Recap: No. 19 Stanford Softball falls to Notre Dame on Saturday
On Saturday, No. 19 Stanford softball fell to Notre Dame by a final score of 8-4. Kami Kamzik (3-4) was the winning pitcher for the Irish in a relief role while Elena Krause (4-3) was the losing pitcher for the Cardinal in a starting role. Olivia Levitt went 2-3 for the Irish for three RBIs which included a home run. Notre Dame improves to 11-16 overall and 1-4 in the ACC while Stanford falls to 15-7 overall and 5-3 in the ACC.
BOX SCORE: Notre Dame at Stanford-Saturday, March 14th
“Tough day,” Stanford head coach Jessica Allister said after the game. “You know, I thought there were some good. I thought, E [Elena Krause] came out and I thought the first inning, we saw a little bit of a glimpse of who she can be in the circle and that was exciting. I thought we put some good offensive pressure up in the bottom of the first, which was great. But then I think those left on base there with bases loaded and one out, that was, we needed those runs. I thought that was a missed opportunity.
“And then the second and third, I think you just saw us, I think we lost our composure a little bit. And I think that’s gonna be really important for us as a collective unit and our pitching staff in particular just to get comfortable, like, being in the fight and like, we’re not gonna give up three. We’re gonna give up one. And I think when there’s been a little bit of adversity we’ve started avoiding the zone and that leads into trouble because then we have to come into the zone and that’s where you see the big crooked numbers going up.
“So, I think we’ll learn from that. I was also happy to see E come back in and like, pitch a little bit and I guess the positive side of what we’re doing out there is the game getting the way it did is it allowed us to, like, kind of leave her out there and let her work through it a little bit. And I hope that’ll be a lesson that she’ll be able to take with her throughout the season because we’re going to need her.
“And then offensively, we just have some people who are just really, they’re searching for answers and when you start searching for answers offensively, you run into a lot of trouble. So we got to get back to not letting the pitcher get away with yellow to yellow and putting up consistent offensive pressure.”
Elena Krause got off to a good start in the pitcher’s circle for the Cardinal, getting three straight batters out in the top of the 1st inning. In the bottom of the 1st, Emily Jones hit a triple to left center with one out for the Cardinal after which Kyra Chan singled through the right side of the infield to bring home Jones. That made it a 1-0 lead for the Cardinal. Stanford wouldn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning.
In the top of the 2nd, things got away from Krause. The bases would get loaded with one out after which Krause walked Avery Houlihan to tie up the game. Tenley Sweet then singled to left field to bring home Hayden Kyne and Rebecca Eckart. Notre Dame wouldn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning after Ava Bulanti came in to relieve Krause, keeping it at a 3-1 lead entering the bottom of the 2nd inning.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Taryn Kern went yard to deep center field for the Cardinal, making it a 3-2 game. Stanford wouldn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning. There was a bit of a missed opportunity as Jordana King was caught stealing right before. Had she not been caught stealing, it could have tied the game up.
In the top of the 3rd inning, with Alyssa Houston now pitching for Bulanti after two runners got on base, Olivia Levitt hit a three-run blast to deep left field with one out, making it a 6-2 lead for the Irish. Notre Dame wouldn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning, keeping it a 6-2 game.
Neither team would score in the 4th inning, keeping it a 6-2 game. In the top of the 5th, with Elena Krause back in the circle for the Cardinal, the Irish would add two more runs. Eckart hit an RBI double to left center to make it 7-2 and then another run was scored on a fielder’s choice. Down 8-2 entering the bottom of the 5th inning, Stanford had some work to do.
“She just has to manage the ups and downs,” Allister said of Krause. “So like I said, the first inning was really good. You see her changing spins, changing speed, changing locations. And then she has the good at-bat against the four hole hitter, but like, competes in the zone. Same thing, like tip of the cap to her, squares up a ball, and then we lost it a little bit. So I think then maybe it’s a four-pitch walk next. Then gets yourself back into it with the popped up bunt, which is good. Get the jam job to second, we make the error behind her. And then again, it felt like we fell out of compete mode again and into a little bit of panic. So, I think it’s just gonna be important for her to understand she can execute her pitches and to like manage her approach out there.”
From there, Stanford would fail to complete the comeback. Addyson Sheppard would ground out up the middle to bring in Kyra Chan who tripled in the bottom of the 5th. Stanford was unable to string more runs in the 5th and then in the 6th, the Cardinal only got one more run to make it 8-4 as Jones reached on an error that brought home Kern. In the 7th inning, neither team scored, making 8-4 the final score.
To quickly touch on Notre Dame, this was a good win for them. They get their first win of ACC play and it’s on the road against a ranked team. That’s something that should give them a lot of confidence going forward.
As for Stanford, this is a disappointing loss, but they can’t let it bleed into Sunday’s game. They need to bounce back strongly and make sure they at least get the series victory. The hitting wasn’t where it needed to be and neither was the pitching. It was just one of those days.
On that note, Stanford will return to action against Notre Dame on Sunday at 12:00 PM PT on ACCNX.
“Well you know, you talk about three aspects of the game: pitching, hitting, and defense. You got to have two of the three in a given day to have a chance to win,” Allister said. “And that’s gonna be the key. So I thought, defense really showed up last night. I thought we had the one big error. I think also, we let them steal second on a ball where we check down. We should take the run there. Next one, big fly. So clean it up defensively and then we need either our pitching or our offense to show up.”
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