutout, Houston extended her scoreless-inning streak to 19.2 innings and Prystajko hers to 13.2.
Stanford finishes the regular season 35-12 overall and 18-6 in ACC play. Next up for the Cardinal is the ACC Championship at Virginia next week. Stanford will begin the postseason run either Wednesday or Thursday, pending other results in the conference this weekend.
If Stanford finishes as the fifth seed, the team will play on Wednesday against the 12 seed at 10:30 a.m. PT. If the Card finishes as the four seed, the team will earn a first-round bye and open the competition on Thursday in a 10:30 a.m. PT quarterfinal game.
POSTGAME NOTES:
- Stanford has now won 14-straight games, extending a season best.
- The Cardinal has held its competition to two runs or less in 11 of the 14 wins.
- Stanford has limited opponents to under three runs in eight-straight games.
- The Cardinal has now scored seven or more runs in 27 games this season.
- Senior Taryn Kern’s run in the first inning was her 171st with the Cardinal, the fifth-most in Stanford history.
- Junior Jade Berry’s RBI was the 143rd of her career, tied for the 10th most in program history.
- Junior Ava Gall’s home run in the third was her fifth of the season and 18th of her career.