Recap: No. 19 Stanford Softball cruises past Notre Dame on Friday
On Friday, No. 19 Stanford softball defeated Notre Dame at home by a final score of 7-2. Anna Brewer (2-0) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal in a relief role while Zoe Prystajko (3) was awarded the save. Stanford center fielder Emily Jones went 3-3 for three RBIs. Micaela Kastor (2-6) was the losing pitcher for the Irish in a starting role. Stanford improves to 15-6 overall and 5-2 in the ACC while Notre Dame falls to 10-16 overall and 0-4 in the ACC.
BOX SCORE: Notre Dame at Stanford-Friday, March 13th
“Oh, great win,” Stanford head coach Jessica Allister said after the game. “I was really proud of the way we fought back. I thought our pitching staff did a good job as a group, limiting them to two runs. Obviously, Anna Brewer had a spectacular outing for us. And Zoe coming in and shutting it down, so I thought it was good, tough, gritty, resilient win.”
Alyssa Houston was the starting pitcher for Stanford. She didn’t have the outing she wanted and she gave up a two-run home run to Ava Zachary with one out after walking Mickey Winchell. Houston wouldn’t give up any more runs the rest of the inning as a ground out by Rebecca Eckart ended the top of the inning. 2-0 lead for the Irish.
In the bottom of the 1st, Emily Jones would hit a single with one out and advance to second base on a wild pitch to get in scoring in position, but nobody was able to bring her home. That kept it at 2-0.
In the 2nd inning, neither team would score. However, there was a pitching change for the Cardinal as Anna Brewer came in to relieve Houston. Brewer would get two ground outs and a strike out, not allowing anyone to get on base. She was off to a good start.
“For me, I absolutely love pressure,” Brewer said of coming in with the team down 0-2. “I feel like the more pressure, like the adrenaline rush is awesome. I’m definitely an adrenaline junkie when it comes to like pitching. I love the heavy situations. Like, I’ve always been like give me the ball in the hard situations. And I feel like, you know in those situations like you got it and it’s just for me, there wasn’t much pressure because it was just like, okay, I know that I got this and I know that my defense has my back and let’s just go out here and play ball.”
After Brewer forced three straight ground outs in the top of the 3rd to keep it at 2-0, Stanford would get on the board in the bottom of the 3rd. With one out, Taryn Kern would single to second base and advance to third base thanks to an error (E4). Jones then singled up the middle to bring home Kern. Jones would then steal second base. Unfortunately, Jones would stay stranded at second base as nobody was able to advance her. 2-1 Notre Dame led at the end of the 3rd inning.
In the top of the 4th inning, Brewer continued to do her thing, forcing three straight ground outs. That kept it at 2-1.
“Competing in the zone,” Allister said of what Brewer did well. “I think she walked somebody, was it in the sixth inning? No, maybe it was the fifth inning. Her fourth inning. Um, she got a little bit wild there, but up until that point, I mean, I don’t even know that we really got too many three ball counts. She was just pounding the zone. Got a good, hard, heavy drop ball. And when she can own both sides of the plate and change speeds a little bit, she’s in business, so I thought she did a good job of going right at them.”
“Honestly, I have to thank my defense,” Brewer said. “My defense really had my back today. It’s no, I’m a groundball pitcher. I get a bunch of ground outs. So whenever defense is on behind me and we’re making the incredible plays, it’s really easy to like, get hyped up and just go after the next batters and knowing hey, like they got my back no matter what happens.”
In the bottom of the 4th, Stanford exploded with five runs. Jade Berry got walked after which River Mahler tripled to left center, bringing Berry home. That tied it up 2-2. Ava Gall then reached on a fielder’s choice to second base, bringing home Mahler. That made it 3-2.
“Yeah, we’re not uncomfortable behind,” Allister said. “We know we can score. And we know that our pitchers, they’ll bend, they won’t break. So I think Alyssa did a good job, even after the home run and coming back and getting us back in the dugout without any more runs up there. And our offense got to work.”
Joie Economides then singled to right center, advancing Jordana King to third base, who was pinch running for Gall. Mylia Perez then came in to pinch run for Economides, proceeding to steal second base. Sydney Boulaphinh then singled to shallow center field, bringing home King and advancing Perez to third base. That made it 4-2.
Boulaphinh then stole second base after which Kern was walked. Jones then singled to shallow left field, bringing home Perez and advancing Boulaphinh to third base while Kern advanced to second base. That made it 5-2. Addyson Sheppard then reached on a fielder’s choice hit up the middle, bringing home Kern and advancing Jones to third base while Kyra Chan was out at second base. It was now a 6-2 lead for Stanford. Berry then grounded out to first base to end the bottom of the 4th.
Neither team would score in the 5th inning, keeping it 6-2 game. In the top of the 6th inning, Ava Bulanti came in to pitch for Brewer after Brewer pitched 4.1 scoreless innings, getting the first out of the 6th inning. Bulanti would get the second out of the inning after which Zoe Prystajko came in to get the final out of the top of the inning, striking out Eckart.
“Um, not really,” Brewer admitted when asked if she was planning on going 4.1 innings. “Honestly, it was kind of one of those things of like, it was feeling good. Like, let’s go. Let’s keep going until whatever happens. Like, just keeping going, feeling good. That kind of plan.”
In the bottom of the 6th inning, Kern would reach first base on an error and end up advancing to third base. Jones then hit a sacrifice fly to center field, bringing home Kern. That would be the only run Stanford scored in the bottom of the 6th inning, making it a 7-2 lead for Stanford entering the 7th inning.
“That’s a good day,” Allister said of Jones going 3-3. “Yeah, she was great. I think she’s just, I think she’s, you know, on the right track. I think she’s on the upswing. She, not everybody knows this, but she had some, like health stuff. Like she’s fine, but in January and she was out for about three weeks. So just like fighting her way back and getting back into it and I think you can see her start to get, pretty comfortable in the box. She looked uncomfortable in the box at the beginning of the year, but that’s what happens when you can’t practice. So, I think she’s like, starting to get confident to get comfortable, and you know, stringing together good games.”
“I think just sticking with the approach of get a good pitch to get a good swing off,” Jones said of the key to her success. “Kind of waiting for the pitcher to come to come to me, come in my strike zone and not try to do too much with, as the situation gets bigger.”
In the top of the 7th inning, Prystajko would close the door on the Irish, not giving up any runs. Prystajko secured the save as Stanford would win 7-2.
“This is by far the best pitching staff that I’ve ever been a part of through all years of playing,” Brewer said of how her freshman season is going. “The older girls Alyssa and Zoe, they’re really taken the three freshmen under their wings and then obviously Coach O’Toole has a huge part to do with our camaraderie and just all of us getting along together and it’s just been an amazing experience and I absolutely love these girls with my life. Like I would give my life for any of them. Like, it’s such an amazing staff…Honestly, it’s the team. The girls are amazing. You can’t beat it. There’s no better place to be than Stanford.”
For Stanford, this is a nice win. They’ve now won four straight ACC games and have a 1-0 series lead over the Irish. They won with a nice blend of hitting and pitching. That’s the kind of win you want if you are Stanford.
“Yeah, I think timely hitting. I think we also took some walks in there, which is nice,” Allister said. “And then some productive hitting with obviously Jones’ sac fly. We got a couple balls to the right side with runners at third base and then dug in against the strikeout pitcher and got the barrel in the ball, in some two strike counts. So, you know, it’s an interesting game sometimes. You don’t get the hits with the runners on and sometimes you do. Today we did, you know, I thought River’s hit, tied up the game with Jade at third base. I mean at first base. That was a big one.”
“I think just really focusing on having consistent offensive pressure and going into each game like we’re down by ten runs so that we always have like a chip on our shoulder,” Jones added. “And just knowing that, like, there’s no such thing as enough runs…Yeah, I think everyone just had quality at-bats through all seven innings, not, like letting up at all throughout the game and just having big hits at great times and being able to pass the bat.”
As a bit of an added bonus, Stanford won without getting a single RBI from their top hitter Taryn Kern. To still put up seven runs with her having a quiet night speaks to the depth of their team and lineup.
“Yeah, I think we can score throughout anywhere in the lineup,” Jones said. “I think we’re an amazing hitting team and I think anyone can score runs at any time.”
Up next for Stanford is game two on Saturday. That will begin at 2:00 PM PT on ACCNX.
“Yeah, I’ll go back and watch the film. They have another pitcher they haven’t thrown yet, a hard, heavy drop ball, which I’m guessing we’ll get,” Allister said looking ahead to Saturday. “So, hopefully we can square up some balls early, get some runs, but you know, nothing really changes. You gotta have consistent offensive pressure. You’ve gotta pitch in the zone. Play defense. We can do those things; we’ll be in business.”
“Kind of going into the game thinking we’re down by ten runs and then knowing it’s gonna be hard,” Jones said looking ahead to Saturday. “And then we’re just gonna have to continuously, you know, be our most competitive selves through seven innings.”
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