Recap: No. 20 Stanford Softball sends Cal packing early in 17-1 blowout
On Friday at Stanford Stadium, No. 20 Stanford softball dominated Cal 17-1 in a game that ended in five innings via mercy rule. Alyssa Houston (4-2) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal in a starting role while Mya McGowan (4-13) was the losing pitcher for the Golden Bears. Sydney Boulaphinh was the top performer for the Cardinal, hitting two home runs in the top of the 3rd inning while totaling six RBIs. Jade Berry had three RBIs as well for the Cardinal on 2-3 hitting. Stanford improves to 32-12 overall and 16-6 in the ACC while Cal falls to 13-34 overall and 3-16 in the ACC.
BOX SCORE: Stanford vs. Cal-Friday, April 24th
“Yeah, absolutely,” Stanford head coach Jessica Allister said of being pleased with the result. “No, I will always come out and take a win on a Friday night. I thought it was another really good start from Alyssa Houston, which is really exciting. And as we’re trying to get ready for the end of the year, seeing her continue to get better and better is big. It was great to see Sydney Boulaphinh really hit the ball tonight. You know, she got a hold of both of those, which was exciting. And then I thought we’d just, you know, strung together a lot of good hits. I think in the second inning, putting those three up with two outs was fantastic. So yeah, good day. And Ava Bulanti coming in and shutting them down.”
“Absolutely, I think it was just a fun time and we just had fun in the dugout,” Houston said of the win. “And we just like, fun to just to just see the offensive spark and just play.”
The only thing Cal had going for them in this game is they were technically the home team, which meant Stanford had to bat first in each inning and the Stanford PA system obliged Cal by playing their walk up songs. That was it. The rest of the game was pure dominance by the Cardinal.
Stanford scored four runs in the top of the 1st inning as River Mahler, Jade Berry, Joie Economides, and Ava Gall each had an RBI. 4-0 the Cardinal led at the end of the 1st inning.
The Cardinal scored three runs in the top of the 2nd inning as Kyra Chan hit an RBI triple to bring home Emily Jones before Jade Berry hit a triple to bring home River Mahler and Chan. That made it a 7-0 lead for the Cardinal.
“Oh, a hundred percent, I think in the beginning of the game you have to be loose, but even more loose,” Houston said of the run support. “You’re kind of like, okay, I have a little cushion. It’s nice. Like four is a nice cushion. I’m like yeah, this is pretty good. Like, I can kind of make a few errors, but we’re not really wanting any errors, but just completely frees you up to be like okay, I can work on things I need to work on like mechanically and try different things sequence-wise and just opens a lot of doors to just work on different things that are needed for postseason.”
In the top of the 3rd inning, the Cardinal scored 10 runs to go up 17-0. Boulaphinh hit two three-run home runs, giving her six RBIs for the inning and the game. It was like pinball out there at Stanford Stadium.
“I think just knowing that it’s a big rival game and just coming in with a lot of energy and a lot of focus each pitch,” Boulaphinh said of the key to her performance. “That’s something we work on all the time, just like one pitch at a time. So, that was kind of just what I was going in there thinking…I think just picking up on each other. Like after each at bat and just putting good at-bats together and putting a lot of pressure on the defense, too. That was good…You can feel the difference in the dugout, too. Just like the vibes are different and it just makes us play looser and go out there and have fun.”
“Oh, yeah absolutely,” Allister said momentum building. “We play a game of momentum and we play a game where you want to keep the gas pedal down when you have the opportunity and you know, you want to continue to put pressure on the defense and that is definitely part of the sport we play.”
Alyssa Houston would pitch through the bottom of the 3rd inning, giving up only one hit while getting two strikeouts. It was overall a strong outing from Houston.
“Just like relying on my team and the first four runs just really helped me just like pitch free and just kinda like get to work on the things I need to work on,” Houston said of the key to her performance. “And just growing confidence from that and just getting to pitch freely, honestly.”
Ava Bulanti would pitch the final two innings for Stanford, giving up one run in the bottom of the 4th. 17-1 would be the final score as the game ended after five innings. Truly an amazing offensive outing.
“That’s just the bat and ball sports,” Allister said of why they exploded for so many runs. “You know, I think it’s, you just stick with it and you continue to put your chips in the hopper and you like it when, you know, good things come up.”
“Ava Bulanti is absolutely phenomenal,” Houston said of her teammate. “I think that she is just very composed freshman pitcher. Like, she comes in, does her job, and just has a great presence and is just unfazed by anything and I think that’s such a great trait to have even as a freshman, like she just has it and that’s what makes her amazing and makes our team and our staff even better.”
For Stanford, this was a fun game. They did more than dominate their rival. They utterly humiliated them. Nobody steps on a field and expects to get beaten that thoroughly. Stanford showed why they are such dangerous team due to all their bats and quality pitching. Cal was simply overmatched.
“Yeah, it’s great,” Boulaphinh said of spanking the Bears. “Like, the whole week is built up to this and it just feels good. It’s a lot of runs!”
“It’s fantastic,” Allister said of getting everyone involved in the win. “And it’s important. So, it’s gonna take everybody at different times in order for us to reach the dreams that we have. So getting people really valuable experience to make sure that they’re ready when it’s their time, is important. So, it’s great having the opportunity to get everybody in there and let them get some good game experience.”
Fortunately for Cal, the score resets to zero on Saturday. They’ll get a chance to even up the series, though it’s honestly hard to see that happening after the way things went on Friday.
“The score resets to zero every single time,” Allister stressed. “So, we’re gonna feel good about it, we’re gonna draw confidence from it, and then we’re going to show up again ready to go tomorrow.”
On that note, Saturday’s game will be at 2:00 PM PT on ACCNX. Stanford once again will play as the road team in their own stadium. Kind of weird, but if you’re Stanford, you’ll happily take the home field advantage even with this quirk due to Cal’s inability to have the game in Berkeley as their new stadium is being built.
“Gotta, you know, we don’t have to do anything, but you get two of the three pieces of the game, you got a shot,” Allister said looking ahead to Saturday. “So, I think if we can get another really good shot in the circle, that would be fantastic. You know, it’s great that we didn’t throw Zoe at all today, which is awesome. You know, offensive pressure right out of the gate and playing defense.”
“I think just building confidence from tonight, but not carrying it over,” Boulaphinh added. “Obviously the teams are gonna come tomorrow fresh. I think enjoy the moment now but knowing that we need to dial in again and just one pitch at a time. Reset.”
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