Stanford softball (28-21, 3-15 Pac-12) took care of business on Wednesday afternoon against Saint Mary’s, dispatching the Gaels 2-1 in Moraga, California. In a game that figured to be a low-scoring pitcher’s duel, Cardinal starter Madi Schreyer and SMC starter Lujane Mussadi both lived up to their billing in a well-pitched game.
Schreyer, who has had an up-and-down season in her opening campaign on the Farm, was brilliant against an overmatched Gaels lineup. The freshman gave up only one unearned run and stuck out seven Gael batters in notching her 20th win on the season. The Woodinville, Washington native scattered seven base hits, and was able to overcome a couple of Cardinal errors in the field to pick up the complete-game victory.
Schreyer, who has thrown 215.2 of the team’s 310.2 innings, was particularly effective at getting ahead of Saint Mary’s hitters before ultimately inducing several groundouts. She finished the game with nine groundouts to only four flyouts, while allowing only a single walk for the first time this season.
On offense, Stanford’s potent attack was kept in check for most of the afternoon, as Mussadi kept the Cardinal off balance in four innings of work. However, freshman Kylie Sorenson provided the difference on the scoreboard, blasting a 2-run home run to left field to score the Card’s only runs of the day.
The homer was the fifth on the season for the Southern California product, one of 25 finalists for the inaugural NFCA Freshman of the Year Award. Sorenson now leads Stanford in several offensive categories, including batting average (.370), doubles (16), RBIs (41), slugging percentage (.623) and on-base percentage (.503).
“We had a runner on, and we had not been able to put anything together up until that point,” Sorenson said of her shot to left field, surprised that she was able to take Mussadi deep. “I was just trying to find a gap…hit gap-to-gap with something hard on the ground, because with two strikes, I have been popping up a lot.”
Outside of Sorenson’s home run, the Cardinal were also able to draw hits from Erin Ashby, Cassandra Roulund, Bessie Noll and Tylyn Wells. The three through six hitters in the lineup were particularly effective, going a combined 4-for-11 (.364) with a walk.
“I thought it was a gritty win today,” said head coach John Rittman. “Madi pitched extremely well and Kylie got the big, timely home run for us. Although we committed two errors defensively, we made some nice plays and worked out of some jams. That shows signs of growth, especially on the road against a team that is a pretty darn good team.”
The Cardinal return to action on Friday night against No. 2 UCLA (44-4, 15-3 Pac-12) in Los Angeles, as part of Stanford’s second-to-last series of the 2014 regular season. Friday night’s contest at 7 p.m. will air on the Pac-12 Networks, before the Card and Bruins meet on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m., and Sunday afternoon at noon.
Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.