May 19, 2001
Box Score| Quotes| NCAA Regionals
STANFORD, Calif. - The top-seeded Stanford softball team scored two in the first and three in the fifth en route to a 5-1 win over second-seeded Nebraska in a winner's bracket game of the NCAA Softball Regional at Stanford's Boyd & Jill Smith Family Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Huskers fall to 51-14 and play Pacific today at 4:00 p.m. The Cardinal improves to 51-13-1 and advances to Sunday's championship game (1:00 p.m.) against the winner of the Pacific-Nebraska game.
The Huskers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Nicole Trimboli reached on a fielder's choice and was able to score on an Amber Burgess double to the right centerfield gap.
The Cardinal answered with two runs in the first. Robin Walker led off with a single to right and Jessica Mendoza followed with a triple. Mendoza's hard hit ground ball just got by the second baseman and went all the way to the fence in right center. Mendoza then scored on Kira Ching's ground out to second for a 2-1 Stanford lead after one.
The score remained 2-1 until the bottom of the fourth. Sarah Beeson was hit by a pitch and Ching got on with a single up the middle. Cassi Brangham then came through with a clutch double. She roped the 3-2 pitch over the left fielder's head to score both Beeson and Ching. Jenni Shideler followed Brangham's two-bagger with a double of her own. Shideler took the 0-2 pitch to the opposite field, scoring Brangham for a 5-1 Stanford lead after four innings.
Dana Sorensen pitched the fist four innings for the Cardinal. She gave up a double in the first inning, but then held the Huskers hitless until the sixth. With a 5-1 lead, Maureen LeCocq started the fifth, but walked the first two batters. Sorensen came back in and got the Cardinal out of the jam with a pop up and two groundouts. She gave up three hits on the game and had three strikeouts and no walks to improve to 24-3.
For the Huskers, Peaches James started in the circle and went 4 2/3 innings. She gave up five runs on five hits while striking out five. She falls to 16-7 with the loss. Katie Decker came on in the fifth and finished the game for Nebraska. She went1 1/3 innings with three strikeouts.
The Cardinal had six hits, led by Ching's 2-for-3 outing with a run and an RBI. Brangham was 1-for-2 and drove in one run.
This was the second meeting between the two teams, the Cardinal won the first game, 6-4, in a tournament in Utah.
Stanford 5, Nebraska 1 Score by Innings1234567R H E Nebraska 10000001 3 1 Stanford 200300x5 6 1WP - Dana Sorensen (24-3) to Jessica Allister. LP - Peaches James (16-7) to Amber Burgess. Save - None. 2B - Amber Burgess (UN), Cassi Brangham (STAN), Jenni Shideler (STAN). 3B - Jessica Mendoza (STAN). HR - None. E - Amanda Buchholz (UN), Jenni Shideler (STAN). LOB - Nebraska 6, Stanford 4. Records: Nebraska 51-14, Stanford 51-13-1.