Recap: No. 20 Stanford Softball gets midweek win at Santa Clara
On Wednesday, No. 20 Stanford softball got a 3-1 win on the road at Santa Clara. Zoe Prystajko (16-5) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal in a relief role, pitching 5.0 innings with one earned run and eight strikeouts while Ellison Schroeder (10-8) was the losing pitcher for the Broncos in a starting role, pitching 4.0 innings with three earned runs and three strikeouts. Stanford improves to 31-12 overall (15-6 ACC) while Santa Clara falls to 22-23 (7-5 WCC).
BOX SCORE: Stanford at Santa Clara-Wednesday, April 22nd
“Yeah, good midweek win,” Stanford head coach Jessica Allister said after the game. “Against a good team in a ballpark that was playing like a real pitcher’s park tonight. So, I thought we did a good job of stringing them together. Pitching staff did a good job of putting up zeroes for the majority of the game. Zoe had some big strikeouts, Anna gave us a good start, so good win.”
Stanford scored in the top of the 1st inning as Emily Jones executed a nice bunt to first base with one out after Taryn Kern struck out looking. Jones then stole second base after which Kyra Chan flied out to left field for the second out. River Mahler then doubled to left center, bringing home Jones. Jade Berry then grounded out to end the top of the 1st inning. 1-0 lead for the Cardinal.
“Honestly, she got me on a good pitch,” Mahler said of her RBI. “I think I got jammed on that ball. So it was just, I think the wind was in my favor. Honestly.”
Santa Clara would not answer in the bottom of the 1st inning as Stanford starting pitcher Anna Brewer forced a ground out and then a double play to end the inning after giving up back-to-back singles to Cairah Curran and Rebecca Rubio. It remained a 1-0 lead for Stanford.
Neither team would score in the 2nd or 3rd inning, keeping it a 1-0 game. However, Stanford did make a pitching change in the bottom of the 3rd as Prystajko came in to pitch for Brewer after Brewer gave up a walk. Prystajko would get three straight outs to end the bottom of the 3rd.
“Yeah, I thought she did alright,” Allister said of Brewer. “I thought maybe we weren’t, we were pitching from behind a lot. I thought maybe, we struggled with the zone, go back and watch the film, I think probably it was really small vertically and really wide horizontally and we didn’t necessarily take advantage of that. But I thought it was a work-like start. She wasn’t perfect, but she was competitive and kept getting us back in the dugout.”
In the top of the 4th inning, Stanford scored two more runs. Ava Gall would double to center field after which Addyson Sheppard grounded out to short stop, advancing Gall to third base. Sydney Boulaphinh then doubled to left center, bringing home Gall. Kern then grounded out to first base, advancing Boulaphinh to third base. Jones then got walked. Thanks to a fielding error with Chan at the plate, Jones stole second while Boulaphinh stole home. That made it a 3-0 lead for the Cardinal. Chan would get walked before Mahler grounded out to first base to end the top of the inning.
“Yeah, Jones is a good base stealer,” Allister said. “So when we have that situation, we’re gonna put her in motion. For a couple reasons. One, see if, you know, they can make a play and then two, with Kyra behind her, again, when we’re playing at a park that’s playing like today, like, runs are gonna be one or two at a time, so trying to get her into scoring position in a good count to let Kyra try to pick up two.”
In the bottom of the 4th, Prystajko made quick work of the Broncos’ lineup with a ground out followed by two strikeouts.
The one run the Broncos scored was in the bottom of the 6th inning. With one out, Hazyl Gray hit a triple to left field after which Marie Martorella grounded out to short stop to bring home Gray. That made it a 3-1 game.
“They’re always a tough team,” Mahler said of the Broncos. “Every year that I’ve played them since my freshman year, it’s these midweek games kind of later in the season, they always play tough. But yeah, I mean, they’re a tough team to beat, so this is a good win.”
“I think they’re just scrappy,” Prystajko added. “I think they’re a good team and knowing that when a team we haven’t seen that much has good momentum from their season, it’s always a challenge to like, being able to capitalize on a midweek.”
In the bottom of the 7th, Prystajko walked Mackenzie Olshenske before striking out the next three batters to end the game. 3-1 Stanford got the victory over Santa Clara.
“Yeah, I think just taking all the experiences earlier from this year and just capitalizing on it,” Prystajko said of the key to her performance. “Taking this more as just extra practice, too for postseason, knowing that when the game is tight, being able to perform well is important…No I think it’s great. I don’t wish there was more of it [close games], but I think it’s really good for us coming up. Like I said, in the postseason, to just be able to, like staying cool under pressure and knowing that as a staff we have it when it’s close.”
For Stanford, this is a good win. They had their chances to extend their lead even more as they left 12 runners on base.
“Well, you know, we know this playing here a lot, you got the wind blowing hard and we torch a couple balls that I think a lot of times end up going out,” Allister explained. “And that’s not the case here, so I thought we squared up some balls that just got a little bit caught up in the wind, but you know, 12 left on base, it’s not bad to get the 12 on base and just continue to work to put together good at-bats when they’re on. I thought base running, I thought, there were a couple opportunities that we had to score that we maybe got some bad reads on. Yeah.”
Still, a win is a win and when you are on the road for a midweek game, you’ll take any win you can get. Prystajko was fantastic in the pitching circle and is really starting to find her groove and then the offense did enough.
“Yeah, I think it’s really hard to come out and win close games,” Mahler said. “Especially with like, you know, everything going on. I think it puts the pressure on us, but I think we do a really good job of handling that. I think we just go out there and we try to have fun, try to have a good time, and it helps that we play for one another.”
“Yeah, I thought we stayed, thought it was a good win,” Prystajko added. “I thought it was, like, these midweeks are always hard, going from person to person. You’re not having all week to prep on them like normal weekends. So, I thought we did well.”
Touching more on Prystajko, she really is starting to find her groove. She’s been electric in the circle and pitching with a lot of confidence. Those eight strikeouts just shows how tough she is to hit.
“Yeah, she was great,” Allister said of Prystajko. “I thought coming into that dirty inning in the 3rd inning, and getting the big strikeout right away, that was a big strikeout and then pitching under pressure a lot there at the end. It’s good for her, I mean it’s gonna be important moving down the stretch for her to have the confidence of those situations and you know, she was great again today.”
“I mean, she’s awesome to play behind,” Mahler said of Prystajko. “Her pitches are nasty. Like, it’s awesome to watch kind of from behind, because it’s a totally different angle. It’s just, it’s nasty. Like, I’m thankful that I don’t have to go up there and hit.”
Up next for Stanford is a home series against Cal. The series was set to be away at West Valley College but was moved to The Farm. As a result, Stanford will play as the road team even though they will be playing on their home field. So, it’ll be a little bit of a funky set up with Cal being treated as the home team even though the series will be played Stanford Stadium. Game one will be on Friday at 6:00 PM PT on ACCNX.
“Yeah, it’s you know, always great to play the rivals,” Allister said. “So, we’ll get to our preparation, starting tomorrow and we’ll be ready for them.”
“Yeah, I mean we always look forward to it,” Mahler said of facing the Bears. “We’re excited every weekend, whoever that is that we get to play. I think we’re playing at our stadium, which I’m excited for. That’ll be good. Packed house hopefully. So, yeah.”
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