David Cohn – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Sat, 06 Jun 2015 08:36:48 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 David Cohn – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 Softball’s Madi Schreyer transfers to Washington https://stanforddaily.com/2015/06/06/softballs-madi-schreyer-transfers-to-washington/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/06/06/softballs-madi-schreyer-transfers-to-washington/#comments Sat, 06 Jun 2015 08:36:47 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1102039 In a Stanford Athletics release, sophomore pitcher Madi Schreyer announced that she plans to transfer to the University of Washington for the 2015-16 season. Schreyer is the fourth pitcher that has left in the Cardinal program in the last three years, with Kelsey Stevens transferring to Oklahoma in 2013, Nyree White leaving the program in […]

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In a Stanford Athletics release, sophomore pitcher Madi Schreyer announced that she plans to transfer to the University of Washington for the 2015-16 season.

Sophomore Madi Schreyer (above) announced that she would play for Washington in 2015-16, making her the fourth Stanford pitcher to transfer in three years. (DON FERIA/isiphoto.com)
Sophomore Madi Schreyer (above) announced that she would play for Washington in 2015-16, making her the fourth Stanford pitcher to transfer in three years. (DON FERIA/isiphoto.com)

Schreyer is the fourth pitcher that has left in the Cardinal program in the last three years, with Kelsey Stevens transferring to Oklahoma in 2013, Nyree White leaving the program in 2014 and Carley Hoover transferring to LSU last summer.

Schreyer was Stanford’s only healthy pitcher for much of the 2014 season, as she logged 242.1 innings in her freshman campaign. In spite of shouldering a tremendous burden in trying to hold the Stanford pitching staff together, Schreyer went 22-14 with a 3.70 ERA. For her efforts, Schreyer received All Pac-12 Honorable Mention.

This year, Schreyer got off to a tremendous start to her season, posting a 2.09 ERA in 50.1 innings. The Woodinville, Washington product also notched 38 strikeouts before she was lost for the season with an injury after an outing on March 1 against Weber State.

Stanford softball returns to action in February 2016.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Softball’s season ends in sweep at Cal https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/11/softballs-season-ends-in-sweep-at-cal/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/11/softballs-season-ends-in-sweep-at-cal/#respond Tue, 12 May 2015 05:57:15 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1100774 Stanford softball (17-37, 2-22 Pac-12) ended its 2015 campaign by getting swept in Berkeley, California at the hands of archrival No. 19 California (38-16, 10-14 Pac-12). In the first two games of the series, Stanford received heroic performances in the circle from position players sophomore Kylie Sorenson and senior Erin Ashby, who stifled and repeatedly flummoxed […]

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Stanford softball (17-37, 2-22 Pac-12) ended its 2015 campaign by getting swept in Berkeley, California at the hands of archrival No. 19 California (38-16, 10-14 Pac-12).

In the first two games of the series, Stanford received heroic performances in the circle from position players sophomore Kylie Sorenson and senior Erin Ashby, who stifled and repeatedly flummoxed the California offense. However, Stanford’s offense could not support Sorenson and Ashby, combining to score only 4 runs in the first two games.

(DON FERIA/isiphotos.com)
Junior Kayla Bonstrom bolstered the Stanford offense with two home runs against Cal, though the Cardinal ultimately couldn’t manage a win against their rivals. (DON FERIA/isiphotos.com)

As a result, the Cardinal squandered opportunities to steal the first two games, falling by 4-1 and 4-3 margins on Thursday and Friday.

On Thursday, Sorenson and Cal starter Katie Sutherland-Finch engaged in a pitchers’ duel through the first five innings, as Sorenson allowed only 3 hits and 2 walks without yielding a run. Sorenson also continued to rely on ground balls to get outs, recording 8 ground-ball outs.

On the other hand, her counterpart Sutherland-Finch pitched a complete game, scattering 6 hits and a Stanford walk, while only allowing a run on a home run by junior Kayla Bonstrom.

As a result, Stanford took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning and was one out away from stunning the Golden Bears. However, a mistake by Ashby in the circle led to a walk-off Golden Bear grand slam off the bat of Kobie Pettis.

On Friday, Sorenson again got off to a sensational start , as Stanford and Cal once again played out a scoreless draw through the first five innings. However, in the sixth, Bonstrom led off with her second home run of the series with a blast to right field, giving the Cardinal a 1-0 lead.

The Cardinal ultimately failed to pad that lead, stranding two base runners in the sixth, giving the Golden Bears an opportunity to take the lead in the bottom half of the frame. They did so through a 2-run Taurie Pogue home run, which put Stanford behind just minutes after the team had established its lead.

Stanford would once again respond in the top of the seventh off the bat of Bonstrom, with the Tucson, Arizona native plating two on a double to center field, scoring senior Tylyn Wells and Sorenson.

The 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh could not last either, however, as the Bears would walk off for the second straight day on a Cheyenne Cordes single to left field, spoiling another tremendous outing for Sorenson.

Finally, in the season finale on Saturday, the Cardinal were overwhelmed in first inning by Cal, and could never recover, falling quickly behind 5-0. Kobie Pettis once again caused problems for the Cardinal, driving home 3 runs. Pettis blasted another home run for the Bears in the bottom of the second for her sixth of the season.

Cal second baseman Mary Lee also notched 2 RBIs, with both runs driven in on singles in the first and the fourth. In the end, Cal raced past Stanford 11-2 with a five-inning run-rule decision.

On Saturday, Sorenson had the team’s lone RBI on a single to right field. Wells also notched 2 hits for Stanford, bringing her series total to 6.

Stanford finishes its season at 17-37, with only two wins in conference play. The Cardinal will miss the postseason for the second consecutive year, and will finish with their worst mark in conference since a 1-27 record back in 1995, the second year of the softball program.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Softball ends final home series with upset of Arizona State https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/04/final_dhp-softball-ends-final-home-series-with-upset-of-arizona-state/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/04/final_dhp-softball-ends-final-home-series-with-upset-of-arizona-state/#respond Tue, 05 May 2015 06:20:54 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1100384 The last home series of 2015 for the Stanford softball team may go in the books as an Arizona State series win, but the Cardinal salvaged their final home game of the 2015 season in dramatic fashion, stunning the No. 23 Sun Devils on Sunday in a 4-2, nine-inning marathon. Sunday’s turnaround was a particularly […]

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The last home series of 2015 for the Stanford softball team may go in the books as an Arizona State series win, but the Cardinal salvaged their final home game of the 2015 season in dramatic fashion, stunning the No. 23 Sun Devils on Sunday in a 4-2, nine-inning marathon.

(THE STANFORD DAILY)
Stepping into the Cardinal’s injury-ridden pitching rotation, sophomore Kylie Sorenson played a major role Stanford’s Sunday win as she and senior Erin Ashby held No. 23 Arizona State to two runs. (HARRISON TRUONG/The Stanford Daily)

Sunday’s turnaround was a particularly welcome sight after the Cardinal got demolished in the first game of the three-game set, with the Sun Devils routing Stanford by a 20-0 margin in five innings. ASU senior Haley Steele had two doubles as part of a 5-RBI day, with Jennifer Soria going deep to help propel her to drive home four more runs.

The Cardinal suffered an incredibly rough fifth inning, with Arizona State dropping 10 runs on 10 hits; the inning was compounded by an infield error that helped lead to 6 unearned runs of the 10 total runs in the frame.

While Stanford’s pitching rotation of position players struggled to keep up with a high-powered ASU offense in the circle on Friday, the Stanford offense was also completely overmatched in the series opener against ASU freshman Breanna Macha. Macha picked up her 15th win of the season in a brilliant 1-hit performance, with the freshman also not conceding a single walk in an efficient 51-pitch outing.

Saturday’s contest saw a much better offensive performance from Stanford, with the Cardinal jumping out to an early 2-0 lead on junior Kayla Bonstrom’s double to left-center field as part of a 3-RBI day. Stanford starter sophomore Kylie Sorenson, who normally starts in the infield for the Cardinal, also turned in a solid performance for Stanford through the first three innings, holding ASU scoreless.

However, Stanford’s efforts on Saturday were doomed by four costly errors leading to 7 unearned runs, which ultimately proved to be an overwhelming burden on both Sorenson and senior Stanford reliever and normal second baseman Erin Ashby. On the back of these four errors, ASU dropped 16 combined runs over the final three innings to run away from the Cardinal 16-6.

Steele turned in another great performance for the Sun Devils, going 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored, with Elizabeth Caporuscio also notching 3 RBIs to go along with her 10th double of the season.

Finally, in Sunday’s finale, Stanford turned in a much better defensive showing and got a sensational set of performances in the circle from Sorenson and Ashby to help the Card outlast ASU 4-2.

Sorenson and Ashby combined in nine innings to hold a powerful Arizona State offense, which had dropped 36 combined runs on the Cardinal over the first two games to a single earned run. Sorenson continued to rely on inducing ground balls to record outs for Stanford, forcing seven Sun Devil groundouts to only two flyouts. In contrast, Ashby relied on flyouts to shut down the vaunted ASU attack, with 12 forced flyouts to go along with six groundouts.

Sorenson and Ashby also had tremendous success at forcing ASU to strand runners, with the Sun Devils going 3-for-15 with runners on base.

Ashby also helped her own cause in the circle by starting a rally in the bottom of the seventh from a 2-0 deficit. The La Crescenta, California native jumped on the first pitch from Macha and drove it into the left-center field shrubs behind Smith Family Stadium; Ashby’s homer was her sixth of the year and cut the lead in half. Stanford would then tie the contest and send it into extra innings on an RBI single through the left side from sophomore Lauren Bertoy.

After both sides were held in check by Ashby and Macha, respectively, in the eighth, it would be up to the Stanford offense in the bottom of the ninth to deliver the game for the Cardinal. A single from junior Jessica Plaza in the ninth got Stanford’s rally started before freshman Victoria Molina ended the game with a towering shot to left field for her third home run of the season in only 19 at-bats. For Molina, it was definitely the biggest hit yet of her career, and it gave Stanford’s seniors a tremendous win in their final home game.

“She had some tough at-bats earlier in the game, but she stayed focused and it was great for her to step up and deliver in such a big way,” said head coach Rachel Hanson about Molina’s home run.

Stanford concludes its season this coming weekend in Berkeley against Cal.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Softball hosts its final home series of the season https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/29/softball-hosts-its-final-home-series-of-the-season/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/29/softball-hosts-its-final-home-series-of-the-season/#respond Thu, 30 Apr 2015 06:04:57 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1100107 Stanford softball (16-32, 1-17 Pac-12) begins its final home series of 2015 on Friday, as the Cardinal welcome No. 23 Arizona State (30-18, 8-9 Pac-12) to the Farm. The Sun Devils are coming off a disappointing home series loss to the surging Utah Utes and will have work to do if they want to get […]

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Stanford softball (16-32, 1-17 Pac-12) begins its final home series of 2015 on Friday, as the Cardinal welcome No. 23 Arizona State (30-18, 8-9 Pac-12) to the Farm. The Sun Devils are coming off a disappointing home series loss to the surging Utah Utes and will have work to do if they want to get back in contention for hosting a regional in the NCAA tournament.

Kayla Bonstrom
Junior Kayla Bonstrom (above) leads the team in most offensive categories, including batting average, home runs, and slugging percentage. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

The Sun Devils have had a middle-of-the-pack offense by the extremely high standards of the Pac-12 conference, which has seen an explosion in scoring and batting averages in recent years. Arizona State ranks sixth in team batting average and team on-base percentage, while ranking fifth in runs scored.

ASU’s offense has been led by senior Amber Freeman, who leads her team in batting average (.432) and slugging percentage (.811) and is tied for the team lead in home runs. Fellow senior Haley Steele has also had a standout campaign for the Sun Devils, notching a .319 batting average and a .581 slugging percentage to go along with a team-leading 55 RBIs.

Arizona State has had problems in the circle this year, and given that Stanford will continue to have to use position players to hold its pitching together, this weekend’s series will likely feature a lot of offense. Freshman Breanna Macha has been the best pitcher this year for the young and inexperienced Sun Devil rotation, which lost all-time great Dallas Escobedo, as well as 2014 No. 2 starter Mackenzie Popescue, to graduation after last season.

Stanford will counter with an offense led by junior Kayla Bonstrom and senior Erin Ashby. Bonstrom leads Stanford in most offensive categories, which includes batting average (.432), home runs (11) and slugging percentage (.784). Ashby is hitting .314 with 36 RBI and 11 extra base hits.

Stanford and Arizona State will meet in game one of a three game set on Friday at 7:00 p.m. at Smith Family Stadium.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu. 

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Softball continues disappointing run of play https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/26/softball-continues-disappointing-run-of-play/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/26/softball-continues-disappointing-run-of-play/#respond Mon, 27 Apr 2015 06:43:01 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1099846 Stanford softball (16-32, 1-17 Pac-12) were swept in Tucson, Arizona this weekend, as the Arizona Wildcats overwhelmed the overmatched Cardinal with three straight run-rule decisions.

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Stanford softball (16-32, 1-17 Pac-12) was swept in Tucson, Arizona this weekend, as the Arizona Wildcats overwhelmed the overmatched Cardinal with three straight run-rule decisions. Stanford’s makeshift rotation, consisting entirely of position players, could not keep in check a high-powered Wildcats offense in a hitters-oriented park, as the Cats dropped a combined 43 runs in the three games.

In Friday’s opener, Stanford’s defense did not help the Cardinal’s efforts, as three errors translated into a couple of unearned runs for the Arizona offense. In particular, two errors in the outfield for Stanford helped extend the first two innings for the Wildcats.

In addition, Stanford’s offense was completely non-existent in Game 1 of the series, with the Card notching only a single hit off the bat of senior Erin Ashby. Otherwise, Arizona pitchers Michelle Floyd and Trish Parks shut down the Cardinal, with Stanford going 0-for-9 with runners on base, 0-for-4 in RBI opportunities and 3-for-11 in advancement opportunities.

The excellent performances from Floyd and Parks gave plenty of cushion to the Arizona lineup, which scored in every inning en route to the 11-0 decision in five innings. Five Wildcat players notched 2 RBI, with Chelsea Goodacre, Mo Mercado, and Ashleigh Hughes going deep to punctuate the performance.

Stanford’s struggles to manufacture an offense continued in Saturday’s second game, with the Cardinal going 1-for-14 with runners on base and 1-for-8 in RBI opportunities, despite drawing 5 walks and putting 4 hits on the board. Ashby’s strong performance at the plate continued in the losing effort, with the La Crescenta, California native blasting her fifth home run of the season to knot the score at 1 in the top of the second.

However, from there, the Wildcats would outscore the Card 9-1 over the rest of the game, with Wildcats fifth-year senior Kellie Fox going deep as part of a 3-RBI game. In addition, Mo Mercado notched her second double to end the game, with Arizona scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the sixth to finish off the Cardinal in another run-rule.

Finally, the weekend series hit its nadir in Sunday’s finale, as the Wildcats pounded 22 runs on 18 hits to sweep away Stanford in a 22-5 decision. For the Cats, senior Hallie Wilson was simply unstoppable at the plate, tying a program record for most home runs in a game with 3 on the day as part of an 8-RBI effort. Mercado and Goodarce also went deep in the game to add 4 more RBI apiece. For the second time in three games, Arizona would score in every inning, as Stanford position players were left powerless in the circle.

In particular, in the bottom of the second, Arizona dropped an 11-spot on 9 hits, with a pair of Wilson’s 3 homers largely bookending the frame. Five of the Cats’ 9 hits in the forgettable inning went for extra bases, as the Cardinal simply could not stop the bleeding. By the time Arizona designated player Mandie Perez grounded out to end the inning, the contest was already well in hand.

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Freshman Lauren Wegner hit her first career home run in the final game of the series in what was a lone bright spot for the Card. (DON FERIA/isiphotos.com)

 

Still, the Cardinal did not leave Tucson without positives in the game. The team did not go down without a fight, as it put up 4 runs in the bottom of the third and another in the fifth. Three players on the team hit homers: Kayla Bonstrom, Jessica Plaza, and Lauren Wegner. Wegner’s homer constituted her first career home run. In addition, Plaza and Tylyn Wells both hit doubles. Regardless, in the end, the Cardinal could not produce enough runs to up the scoreboard.

“It was great seeing Wegner get her first career home run, Bessie light it up offensively and defensively, and Plaza getting hot at the plate again,” Stanford head coach Rachel Hanson told GoStanford.com.

Despite the positive contributors for the Card, Arizona’s offense would continue to pile on the runs, with the Cats adding 7 more runs over the final two innings to finish off the rout.

Stanford softball will return to the Farm for its final home series of the year against Arizona State this weekend.

Elizabeth Trinh contributed additional reporting to this piece.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Softball comes just short against Oregon https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/21/softball-comes-just-short-against-oregon/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/21/softball-comes-just-short-against-oregon/#respond Wed, 22 Apr 2015 06:43:51 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1099519 The Stanford softball team (16-29, 1-14 Pac-12) gave No. 1 Oregon (38-5, 16-2 Pac-12) everything it could handle in a three-game set at Smith Family Stadium — about everything except come away with a victory in the series. While the series will go in the books as an Oregon sweep, the Cardinal responded with a […]

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The Stanford softball team (16-29, 1-14 Pac-12) gave No. 1 Oregon (38-5, 16-2 Pac-12) everything it could handle in a three-game set at Smith Family Stadium — about everything except come away with a victory in the series. While the series will go in the books as an Oregon sweep, the Cardinal responded with a much better performance after getting blown out by top-20 squads UCLA and Washington.

Senior infielder Erin Ashby rocketed a grand slam in the Cardinal's effort to upset No. 1 Oregon this weekend. (FRANK CHEN/The Stanford Daily).
Senior infielder Erin Ashby rocketed a grand slam in the Cardinal’s effort to upset No. 1 Oregon this weekend. (FRANK CHEN/The Stanford Daily).

Stanford kept every game within three runs going into the final inning of each contest, with a chance to pull the upset. Stanford’s best opportunity to notch its best victory since a road win at then-No. 2 UCLA last season came in the opener on Saturday. The Card shocked the Ducks’ All-American pitching ace Cheridan Hawkins by jumping on her early, flustering Hawkins to the point where she charged out of her circle and nearly got in the face of home plate umpire Rick Cowan over not getting a called strike on one of her pitches.

Hawkins was shockingly not ejected from the game over the outburst, nor was Ducks head coach Mike White after he angrily came out to argue balls and strikes. That moment epitomized Oregon’s inability to play calm and collected softball for most of the weekend; the Ducks dropped several easy pop flies, erred on routine throws from infielders, and made mistakes with finding their pitching locations in the circle.

Although Oregon played nothing like the No. 1 team in the country this weekend, Stanford should still receive a lot of credit for making matters difficult for the Ducks. In Hawkins’ rough start on Saturday, the Cardinal tagged the 2014 Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year for 4 runs, highlighted by sophomore Kylie Sorenson’s double to right center field as part of a two-run fourth inning that gave the Card a 4-3 lead.

However, Oregon would fight back against Stanford’s makeshift rotation composed entirely of position players, with Coral Kosta’s RBI single in the top of the seventh serving as the difference in the 5-4 Ducks win.

On Sunday, Stanford continued its fine form at the plate, chasing Ducks starter Geri Ann Glasco from the circle without her recording a single out as part of a two-run first inning. Glasco gave up four walks in her brief outing. While Oregon reliever Karissa Hovinga temporarily stabilized Oregon’s pitching situation, the Card soon jumped on her too, eventually tagging her for 6 runs on 10 hits.

However, the Card’s upset bid on Sunday was doomed by defensive errors. Stanford gave up 8 unearned runs on two costly miscues. In particular, Oregon scored 6 runs in the third, all of them unearned, after Stanford committed an error at short. Nevertheless, the Ducks’ 8-2 lead would not last, as the Cardinal responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the third. It cut the margin to four on a Kaitlin Schaberg 2-RBI single down the left-field line.

Later, with the Ducks holding a 10-4 lead, senior Erin Ashby helped blast Stanford back into the game with a towering grand slam to left field off of Hovinga on a 3-2 pitch. Ashby’s homer, as part of a 5-RBI game for the NFCA All-West Region Third-Team selection, cut the deficit to two heading into the top of the seventh inning. However, doubles by Kosta and Glasco helped solidify the win for the Ducks, with a final score of 12-8.

Finally, on Monday, Stanford once again put up runs on the Ducks starter, chasing Oregon junior Jasmin Smithson-Willett after only 2.1 innings, with Smithson-Willett giving up 3 earned runs. With the game tied at 3 in the third inning, Oregon turned to Hawkins to stifle the Cardinal’s offensive attack. Although Oregon continued to give Stanford opportunities — committing five errors in the game, including two from shortstop Nikki Udria and two from first baseman Gwen Svekis — the Cardinal’s offense could not capitalize on these chances, going 3-for-17 with runners on base, and 2-for-9 in RBI opportunities.

As such, Oregon was able to piece together enough offense in the final four innings, highlighted by Smithson-Willett’s solo shot to center field in the sixth, to notch a 6-3 win.

Head coach Rachel Hanson said about the offensive performance this weekend, “Toward the end, Cheridan certainly was coming out and pitching really well, but I think when the pitches are there, we are swinging hard and making really good contact.”

Stanford heads to Arizona this weekend to take on the Arizona Wildcats in Tucson.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Oregon looms ahead for softball https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/17/oregon-looms-ahead-for-softball/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/17/oregon-looms-ahead-for-softball/#respond Fri, 17 Apr 2015 07:24:26 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1099278 In the midst of the Stanford softball program’s most difficult season since the mid-1990s, the Cardinal’s Pac-12 schedule will continue to offer no breaks, as Stanford (16-26, 1-11 Pac-12) welcomes No. 1 Oregon (35-5, 13-2 Pac-12) to Smith Family Stadium for a three-game series beginning on Saturday afternoon. While top-ranked Oregon will be coming off […]

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In the midst of the Stanford softball program’s most difficult season since the mid-1990s, the Cardinal’s Pac-12 schedule will continue to offer no breaks, as Stanford (16-26, 1-11 Pac-12) welcomes No. 1 Oregon (35-5, 13-2 Pac-12) to Smith Family Stadium for a three-game series beginning on Saturday afternoon.

While top-ranked Oregon will be coming off victories over Arizona State, Stanford went 0-3 against No. 9 UCLA last weekend and has lost its last seven games.

Kayla Bonstorm
Junior Kayla Bonstrom (above) leads the team offensively with a .444 batting average and 45 RBIs to complement 10 home runs. (FRANK CHEN/The Stanford Daily)

With the Cardinal rotation devastated by injuries, Stanford has had to turn to position players to pitch in the circle. As such, with Oregon posting a Pac-12-best .380 batting average in conference play, the Ducks will certainly pose a daunting challenge for Stanford’s pitchers, who have maintained an 11.17 team ERA in 12 conference games.

Oregon’s top-ranked offense has been led by freshman Gwen Svekis, who has a .455 batting average with 5 home runs and 23 RBIs through the Ducks’ first 40 games. The Cardinal will also have to be mindful of junior Koral Costa, who represents the premier power bat in Oregon’s high-flying offense: With 12 homers, Costa is currently tied for fifth in the conference in home runs. However, aside from Costa’s slugging power, the 2014 All Pac-12 Second Team selection has also notched an outstanding .367 batting average.

In the circle, the Ducks are led by star pitcher and NFCA First Team All-American Cheridan Hawkins. Widely recognized as the best pitcher in the Pac-12 Conference, Hawkins has had yet another sensational season in the circle. In 19 starts and 120 innings pitched, Hawkins has posted a measly 1.11 ERA, with opponents only managing to hit .132 off of the 2014 Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year.

Senior and No. 2 Ducks starter Karissa Hovinga is also a capable pitcher, with a 3.35 ERA in 12 starts, giving the Ducks a powerful 1-2 pitching combination with Women’s College World Series and international softball experience.

Stanford will counter with an upperclassman-filled lineup on offense, led by junior Kayla Bonstrom. Bonstrom has had a standout season, with a .444 batting average and 45 RBIs to go along with 10 home runs.

Senior Hanna Winter, who recently moved to third all-time in stolen bases in program history, has also shone this year for the Cardinal, with a .395 batting average, a .545 on-base percentage and 10 stolen bases.

The series starts off at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, followed by an afternoon game at noon on Sunday and the finale at 7 p.m. on Monday.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Softball falls in slugfest against Saint Mary’s https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/15/softball-falls-in-slugfest-against-saint-marys/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/15/softball-falls-in-slugfest-against-saint-marys/#respond Thu, 16 Apr 2015 06:28:28 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1099210 Stanford softball (16-26, 1-11 Pac-12) and Saint Mary’s (17-27, 1-5 WCC) played an offense-filled game on Wednesday evening at Smith Family Stadium, with the teams blasting a combined 19 runs and 22 hits. However, in the end, the Cardinal could not overcome a rough first two innings in the circle, falling to the Gaels by a […]

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Stanford softball (16-26, 1-11 Pac-12) and Saint Mary’s (17-27, 1-5 WCC) played an offense-filled game on Wednesday evening at Smith Family Stadium, with the teams blasting a combined 19 runs and 22 hits. However, in the end, the Cardinal could not overcome a rough first two innings in the circle, falling to the Gaels by a 10-9 margin.

In Stanford's high-scoring contest against Saint Mary's, senior Hanna Winter (above) continued to maintain her tremendous form of the last month of the season with an RBI single as part of a 5-for-5, 2-RBI day. Winter's outstanding day was not enough, however, as the Cardinal lost by one run. (FRANK CHEN/The Stanford Daily)
In Stanford’s high-scoring contest against Saint Mary’s, senior Hanna Winter (above) continued to maintain her tremendous form of the last month of the season with an RBI single as part of a 5-for-5, 2-RBI day. Winter’s outstanding day was not enough, however, as the Cardinal lost by one run. (FRANK CHEN/The Stanford Daily)

Stanford struggled mightily with its pitching in the first two frames, as Saint Mary’s notched 8 runs on 6 hits, with senior Sarah Lira and junior Loralie Fitzpatrick going deep to help spot the Gaels an 8-2 lead.

However, the Card would certainly not quit, battling back with a huge third inning to cut the Saint Mary’s lead to 8-7. After junior Kayla Bonstrom singled and senior Leah White walked on four pitches, sophomore Bessie Noll continued to excel at the plate by homering for the third time in four games.

Noll’s bomb to left field chased Saint Mary’s starter Katlyn Whitt from the circle; the entrance of Gaels reliever Katie Moss could not stop the Card’s resurgence at the plate, with sophomore Lauren Bertoy powering a double to left field to follow up on her solo home run in the bottom of the second. Two batters later, senior Hanna Winter continued to maintain her tremendous form of the last month of the season with an RBI single as part of a 5-for-5, 2-RBI day. Finally, Bonstrom boosted her RBI total to 45 with a bases-loaded walk.

From there, after 15 combined runs in the first three innings, the contest transformed into a pitchers’ duel, with Moss and senior Erin Ashby both hitting their spots. Stanford’s loss on Wednesday spoiled an absolutely brilliant performance by Ashby, who allowed only 3 earned runs and 5 hits in six strong innings. Ashby also helped her own cause in the circle by hitting a deep solo shot to left field that cleared the hedges and the 200-foot fence at Smith Family Stadium, tying the game at 8. At the plate, Ashby finished 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs in another outstanding performance for the La Crescenta, California native.

Unfortunately, however, a single mistake by Ashby in the circle in the top of the seventh inning with two outs and a 1-1 count proved costly, as sophomore Giana Bilotta homered to left field to plate two and provide the decisive runs in the game. A late rally by the Cardinal in the bottom of the seventh fell just short, with Ashby taking the loss in the circle.

In reaction to Ashby’s great game both pitching and hitting for Stanford, head coach Rachel Hanson said, “Erin did a great job. We were really only asking two innings from her. For her to go [six innings], going that long and strong, it is a credit to her for being such a battler in the circle.”

On the topic of Ashby’s home run, Hanson added: “That was a shot. That was fun for her. She has been scraping away in the box, and it is good to get a reward.”

Stanford softball returns to action on Saturday afternoon when the Cardinal begin a three-game series with the No. 1-ranked Oregon Ducks.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Cohn: The courage of Lauren Hill https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/12/cohn-the-courage-of-lauren-hill/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/12/cohn-the-courage-of-lauren-hill/#respond Mon, 13 Apr 2015 06:32:45 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1098901 Lauren Hill checked into her first career college basketball game. She took a perfect feed from her teammate, and with perfect form, lofted a layup off the backboard for two.

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In November 2014, at Xavier University’s Cintas Center, a 19-year-old freshman, Lauren Hill, checked into her first career college basketball game. She took a perfect feed from her teammate, and with perfect form, lofted a layup off the backboard for two. Moments later, she would exit the game, and the entire crowd of 10,000 fans would stand and cheer for her.

In comparison to that moment, the rest of the college basketball season becomes irrelevant. Kentucky’s run at perfection? Inconsequential. Coaches Krzyzewski and Auriemma adding another title to their illustrious legacies? Not important. Why are these other storylines, that would seemingly define any college basketball season, suddenly immaterial? Because the story of Lauren Hill transcends basketball, as Lauren was not an ordinary college basketball player. Rather, she was an extraordinary young woman who inspired a nation, as she pursued her dream of playing college basketball even while she was battling for her life with a terminal diagnosis of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a rare form of brain cancer.

Lauren passed away on Friday after a courageous struggle with cancer, but the impact of her time on the court, and her subsequent efforts to raise awareness for the cause of pediatric cancer research, which is desperately in need of increased funding, will continue to move our country. How large was Lauren’s impact? Well, you need look no further than the athletes and leaders who honored Lauren’s memory and legacy in letters and on social media over the weekend. In particular, LeBron James wrote a touching letter on Twitter, recognizing Lauren for her leadership and strength of will. In short, even among the most successful people in our society, Lauren stands alone in her ability to win in our world’s largest and most important arena: the arena of life.

What makes Lauren’s courage all the more remarkable to me was her willingness to publically share her story in the name of helping others in the hopes that one day, we will live in a world where cancer no longer kills millions of people, taking loved ones and friends painfully too soon.

Lauren could have spent her time with family and friends, privately enjoying the company of those most important to her. Instead, she chose to play, to go to college and to allow all of us to join her on her journey of these last 17 months, even if it meant dealing with the physical and emotional pain of cancer in the public eye.

Yet, Lauren remained undeterred. When her body ached from receiving chemotherapy and radiation regimens, she nevertheless played in four games, scoring 10 incredible points. When she could no longer play for Mount Saint Joseph’s University, she became an Assistant Coach for her college team while also raising over $1 million for The Cure Starts Now Foundation, a charity dedicated toward funding pediatric cancer research. All the while, she lived by, in her words, continuing to “find the light in every moment,” while also never forgetting who she fighting for: her family, her friends and, in the words of ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi, for the children with pediatric cancer who “couldn’t play, live or speak.”

In the end, for so many, including myself, Lauren Hill is a hero, a champion in every sense of the word whose heart and selflessness was simply remarkable. In the face of death itself, Lauren lived and achieved her dreams, while also showing us the tremendous potential associated with the human spirit.

Prayers to you, your family and your friends, Lauren. May you rest in peace.

We can only echo the final paragraph of this column. Send your thoughts to David at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu, and send your prayers to the Hill family.

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Softball star Kayla Bonstrom is in the midst of a historic 2015 season https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/10/softball-star-kayla-bonstrom-is-in-the-midst-of-a-historic-2015-season/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/10/softball-star-kayla-bonstrom-is-in-the-midst-of-a-historic-2015-season/#respond Fri, 10 Apr 2015 07:20:27 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1098697 Junior Kayla Bonstrom is very modest when talking about her 2015 season, a junior campaign that currently ranks among the very best in program history. In an immensely challenging season for the Stanford softball program, Bonstrom has been the program’s brightest star, leading her squad in just about every offensive category, including batting average (.469), […]

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Junior Kayla Bonstrom is very modest when talking about her 2015 season, a junior campaign that currently ranks among the very best in program history.

In an immensely challenging season for the Stanford softball program, Bonstrom has been the program’s brightest star, leading her squad in just about every offensive category, including batting average (.469), hits (53), doubles (14), home runs (10) and on-base percentage (.564).

Kayla Bonstrom
Junior Kayla Bonstrom (above) leads the team in multiple offensive categories, including batting average and on-base percentage. (DON FERIA/isiphotos.com)

In turn, Bonstrom’s spectacular season has her on the short list for Pac-12 Player of the Year, as she is currently second in the Pac-12 Conference in batting average, second in slugging percentage (.876), tied for the best mark in on-base percentage and third in doubles.

She’s already one of only three winners in program history of the Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year award along with Ashley Hansen ’12 and Jessica Mendoza ’02, and with the tremendous season she has had this year, she’s also in line to join them as the only players in program history to win Pac-12 Player of the Year in addition to Newcomer of the Year as well.

“I’m very humbled and very honored to be in the same category as these two great players,” Bonstrom said. “Jessica Mendoza had a phenomenal collegiate and professional career. Ashley Hansen had a phenomenal career here at Stanford, so to even be mentioned with those two names is very humbling.”

***

When asked to explain the source of her standout season this 2015 year, Bonstrom pointed to the lessons learned from her sophomore year, particularly the mental toughness that she was able to develop during a season during which she was personally disappointed with her performance.

Bonstrom still managed to hit .333 with a team-leading 44 RBIs while earning Pac-12 Honorable Mention honors in her “down” year. Nevertheless, she spoke of her growth during her entire career, particularly during last year’s trying 29-23 campaign that saw the Stanford softball team miss the postseason for the first time since 1997.

“Personally, [sophomore year] was a very tough season for me mentally, just because I was learning the mental side of the game and trying to get a better grasp of that,” she said. “I think this season has been me putting most of the pieces together. I think I have a lot more that I can improve upon, but I think my past years have really allowed me to do well both physically and mentally this year, and this has been one of the first seasons where all of these pieces have started coming together.”

In particular, part of the mental challenge of Bonstrom’s sophomore season was when she was forced to pitch in the circle as a position player, after Stanford lost ace Kelsey Stevens to a transfer and Carley Hoover to a pectoral injury, with Nyree White also leaving the team for personal reasons.

The loss of three out of the four pitchers from the Cardinal’s rotation caused Bonstrom, along with Erin Ashby, Tylyn Wells and Kylie Sorenson, to have to pitch for the team; in five appearances and two starts, Bonstrom gave up 11 earned runs and 11 walks in eight innings of work.

“One, I hadn’t really pitched that much, and two, the competition we’re facing is so good,” she said. “I couldn’t always expect to get someone out, or I couldn’t always expect to blow the ball by someone, because in reality, that’s not the case… So the mental toughness on the side of pitching was something that was [in line] with the theme of sophomore year, of being more mentally tough and mentally stable.”

Regardless of the numerous changes this season, such as a new set of coaches and various injuries, which would set back any softball team, Bonstrom has continued to stay focused. Outside of games and practices, she puts in a lot of work on her own, which has certainly helped her go a long way in the game.

Bonstrom is a perfectionist, and she constantly pushes herself to get better. The team has voiced the unanimous opinion that she is the best player to come up to bat when the bases are loaded and the team needs to score. As an integral part of the lineup, her teammates rely on her because they know that she can get results.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Cardinal swept away amidst flurry of Husky offense https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/05/cardinal-swept-away-amidst-flurry-of-husky-offense/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/05/cardinal-swept-away-amidst-flurry-of-husky-offense/#respond Mon, 06 Apr 2015 06:24:36 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1098305 Stanford softball’s season took a sad turn this weekend in Seattle, as the Cardinal were blasted in three consecutive games by No. 20 Washington. Desperately in need of healthy pitchers, the 2015 season is on a downward spiral for the Cardinal, as they have lost eight of their first nine games to start conference play. With Stanford pitchers […]

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Stanford softball’s season took a sad turn this weekend in Seattle, as the Cardinal were blasted in three consecutive games by No. 20 Washington. Desperately in need of healthy pitchers, the 2015 season is on a downward spiral for the Cardinal, as they have lost eight of their first nine games to start conference play.

With Stanford pitchers Madi Schreyer and Haley Snyder both out with injuries, the Cardinal (16-22, 1-8 Pac-12) turned to position players, sophomore Kylie Sorenson and senior Tylyn Wells, to pitch. The two ran up against a desperate Huskies squad (34-9, 6-5 Pac-12) that had not won a series in Pac-12 play until this weekend. Washington, with the conference’s leading offense in hits, home runs and runs batted in, mercilessly trounced the Cardinal in three consecutive games: 11-4, 13-2 (5) and 17-6 (5).

In Thursday’s opener, Sorenson kept Stanford in the contest, as the team was only trailing 6-4 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. She limited the Huskies to three extra-base hits and only six total hits. In turn, timely hitting from the Cardinal in the top of the sixth helped cut the deficit to two — an RBI double from senior Cassandra Roulund and an RBI single by junior Kaitlin Schaberg.

However, the Huskies responded in the bottom half of the frame with five runs on five hits to seal the game by an 11-4 margin.

On Friday, Stanford scored a run in the top of the first inning on an RBI from senior Erin Ashby, before Washington completely ran away with the game; the Huskies scored six runs on two hits in the bottom of the first to seize control, ultimately trouncing the Cardinal by a 13-2 margin.

Finally, in Saturday’s finale, Stanford’s offense came alive in the first two innings, as the Cardinal rocked Huskies starter Casey Stangel for six earned runs on seven hits in only 1.1 innings pitched. Once again on Saturday, Ashby got the Cardinal rolling with an RBI single on a 2-0 pitch in the top of the first, scoring senior Hanna Winter. Later, with Sorenson in complete command in the circle through the first two innings, Stanford added another five runs in the top of the second to seize a 6-0 lead.

This five-run, four-hit second was highlighted by junior Kayla Bonstrom’s two-run single down the right-field line, as she jumped on the first delivery of the at-bat from Stangel. Currently, Bonstrom remains among the leading candidates for Pac-12 Player of the Year, with a .469 batting average and 44 RBI to go along with 25 extra-base hits (14 doubles, a triple and 10 home runs).

Nevertheless, despite the Cardinal’s strong offensive showing in the first two innings, Washington responded with 17 unanswered runs in the third and fourth innings; the Huskies tied the game at six in the bottom of the third with home runs from Ali Aguilar and Taylor Van Zee, as well as a two-run double from Krystal Aubert. After the rough third inning for Stanford, matters got much worse for the Card in the bottom of the fourth.

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Senior  Tylyn Wells had a disheartening weekend, being pressed into an unfamiliar pitcher’s role and giving up 23 runs. (FRANK CHEN/The Stanford Daily)

After Stanford went scoreless in the top half of the frame, Washington piled on 10 runs before the Cardinal could even record an out in the bottom of the fourth. In a difficult sequence of events for the fans of the program watching the game on TV on the Pac-12 Networks, Wells was left in the game to give up all 11 runs in the fourth inning, with her teammates playing behind her simply unable to do anything to stop the flurry of sharp hits to the outfield from the Huskies. Van Zee would add her second home run of the game, and Aubert would also go deep to cap her five RBI day.

Finally, Wells and her teammates were able to regroup to record three consecutive outs to get out of the fourth, but the emotional damage and 11-spot of the inning was done. From there, Stanford went scoreless to finish the five-inning decision.

“So much of it is staying focused on the process and knowing that you can’t get too high and you can’t get too low,” head coach Rachel Hanson said. “You [have] just got to continue to attack, continue to compete and look for opportunities.”

Stanford will travel to San Jose on Tuesday to play an improved San Jose State squad (26-14), before hosting No. 8 UCLA at Smith Family Stadium next weekend.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Softball’s Pac-12 struggles continue with series loss to Utah https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/29/softballs-pac-12-struggles-continue-with-series-loss-to-utah/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/29/softballs-pac-12-struggles-continue-with-series-loss-to-utah/#comments Mon, 30 Mar 2015 05:58:04 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1097856 Stanford softball had a disappointing start to its Pac-12 home schedule, as the Cardinal lost its series with Utah, with the Utes taking two of three at Smith Family Stadium. The story of the Cardinal’s first two series of Pac-12 play, against Oregon State and Utah, is that while the Card were competitive in all […]

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Stanford softball had a disappointing start to its Pac-12 home schedule, as the Cardinal lost its series with Utah, with the Utes taking two of three at Smith Family Stadium. The story of the Cardinal’s first two series of Pac-12 play, against Oregon State and Utah, is that while the Card were competitive in all but one of its first six games to start its conference schedule, being competitive is not enough to earn victories in the Pac-12, which features six ranked teams and eight teams in the RPI top-50.

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Kylie Sorenson (above) notched a 2.55 ERA in 11 innings over the weekend. Her performance was a silver lining in a tough weekend for the Cardinal, as they dropped two games in their series against Utah. (ZETONG LI/The Stanford Daily)

With the exception of sophomore Kylie Sorenson’s sensational complete game on Saturday, Stanford (15-19, 1-5 Pac-12) had a poor weekend at the plate; Stanford averaged only three runs per game, with a .208 team batting average against the Utes (22-13, 2-7 Pac-12). As such, the Cardinal simply could not keep pace with a potent Utes offense on Friday and Sunday, falling to Utah by scores of 6-3 and 7-2.

In particular, in their two losses, the Cardinal continued to struggle to hit with runners on base, as Utes pitcher Miranda Viramontes pitched back-to-back gems. On Friday, the Cardinal went 2-for-13 with runners on base, as they stranded four base runners in the three run loss. Subsequently, in the Sunday matinee, Stanford could only manage four hits, while going 2-for-12 with runners on base against Viramontes and Utes reliever Katie Donovan.

Senior Erin Ashby led Stanford offensively in the three game series against the Utes, hitting a team-leading .429 in seven at-bats against Utah. Ashby also led the Cardinal with 4 RBIs and extra-base hits (two doubles).

Ashby’s clutch hitting helped lead Stanford to its 4-2 victory over Utah on Saturday afternoon, as the 2014 NFCA All-West Region Third team selection cleared the bases with a 3-run double to the left-center field gap. Ashby’s shot to gap on a 1-1 pitch from Utah starter Katie Donovan help give Stanford a 4-0 lead, which Sorenson would protect on her way to the complete-game victory.

Junior Kayla Bonstrom continued to help carry the Stanford offense against Utah, as the Tucson, Arizona native remains Stanford’s offensive MVP through the first 34 games of the season. In the three games at home this weekend, Bonstrom hit .333 with a home run, 3 RBIs and a team-leading .833 slugging percentage. The 2014 Pac-12 Honorable Mention selection’s two-run blast in Friday’s contest helped tie the game at two, with Bonstrom taking Viramontes deep on a 2-1 pitch.

Bonstrom has continued to state her case for Pac-12 Player of the Year, with a .461 batting average, 21 extra base hits, nine home runs and an .853 slugging percentage. Entering Sunday’s action, Bonstrom was third in the Pac-12 in batting average, second in slugging percentage and third in on-base percentage.

In the circle, Kylie Sorenson was simply outstanding for Stanford, posting a terrific 2.55 ERA in 11 innings of work for the Cardinal. Sorenson earned her third victory in the circle on Saturday, holding the Utes to two runs on eight hits, while also providing a solo home run to help her own cause in the 4-2 win. Utah stranded nine runners, as Sorenson induced 14 ground-ball outs, while holding the Utes to 3-for-13 hitting with runners on base.

Nevertheless, in spite of Sorenson’s strong performance, Stanford struggled in the circle against Utah, posting a team ERA of 4.67, with the Utes notching five doubles and hitting .333 as a team. Utah also blasted 29 hits in the three games at Smith Family Stadium.

In looking ahead to the team’s mid-week contest in Stockton, California against Pacific on Tuesday, as well as a three-game set in Seattle, Washington against No. 17 Washington, head coach Rachel Hanson said of her expectations for her team, “Same as what we have been talking about. It is just that competitive fire, the ability to compete regardless of circumstances. Another key for us is getting our bats hot again. We are going to take a closer look at that, and see if we can get a couple of things tweaked there, and be battling with our bats as well.”

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Cardinal have mixed results in Louisville Slugger Classic https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/10/cardinal-have-mixed-results-in-louisville-slugger-classic/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/10/cardinal-have-mixed-results-in-louisville-slugger-classic/#respond Tue, 10 Mar 2015 07:14:35 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1097355 Stanford’s softball team (14-14) had an up-and-down weekend hosting the Louisville Slugger Classic, as the Cardinal concluded its non-conference schedule with two wins over Santa Clara (5-17), while getting swept by No. 17 Minnesota (18-4) over three games. In the end, while Stanford can point to wins over Alabama and Texas as highlights from its non-conference […]

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Stanford’s softball team (14-14) had an up-and-down weekend hosting the Louisville Slugger Classic, as the Cardinal concluded its non-conference schedule with two wins over Santa Clara (5-17), while getting swept by No. 17 Minnesota (18-4) over three games. In the end, while Stanford can point to wins over Alabama and Texas as highlights from its non-conference slate, the Cardinal still have work to do as they prepare for a difficult and unrelenting Pac-12 conference schedule.

Senior Hanna Winter was a difference maker throughout this weekend’s action, posting a .389 batting average and a .611 slugging percentage to go along with a team-leading 5 RBI, 2 steals and 2 triples. (DON FERIA/isiphotos.com)
Senior Hanna Winter was a difference maker throughout this weekend’s action, posting a .389 batting average and a .611 slugging percentage to go along with a team-leading 5 RBI, 2 steals and 2 triples. (DON FERIA/isiphotos.com)

“Overall, we competed really well. Our bats are really alive right now. We are making good adjustments, and we are attacking,” said head coach Rachel Hanson. “Defensively, we really cleaned things up this weekend. We made all of the routine plays, and made some spectacular ones as well.

“We are competing, which is a big part of where we need to be right now. I am excited headed into conference play. There is still a lot of this year left.”

While Stanford’s offense had a good weekend at home in posting a .309 team batting average, the Cardinal certainly missed sophomore ace Madi Schreyer in the circle, as the 2014 Pac-12 Honorable Mention selection did not pitch in the tournament. Without Schreyer, the Card could not keep up with a potent and incredibly efficient Minnesota offense, as the Golden Gophers scored at least nine runs in all three games against Stanford.

In Stanford’s 10-5 loss to Minnesota on Friday night, the Golden Gophers only left three runners on base while notching eight hits, six walks and three home runs against the Cardinal staff. In the second game on Saturday afternoon, Minnesota remarkably left only one runner on base, as the Golden Gophers run-ruled the Cardinal 9-1 in five innings; Minnesota also posted two more home runs and four doubles in fueling the rout.

Finally, in completing the sweep on Sunday morning, Minnesota left only three runners on base, while hitting 7-for-14 with runners on base in its 9-5 win over the Cardinal.

On offense, several Stanford players had very strong weekends at the Louisville Slugger Classic, with five players posting a .350 batting average or better. In particular, sophomore Kylie Sorenson had a great weekend at the plate, leading the Cardinal in batting average (.500), slugging percentage (.900) and on-base percentage (.643). Sorenson helped Stanford put away Santa Clara on Saturday morning in the fourth inning with a towering two run shot to left field; her two-run homer gave Stanford a 10-5 lead, and from there, the Cardinal would score three more runs to run-rule the Broncos.

Junior Kayla Bonstrom continued her sensational start to the 2015 season with another strong performance on the Farm. Bonstrom finished second on the team in batting average (.467), slugging percentage (.867) and on-base percentage (.556) to Sorenson this weekend. In particular, the 2013 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year’s blast to right center field in the seventh inning on Sunday morning on the first pitch from Minnesota starter Sara Groenewegen helped cut the deficit to four. However, Minnesota would prevail, as the Card could not sustain the late rally started by Bonstrom.

Finally, senior Hanna Winter was a difference maker throughout this weekend’s action, posting a .389 batting average and a .611 slugging percentage to go along with a team-leading 5 RBI, 2 steals and 2 triples. Winter’s first triple came in the 13-5 rout on Saturday of Santa Clara, as the Camarillo, California product drove a 2-2 pitch from Bronco reliever McCall James down the left field line. Later in the tournament, Winter’s second triple of the weekend cut the deficit to 6-3 in Sunday’s contest with Minnesota with a three-base shot to right center field, scoring Sorenson and senior Cassandra Roulund.

Stanford softball returns to action after finals in two weeks with its conference opening series against the Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford has mixed results in SoCal trip https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/02/stanford-has-mixed-results-in-socal-trip/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/02/stanford-has-mixed-results-in-socal-trip/#respond Tue, 03 Mar 2015 07:02:34 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1096831 Stanford softball (12-10) recovered from last week's disappointing showing at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic to post a 3-2 record at the Long Beach State/Cal State Fullerton Louisville Slugger Classic in Los Angeles this weekend.

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Stanford softball (12-10) recovered from last week’s disappointing showing at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic to post a 3-2 record at the Long Beach State/Cal State Fullerton Louisville Slugger Classic in Los Angeles this weekend. While the Cardinal picked up a dominant road win over host Long Beach State (10-10) to add to their non-conference resume, the Cardinal likely recorded their first RPI “bad loss” of the year when the Card fell to Missouri Valley Conference member Wichita State (10-9); Stanford also missed another opportunity to record a solid non-conference win over Northwestern (7-10).

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Senior Erin Ashby (above) has anchored the team’s batting this year, posting a .417 average that ranks second only to that of junior Kayla Bonstrom. DON FERIA/Stanford Photo

In the end, the Cardinal unfortunately still have more ground to make up in their final non-conference games prior to the start of the Pac-12 play. The Cardinal will have to turn in a strong showing as host at the Louisville Slugger Classic next weekend, in order to avoid having a proverbial “mountain” to climb to earn an NCAA berth when Stanford faces the gauntlet of ranked teams that make up the Pac-12 Conference. Nevertheless, the Cardinal can certainly bring some confidence into their upcoming showdown with No. 11 Minnesota at the Louisville Slugger Classic, as Stanford’s offense has regained its form from the Kajikawa Classic and Nike Invitational.

As a team, Stanford batted a fantastic .327 at the Louisville Slugger Classic, while notching a .420 on-base percentage and averaging 8 runs per game. The Cardinal offense was led by senior Erin Ashby and junior Kayla Bonstrom, two stars for Stanford that were simply unstoppable this weekend. Ashby turned in a sensational performance in Southern California, as the 2014 NFCA All-West Region Third Team selection teed off on the opposition’s pitching to the tune of a .533 batting average, an .800 slugging percentage, a home run and 10 RBIs.

In particular, Ashby helped carry the Stanford lineup to its best win of the weekend, an 11-5 victory over Long Beach State in eight innings. After notching a sacrifice fly in the top of the first to give Stanford a 2-0 lead over the Niners, Ashby followed up with a two-run blast to left field, as the senior jumped on the 1-0 delivery from LBSU reliever Amanda Hansen. Ashby’s second home run of the season gave a 5-2 lead.

However, Ashby and the Stanford offense would once again be called upon to deliver, as Long Beach State battled back to score three unanswered runs to tie the score at 5 and send the game into extra innings. From there though, Ashby and the Stanford offense dominated the 49ers to the tune of six runs on four hits in the top of the eighth, including an RBI single by Ashby, to resoundingly put away LBSU.

Ashby was also outstanding in Stanford’s 12-7 loss to Northwestern on Saturday morning, giving Ashby four hits and 8 RBI during Saturday’s action alone. After driving home the game’s first run for Stanford in the top of the third, and cutting the Wildcat lead to 2-1, Ashby was able to notch an RBI single in the fourth, scoring sophomore Kylie Sorenson.

Ashby’s first two RBI helped the Cardinal trade runs with NU for 3 1/2 innings, with the game tied at 4 heading into the bottom of the fourth. However, after Northwestern scored 6 runs in the bottom of the fourth, Stanford was unable to catch the Wildcats. Nevertheless, Ashby notched her third and fourth RBIs of the game in the top of the fifth on a single through the left side. For the season, Ashby has the second best batting average at .417 behind Bonstrom, while also tied for second in RBIs at 15 with Sorenson.

Bonstrom continued her scorching start to the season, as Stanford’s offensive MVP through the first 22 games of the season. Bonstrom batted .474 with 5 RBIs this weekend, while notching a team-best .842 slugging percentage in the five games in Lakewood, California. The 2014 All Pac-12 Honorable Mention selection saved her best for last in the Cardinal’s 12-4 rout in five innings over Weber State (8-7), as Bonstrom went deep for two home runs in the Card’s win over the overmatched Wildcats.

Bonstrom got the offensive display going for Stanford right away in the top of the first, blasting the 3-1 pitch from Weber State starter MaCauley Flint to left center field to give Stanford an early 1-0 lead. After Weber State tied the game at 1 in the bottom half of the inning, Bonstrom helped the Cardinal regain the lead in the top of the third with a two-out RBI single to left field; Bonstrom’s second RBI of the game with two outs helped spark a massive two-out rally for the Card in the third, as Stanford would add four more runs to take a five run lead that it would never relinquish.

Finally, Bonstrom capped the day by sparking Stanford’s third and final offensive surge of the game in the top of the fourth, when she jumped on the 1-1 delivery from Weber State reliever Kirtlyn Bohling to record her second home run of the day; the Cardinal would add four more runs after Bonstrom’s two-run homer to complete the domination of the Wildcats. On the year, Bonstrom leads Stanford in several offensive categories, including batting average (.464), home runs (5), RBIs (19) and on-base percentage (.554).

Freshman Haley Snyder and Kylie Sorenson had bounce-back performances in the circle for the Card, as Stanford’s pitching staff posted a solid 3.18 ERA in the circle this weekend. However, Stanford’s rotation was not helped at all by the play of Stanford’s defense, which had a very poor weekend in Southern California.

Stanford’s defensive miscues were the culprit behind the Cardinal’s losses to Wichita State and Northwestern, as the Shockers and Wildcats turned a combined seven Stanford errors into nine unearned runs. In Stanford’s 6-4 loss to WSU, the Shockers notched three unearned runs on three Cardinal errors to pull the shocker. Later, in the Card’s 12-7 loss to Northwestern, four errors gave the Wildcats six unearned runs, which helped establish their five-run margin of victory.

“[T]he big thing we take away is we are starting to find our best style of play,” said head coach Rachel Hansen. “We really saw that in the last two games. We are playing a lot more loose and free, [while] enjoying playing the game… I think as they play more and more confidently and play more and more together, we will see good things happen.”

Stanford will travel to Davis, California for a rematch with the UC Davis Aggies before hosting the Louisville Slugger Classic next weekend to cap its non-conference schedule.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Madi Schreyer takes on and embraces crucial roles for softball team https://stanforddaily.com/2015/02/26/madi-schreyer-takes-on-and-embraces-crucial-roles-for-softball-team/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/02/26/madi-schreyer-takes-on-and-embraces-crucial-roles-for-softball-team/#respond Thu, 26 Feb 2015 08:29:13 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1096569 Of all of the players who have contributed to the Stanford softball program over the last two years, seemingly no one has been more valuable to the team than sophomore pitcher Madi Schreyer. Since she came to the Farm in 2013, Schreyer has had anything but an ordinary journey as an athlete, as she has […]

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Of all of the players who have contributed to the Stanford softball program over the last two years, seemingly no one has been more valuable to the team than sophomore pitcher Madi Schreyer. Since she came to the Farm in 2013, Schreyer has had anything but an ordinary journey as an athlete, as she has been called upon to lead the Cardinal pitching rotation almost since her first game in a Cardinal red and white uniform — the transfer of Kelsey Stevens, the health of Nyree White and the injury and subsequent transfer of Carley Hoover left Schreyer as the only healthy pitcher for Stanford during much of the 2014 season.

Sophomore Madi Schreyer has provided crucial anchoring for a shaky pitching staff that was marred with injuries and transfers last year. Schreyer has been lights out this year, allowing eight earned runs in 37 1/3 innings. (DON FERIA/isiphotos.com)
Sophomore Madi Schreyer has provided crucial anchoring for a shaky pitching staff that was marred with injuries and transfers last year. Schreyer has been lights out this year, allowing eight earned runs in 37 1/3 innings. (DON FERIA/isiphotos.com)

As such, in the face of the extraordinary burden of having to help hold a makeshift staff together while also facing the gauntlet of elite teams that make up the Pac-12 Conference, Schreyer delivered a series of heroic yet inconsistent performances as a freshman. However, Schreyer was certainly not deterred by the challenges of last season, as she has started her sophomore campaign by delivering a series of one outstanding performance after another.

In 37.1 innings this season, Schreyer has only allowed eight earned runs, while striking out 21 batters. In particular, Schreyer has been spectacular in preventing opponents from notching extra base hits; Schreyer has not allowed a single home run or triple, while giving up only four doubles to opposing hitters.

In recognition of Schreyer’s growth as a player in spite of the adversity that the Stanford pitching staff has faced over the last two years, fellow sophomore Kylie Sorenson said of Madi Schreyer at the end of last season, “She has grown a lot in the last couple of weeks and through Pac-12 play. It is really awesome to play behind someone who is continuously growing. It is a progression of her getting better every day.”

***

Schreyer’s trajectory as a pitcher for the Cardinal forever changed after last year’s Nike Invitational, when then-freshman and No.1 overall pitching recruit Hoover went down with what eventually became a season-ending pectoral injury in a matchup against Bradley. While Stanford had, to that point, been able to maintain its then-undefeated record after losing Stevens to a pre-season transfer to Oklahoma and White for medical reasons, the loss of Hoover would place a previously unseen amount of pressure on a player who was still adjusting to the college game herself. Now, Schreyer not only had to grow as an individual player but also become the sole leader of the Cardinal rotation.

In reflecting on this challenge, Schreyer told the Woodinville Weekly News this past summer, “I definitely wasn’t expecting it. Our other pitcher [Hoover] had an injury and so I had to take over. I took it on with no problem and bit the bullet. I knew my team was behind me the whole way. It definitely wasn’t smooth, but I was never shocked when I got there. It was definitely a learning experience, [having] to be strong both physically and mentally.”

Schreyer, along with the rest of the Stanford softball team, would certainly be tested physically and mentally by the strain of the 2014 season; after starting the season 13-0, Schreyer and the Cardinal simply wore down under the strain of the dilapidated pitching rotation, with the Card losing 25 of their last 42 games to miss the postseason for the first time since 1997. In an inhuman 242 ⅓ total innings in 2014, Schreyer posted a 3.70 ERA, with 171 strikeouts on 132 walks. While Schreyer certainly had some rough starts, particularly when she gave up 11 earned runs to Arizona State in a 16-15 loss to the Sun Devils in nine innings or when she allowed 12 earned runs to Arizona in an 18-12 defeat, Schreyer nevertheless had moments of remarkable brilliance, despite the draining nature of the innings and the losses.

In particular, in a start last season against No. 2 Tennessee as part of the 2014 Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, Schreyer pitched a complete-game five-hitter against one of the best teams in the entire country. While the Cardinal would lose the game 3-1, Schreyer left her heart out on the field in her 124-pitch effort, striking out three batters, while forcing the Volunteers to go 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

***

After an offseason of change for the Stanford softball program, Schreyer came into the 2015 season as undisputed No. 1 starter with the transfer of Hoover to LSU. This season, Schreyer has also added the title of mentor to her long list of responsibilities, as the Card welcomed freshman pitcher Haley Snyder to the Farm to complement Schreyer’s abilities.

With the support of Snyder and new assistant Megan Langenfeld as part of first-year head coach Rachel Hanson’s staff, Schreyer has dominated just about every opponent that she has faced this season. In particular, in last week’s Mary Nutter Classic, the Woodinville, Washington native pitched a five-hit complete game shutout against Oklahoma State to give Stanford its only victory at the premier non-conference tournament in collegiate softball.

In fueling her fantastic start to the season, Schreyer has been great at inducing ground balls from opposing batters, posting a tremendous 10 ground balls per game on average. She has also dramatically cut down on her walk totals, as she has improved her strikeout-to-walk ratio to 1.6 in 11 games this year. While she continues to work on her fielding her position in order to help out her own cause, Schreyer’s performance has been one of the best stories in the first 17 games of the 2015 season.

In describing this whirlwind of a journey over the last year and a half, Schreyer told the Pac-12 Networks, “I definitely have had to grow up … I feel like being put in this position early on has definitely helped me grow as a player, a person and a teammate. It has been a struggle. I have had days that have been harder than others, but I know this is just making me stronger.”

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Softball struggles at Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic https://stanforddaily.com/2015/02/23/softball-struggles-at-mary-nutter-collegiate-classic/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/02/23/softball-struggles-at-mary-nutter-collegiate-classic/#respond Tue, 24 Feb 2015 07:06:01 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1096356 Stanford softball (9-8) had a rough weekend at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, going 1-4 against their competition over the four day tournament in Cathedral City, California. While the Cardinal certainly played a tough schedule as part of one of the premier non-conference tournaments in college softball, the performance in all facets of the game […]

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Stanford softball (9-8) had a rough weekend at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, going 1-4 against their competition over the four day tournament in Cathedral City, California. While the Cardinal certainly played a tough schedule as part of one of the premier non-conference tournaments in college softball, the performance in all facets of the game was nevertheless disappointing for a squad that had started the season with a solid 8-4 record.

ZETONG LI/The Stanford Daily
Sophomore pitcher Madi Schreyer was one of the only standouts for the Cardinal last weekend, allowing just two earned runs in three starts. She has posted a 1.50 ERA in 37.1 innings of work so far this season. (ZETONG LI/The Stanford Daily)

What is perhaps most alarming about Stanford’s showing this weekend is that the Card’s woes cannot be pegged simply on one aspect of the game; in a couple of games, the Cardinal racked up errors in the field, while in others, the Card either struggled to hit or struggled to pitch.

Stanford’s difficulties at the plate this weekend were certainly a noticeable departure from the first two weekends, with the Cardinal pretty consistently leaving runs off the board. In the Cardinal’s 6-2 loss to South Carolina (11-4) on Friday afternoon, Stanford left six runners on base, while going 2-for-10 at the plate with runners on base and 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

The struggle to piece together hits continued for Stanford on Sunday morning against No. 22 Texas A&M (12-4). In the Cardinal’s 4-0 loss to the Aggies, the Card stranded eight baserunners while going 2-for-11 with runners on base and 3-for-12 on base runner advancement opportunities.

However, unfortunately for the Cardinal, the troubles continued in the later innings of the tournament finale on Sunday afternoon against San Diego State (8-6). Stanford chased Aztecs starter Erica Romero from the circle after only 2.2 innings, jumping out to a quick 4-0 lead on a 3 RBI double from sophomore Kaitlin Schaberg. But Stanford was unable to keep the effort going against Aztec reliever Sydnee Cable. After Cable entered the game, the Cardinal would manage only one additional run on three hits over the rest of the contest.

The cold streak against the Aztecs coincided with a disastrous third and fourth innings in the circle for the Card, as SDSU teed off on freshman pitcher Haley Snyder. After senior outfielder Tylyn Wells walked two out of three batters she faced to start the fourth, Snyder gave up 3 runs on two separate singles before Jenaveve Peres blasted a grand-slam to cap the seven-run fourth. In all, Wells, Snyder and sophomore infielder/starting pitcher Kylie Sorenson were charged with a combined 10 runs in the third and fourth innings. Stanford would be unable to recover from the offensive outburst, falling to the Aztecs by a 11-5 margin.

Finally, defensive miscues hampered the Cardinal’s efforts in its contests against South Carolina and Fresno State (11-4). In the two contests, Stanford committed a combined seven errors, which ultimately led to five unearned runs. On the season, the Cardinal has committed 22 errors, yielding 21 unearned runs.

One bright spot for the Cardinal this weekend was sophomore pitcher Madi Schreyer; the 2014 Pac-12 Honorable Mention selection was excellent in the circle this weekend for Stanford, as she only gave up two earned runs in three starts at the tournament. In particular, in Stanford’s 4-0 win over Oklahoma State (3-9) on Saturday morning, Schreyer completely stifled the Cowgirl offense, scattering five hits while only allowing a single walk. The Woodinville, Washington native also struck out seven batters in the outstanding performance.

On the season, Schreyer has been off to a fantastic start, posting a 1.50 ERA in 37.1 innings of work. True to her form from last season, Schreyer has been relying upon ground balls to record outs, recording 53 groundouts to only 23 flyouts this year.

Stanford returns to action this coming weekend in Los Angeles, as the Cardinal will be participating in a tournament hosted by Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton. The Card will face Utah Valley, Wichita State, Long Beach State, Northwestern and Weber State as part of the three-day event.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford goes 3-2 in first home tourney, upsets No. 3 Alabama https://stanforddaily.com/2015/02/18/stanford-goes-3-2-in-first-home-tourney-upsets-no-3-alabama/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/02/18/stanford-goes-3-2-in-first-home-tourney-upsets-no-3-alabama/#respond Wed, 18 Feb 2015 08:44:29 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1095792 Stanford softball continued to improve during the second week of its 2015 campaign as the host of the Nike Invitational, improving to 7-4 under first year head coach Rachel Hanson, with two victories against top-25 squads. While the Cardinal would suffer a 15-6 loss to No. 3 Alabama (11-1) on Friday night, and a 4-3 loss […]

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Stanford softball continued to improve during the second week of its 2015 campaign as the host of the Nike Invitational, improving to 7-4 under first year head coach Rachel Hanson, with two victories against top-25 squads.

Senior outfielder Leah White (above) was honored as GoStanford.com's Student-Athlete of the Week for her .429 batting average in this weekend's Nike Invitational. (DON FERIA/isiphotos.com)
Senior outfielder Leah White (above) was honored as GoStanford.com’s Student-Athlete of the Week for her .429 batting average in this weekend’s Nike Invitational. (DON FERIA/isiphotos.com)

While the Cardinal would suffer a 15-6 loss to No. 3 Alabama (11-1) on Friday night, and a 4-3 loss to Cal Poly (5-5) in the tournament finale, Stanford picked up by far its best win of the season with a 4-1 victory over Alabama, the defending Women’s College World Series runners-up and the 2012 national champions, in a rematch on Saturday morning.

“[This was] a great growth weekend for us. We improved in a lot of areas even from last weekend,” Hanson said. “Our pitchers especially took some great strides forward, and were really attacking a lot better. Mentally, we played a lot sharper.”

Stanford pitchers Madi Schreyer and Haley Snyder turned in key performances in Saturday’s upset over the Crimson Tide, holding a powerful ‘Bama offense to a just one run on seven hits. They held Alabama to 2-for-10 hitting with runners in scoring position and a 4-for-15 mark with runners on base in the game. Finally, Schreyer and Snyder did an outstanding job in avoiding walks, as the Tide drew only four free passes the entire game.

The Card’s formula for beating Alabama was certainly a marked change from Stanford’s first win over a top-25 squad, a 10-9 victory over No. 25 Texas in the Kajikawa Classic. While the Cardinal’s pitching and defense were noticeably improved from the offensive slugfest against the Longhorns, Stanford’s offense had to labor to produce runs against senior Crimson Tide pitcher Leslie Jury.

After senior outfielder Leah White gave Stanford a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, the Card had to rely mostly on small ball to manufacture runs against Jury, as the Cardinal scored a single run in three consecutive innings from the fourth to the sixth.

First, senior Hanna Winter drew a walk with the bases loaded in the fourth to give the Card their second lead of the game at 2-1. Sophomore Kylie Sorenson recorded a rare extra-base hit against Jury in the fifth to give Stanford a two-run cushion.

And with a lead-off single in the sixth, senior Tylyn Wells was able to help Stanford manufacture its final run of the game. Wells was able to take second on a wild pitch by Jury, and then stole third after Tide catcher Chauncey Bell shockingly took her eyes off of Wells as she gathered the ball by the backstop. Lauren Bertoy would then help execute the squeeze play to score Wells and establish the final margin.

While the Cardinal were able to win against Alabama on Saturday afternoon despite struggling to hit with runners on base, the Card were not as fortunate against Cal Poly in the Invitational finale. After nearly leading the Mustangs to an upset of the Crimson Tide on Saturday morning, Cal Poly pitcher Sierra Hyland helped her team pull a stunner on Stanford with another pitching gem on Sunday afternoon.

Hyland struck out six Cardinal batters and forced 13 popouts on Sunday, as the Mustangs avenged their Friday loss to the Card, which was a 10-2 run rule decision in both teams’ tournament opener. While Stanford was able to get baserunners on against Hyland, particularly in the seventh inning as the Cardinal tried to mount a furious comeback, the Card simply could not convert consistently enough with runners in scoring position, posting a 2-for-12 mark in those situations.

Most noticeably, after clawing back to score three runs in the seventh, cutting the deficit to one, Stanford could not complete the comeback, stranding the bases loaded with only one out, as Hyland was able to notch a strikeout and a pop out to second to end the contest.

With the Cardinal offense struggling against the Mustangs on Sunday, the Card could not overcome an uncharacteristically off fifth inning from Snyder in relief of the starter Schreyer. Snyder, a freshman from Fair Oaks, California, issued three wild pitches in the top of the fifth, which helped to sustain the Mustang offense in the four-run inning. In the end, a two-RBI single by Cal Poly senior Emily Ceccacci, coupled with an unearned run scored on a Cardinal throwing error, proved costly for Stanford.

In the other two games for Stanford, the Cardinal blasted Pacific, 9-5 on Saturday evening, while falling to Alabama 15-6 on Friday evening, all amounting to a 3-2 record at the Nike Invitational.

The Cardinal will return to action at home against UC Davis on Wednesday before heading to Cathedral City, California, to participate in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford offense heats up in the desert https://stanforddaily.com/2015/02/08/stanford-offense-heats-up-in-the-desert/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/02/08/stanford-offense-heats-up-in-the-desert/#respond Mon, 09 Feb 2015 07:10:52 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1095244 Stanford’s offense was simply sensational in Tempe this weekend, repeatedly crushing opposing pitching staffs throughout the tournament.

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Stanford softball had a solid start to its 2015 season at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Arizona, as the Cardinal went 4-2 in the competition, while picking up their first win against a top-25 squad this year on Saturday against the Texas Longhorns. Stanford’s offense was simply sensational in Tempe this weekend, repeatedly crushing opposing pitching staffs throughout the tournament. The Card, which returned their entire starting lineup from 2014, when Stanford set a program record for runs batted in for a single season, have the potential to be one of the greatest offensive teams in program history, if this weekend’s performance is any indication.

In six games, the Cardinal scored 52 runs with a .339 team batting average, a .433 team on-base percentage and a .564 team slugging percentage. Stanford also knocked 18 extra-base hits, including 7 doubles and 8 homers. The Card’s offensive performance was even more impressive, considering that 16 different players started at least one game at the tournament.

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Sophomore Lauren Bertoy batted .615 for the tournament, leading the Stanford to a 4-2 record (KAREN HICKEY/stanfordphoto.com)

In a tournament filled with standout performances, sophomore Lauren Bertoy was the best player on offense for Stanford. While Bertoy only started in four games last year as a bench player, she has already started in more games this season; in starting in all six games for the Card, Bertoy led the Cardinal in batting average (.615), doubles (3) and RBI (9) this weekend. In fact, Bertoy’s 9 RBIs more than doubled the next highest individual RBI total for Stanford.

Bertoy started the tournament by drawing two walks in Stanford’s 11-3, six-inning rout of the University of Virginia (1-4). After a relatively quiet Friday, Bertoy absolutely caught fire on Saturday during the Cardinal’s victories over Bradley (1-4) and No. 25 Texas (3-2). In the first game against Bradley, Bertoy drew a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the second as part of a three-run inning. Subsequently, after blasting a single back up the middle in the third, Bertoy plated two runs with a double in the fourth to right center field, helping to establish the final 10-0 margin in favor of the Cardinal.

In the second game, a 10-9 slugfest of a win for the Card over the Longhorns, Bertoy helped spark a massive comeback after the Cardinal fell behind 7-3 to Texas. After sophomore Kylie Sorenson cut the deficit to two with a single to left-center, Bertoy tied the game with two more runs on a single to left field, scoring Sorenson and junior Jessica Plaza. In her next at-bat, after Texas went down in order in the bottom of the third, Bertoy ripped a clutch double with two outs to right-center to give Stanford its second lead of the game at 9-7.

In addition to Bertoy’s efforts, juniors Plaza and Kayla Bonstrom also had strong weekends for the Card. Plaza and Bonstrom both tied for the team lead in home runs with 2 homers apiece; en route to a 1.000 slugging percentage in Tempe, Plaza went deep in the Card’s 7-5 loss to Cal State Northridge (4-1) on Friday morning, and on Saturday against Bradley. Bonstrom notched home runs against Virginia and Texas. Plaza and Bonstrom also both scored a team-leading 7 runs in the tournament.

Stanford picked up its first marquee non-conference win with the come-from-behind victory over the Longhorns, while the Cardinal’s twin 7-5 losses came to Cal State Northridge and the University of North Carolina (3-2), which had both received votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll. Although Northridge began the season outside of the national softball discussion, the Matadors will likely be ranked or receive votes in this week’s poll, as CSUN also knocked off host Arizona State, the No. 16 team in the nation, and Wisconsin, who also received votes in last week’s poll.

Nevertheless, the tournament highlighted the need for the Cardinal to improve on defense in order to help out the rotation of sophomore Madi Schreyer and freshman Haley Snyder. While Stanford only posted a team ERA of 2.53 at the Kajikawa Classic, the Cardinal committed 7 errors in six games, which translated into 13 unearned runs. Although Stanford managed to pull out the victory against Texas, the Card certainly did not make it easy on themselves, as eight of the nine runs scored by the Longhorns were unearned.

Furthermore, errors loomed large in the loss to Cal State Northridge, as five out of the seven runs scored by the Matadors were also unearned. Quite simply, Stanford will have to cut down on the number of errors in order to challenge the best teams in the Pac-12 conference this season.

Stanford softball opens its home schedule this coming weekend as part of the Stanford Nike Invitational. The Cardinal will take on Cal Poly, No. 4 Alabama and Pacific as part of the three-day event at Boyd and Jill Smith Family Stadium.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford softball begins new season with battle in the desert https://stanforddaily.com/2015/02/05/stanford-softball-begins-new-season-with-battle-in-the-desert/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/02/05/stanford-softball-begins-new-season-with-battle-in-the-desert/#respond Thu, 05 Feb 2015 08:09:30 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1094964 Another season of Stanford softball has finally arrived for fans of the program, as the Cardinal will return to the diamond when they head to Tempe, Arizona for the Kajikawa Classic this week. After a long offseason, head coach Rachel Hanson and assistant coaches Dorian Shaw and Megan Langenfeld will make their Stanford coaching debuts. […]

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Another season of Stanford softball has finally arrived for fans of the program, as the Cardinal will return to the diamond when they head to Tempe, Arizona for the Kajikawa Classic this week.

Leah White
Senior Leah White (ab0ve), who posted a .356 batting average for the Cardinal for last season and went the final 54 games without an error, will be one of the team’s largest contributors both at the plate and on the field. (DON FERIA/isiphotos.com)

After a long offseason, head coach Rachel Hanson and assistant coaches Dorian Shaw and Megan Langenfeld will make their Stanford coaching debuts. Hanson brings a track record of success from her previous coaching opportunities to the Farm: most recently, she led Dartmouth College to its first ever Ivy League Championship in 2014. Shaw and Langenfeld both had standout careers as collegiate softball players at Michigan and UCLA, respectively, before playing professional softball.

The Cardinal figure to have another incredibly strong offense in 2015, as the entire starting lineup from 2014 is back for this season. Stanford will be able to turn to a senior class of six players for production, with 2014 NFCA All-West Region Second Team selection Leah White, 2014 NFCA All-West Region Third Team selection Erin Ashby and 2014 All Pac-12 Honorable Mention selection Hanna Winter and 2014 Pac-12 All-Academic Second Team selection Cassandra Roulund all primed to have strong seasons for the Card.

White, who has won three NFCA All-West Region selections in her Stanford career, led the Cardinal in hits while posting a .356 batting average and a .441 on-base percentage last season. White was also outstanding in the field for Stanford, as she went the final 54 games of the 2014 season without committing a single error.

In her second season as a starter, Ashby was one of the best offensive players for Stanford. The La Crescenta, California native not only tied for the team lead in home runs with junior Jessica Plaza, but also notched a .440 on-base percentage and a .533 slugging percentage. Winter will continue to provide production for the Card as a bunter, slapper and baserunner who also has the ability to hit gap-to-gap. Winter led the Cardinal in 2014 in stolen bases and runs scored.

Finally, Roulund has provided great run and extra-base hit production through her aggressive approach, as the Trabuco Canyon, California product posted a .479 slugging percentage and 38 RBIs.

In addition to the Card’s six seniors, Stanford will also turn to sophomores Kylie Sorenson and Bessie Noll and juniors Kayla Bonstrom and Jessica Plaza on offense. Sorenson posted one of the finest seasons for a freshman last season in recent program history as the All Pac-12 Second Team selection led the Cardinal in multiple offensive categories, including batting average (.363), slugging percentage (.586) and walks (37).

Noll, a 2014 Pac-12 All Freshman Team Honorable Mention selection, relied on her patient approach at the plate in order to post a .406 on-base percentage. Bonstrom, the 2013 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, had a team-leading 44 RBIs last season for the Card. Finally, Plaza has been a strong power hitter for the Cardinal, tying for the team’s lead with six home runs to go along with a .496 slugging percentage.

In the circle, sophomore Madi Schreyer will again be called upon to lead the pitching rotation for Stanford after Carley Hoover’s transfer to LSU. As the Cardinal’s only healthy full-time pitcher for most of the 2014 season, Schreyer had to hold the entire staff together, which obviously is an extremely difficult proposition for any pitcher, let alone a freshman pitcher. Schreyer posted a 3.70 ERA after throwing 242.1 of the team’s 347.2 innings, earning All Pac-12 Honorable Mention honors.

The Card will also likely turn to freshman Haley Snyder in the circle. Snyder, a Fair Oaks, California product, was a three-time Capital Valley Conference All-League selection at Christian Brothers High School.

Hanson has yet to formally announce who would potentially serve as a possible third pitcher for Stanford if the Cardinal are in need of depth at the position. However, that answer may come as soon as this weekend, depending on how the games are going for the Card.

Stanford will open the 2015 season against ACC opponent Virginia at the Tempe Sports Complex on Thursday at 7 p.m. Pacific. The Cardinal last played the Cavaliers in 2013 at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, with the Card knocking off UVA by a score of 4-0.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Leah White takes on softball and Stanford life with a smile https://stanforddaily.com/2015/01/21/leah-white-takes-on-softball-and-stanford-life-with-a-smile/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/01/21/leah-white-takes-on-softball-and-stanford-life-with-a-smile/#comments Thu, 22 Jan 2015 07:11:39 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1094213 The last quarters of a Stanford student’s undergraduate experience can be nostalgic, as seniors begin to reflect on their time on the Farm. For student-athletes, this effect can be magnified, as senior year is also the culmination of four years of hard work in athletics. Senior softball player Leah White and her other senior teammates […]

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The last quarters of a Stanford student’s undergraduate experience can be nostalgic, as seniors begin to reflect on their time on the Farm. For student-athletes, this effect can be magnified, as senior year is also the culmination of four years of hard work in athletics.

Senior softball player Leah White and her other senior teammates share a profound determination to make the most of this upcoming season. While White worked towards being recruited since she was young and then towards earning a starting spot in each of her four seasons with the Cardinal, she is certainly not daunted by the notion of this “final season.” Rather, White is focused on continuing to lead her team by example in this critical moment for Stanford softball.

That mindset encapsulates the storied softball career that White has had at Stanford, with three consecutive NFCA All-West Region Second Team selections and two All-Pac-12 Second Team selections. In addition, she has also consistently been among the team leaders in nearly every offensive category, from batting average to on-base percentage to runs and stolen bases.

However, White’s accomplishments at Stanford have certainly not been limited to the softball field, as she has also excelled in the classroom as a human biology major, while conducting pediatric oncology research at the Stanford Center for Clinical Sciences Research.

As her classmate in a human biology course called Cancer Epidemiology last spring, it was easy to recognize how White seemingly effortlessly managed her commitments and achieved success both in the classroom and on the field, all while remaining incredibly humble, and doing it with a smile on her face.

***

Leah’s journey to Stanford was marked by hard work and tremendous focus on her goal of playing collegiate softball. While many college softball players had standout careers in high school, Leah took it to a whole other level at Horizon High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, just outside of Phoenix. White holds Horizon’s school record in career batting average (.501), hits (216), singles (177) and runs scored (188).

Furthermore, White’s senior campaign in 2011 at Horizon remains one of the finest seasons in Horizon school history; as a senior, White hit .638, with 34 steals, 61 runs scored, 8 triples and only 2 strikeouts over the entire season. Leah earned ESPN and MaxPreps First Team All-American honors for that remarkable season.

In addition to playing for Horizon High, Leah also played club softball for Firecrackers, a softball powerhouse based in Huntington Beach, California. Playing for the Firecrackers meant six-hour drives to Southern California from Phoenix in order to play in weekend tournaments.

“I honestly will never be able to thank my parents enough for what they did for me in high school,” White said. “We used to leave on Friday at 2 p.m. and drive to L.A., stay the night, play games on Saturday and Sunday and drive another six hours back home on Sunday afternoon.”

Leah also talked about the role that her brother Evan, who gives hitting lessons to youth baseball and softball players, has had on her development.

“During high school, he would try to help, but I wasn’t always so open to receiving help from him,” she said. “However, once I got to college, I would go home over break and summer, he definitely became a valuable resource.

“We don’t always get along when we are practicing. That is a very common thing when practicing with parents or siblings, but he is definitely a lot more patient and forgiving than he should be when I am not so open to criticism.”

***

After arriving at Stanford in the fall of 2011, White continued to shine on the softball field. In 58 starts as the Cardinal’s left fielder in her freshman season, White hit .374 and recorded 28 RBI.

White subsequently built on her freshman season by boosting her extra base-hit and walk totals during her sophomore season, batting .324 with 10 doubles, 2 home runs and 27 RBI. Most noticeably, White excelled in postseason play at the Lincoln Regional, hitting .333, notching two RBI and three runs as she helped the Cardinal earn a berth in the regional final.

Finally, as a junior last year, White produced another great season after stepping into the leadoff spot in the lineup, as she recorded a .441 on-base percentage with 11 doubles and 38 RBI.

White also continued to improve in other aspects of her game outside of hitting, such as posting 14 steals on 15 attempts on the basepaths, while also notching a .976 fielding percentage in left field; in fact, after committing an error against North Carolina State in the 2014 season opener, Leah extraordinarily did not have an error over the final 54 games of the regular season.

In all, White has achieved success due to her tremendous versatility, particularly at the plate. She has excelled in each of the three major areas of hitting in softball: bunting, slapping and gap-to-gap hitting. In turn, White has worked very hard in studying the tendencies of her opponents in order to employ the best possible strategy for each of her at-bats.

Elaborating on her approach, she said, “A lot of it is understanding what are my strengths and how to utilize them. If something isn’t working for me that day, or if something doesn’t feel right, to know that I have a multitude of other options. Speaking offensively, I know that I can go to my short game, I can go to slapping, I can go to swinging away. It’s kind of about using those things to round out my game offensively.”

***

In addition to her successes on the softball field, Leah has also been successful in the classroom as a human biology major, stating Cancer Epidemiology, as well as an independent study class in which she shadowed a physician, as her favorite classes.

spo.012215.Leah
(ERIN ASHBY/The Stanford Daily)

 

White also cited the opportunities she has had to work with kids as a highlight of her Stanford career. For the Cancer Epidemiology class last year, she created a moving video presentation in support of her proposed study regarding pediatric cancer patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. As part of that video presentation, White talked with a young girl about her brave fight against cancer.

Leah’s interest in working with and for children also extended to the pediatric oncology research that she conducted in the Stanford Center for Clinical Sciences Research last summer.

“I actually got extremely lucky in meeting the doctor that I worked with this past summer; she was very generous, and I am so appreciative that she let me work in her lab,” White said. “I actually just learned a lot from just watching her…I don’t know if working in a lab is for me, as I think I need more time and hours devoted to that, but it was a very cool experience.”

***

In reflecting on her growth as a person during her time at Stanford, White said, “I don’t think there is one specific thing, but I think coming in as a freshman, I was very quiet and extremely timid…the overall growth that I have had since freshman year until now, while using the resources that Stanford has, and meeting all of these incredible people, have shaped who I am.”

White also highlighted the impact of the relationships that she has been able to form, both with her softball teammates and outside of softball.

“These friendships that I have created with the girls on the team will definitely stand after graduation,” she said. “That is what I will take away [from softball].”

As such, it’s fitting to let Leah’s friends, both outside of softball and within softball, have the final word in describing her:

“Leah and I were roommates freshman year, and from then she has always been a cheerful, smiley spirit,” her friend Shirley Jiang ‘15 said. “[Leah] is admirably pursuing studies and research in order to work in the healthcare profession, which stem from her desire to give back.”

In turn, senior infielder Erin Ashby, also a Daily photographer, said of Leah, “Leah is such a joy to be around. I think the one thing I love most about her is her laugh. I guess you could say it’s her trademark. She’s going to make a great doctor one day.”

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Cohn: The legacy of Stuart Scott https://stanforddaily.com/2015/01/05/cohn-the-legacy-of-stuart-scott/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/01/05/cohn-the-legacy-of-stuart-scott/#respond Tue, 06 Jan 2015 07:26:34 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1093295 In July, I wrote about Stuart Scott’s moving ESPY speech, and how that speech has inspired and strengthened cancer patients, cancer survivors and their families. While Mr. Scott had built a storied career as one of ESPN’s most recognizable sports anchors, his finest moment came on that ESPY stage, when he bravely detailed his fight […]

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In July, I wrote about Stuart Scott’s moving ESPY speech, and how that speech has inspired and strengthened cancer patients, cancer survivors and their families. While Mr. Scott had built a storied career as one of ESPN’s most recognizable sports anchors, his finest moment came on that ESPY stage, when he bravely detailed his fight with cancer, while also offering words of encouragement and strength to cancer patients everywhere.

“When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you live. So live. Fight like hell. And when you get too tired to fight, lay down and rest and let someone else fight for you,” Mr. Scott had said that night.

For cancer patients, including relatives in my own family, who face their greatest fears in their struggle with a terrible disease, Scott’s presence on that stage gave them hope, that they could continue to live their lives and chase their dreams, even while facing an immensely daunting challenge.

On Sunday, the sports world lost Mr. Scott and his infectious personality; however, on Sunday, in his own words, Scott beat cancer by how he lived, why he lived and in the manner in which he lived.

***

In addition to his invaluable role as a voice in the fight against cancer, Mr. Scott has also inspired me for his accomplishments in sports broadcasting. As a child of the 90s, I grew up with Mr. Scott and his humorous phrases and jokes. Scott became my favorite SportsCenter anchor because he always made me smile and laugh. Therefore, you can say that my passion of sports, the extent of which can amuse my fellow co-workers at The Daily at times, was formed, in part, by watching Scott’s engaging takes on the sports news of the day.

Later, when I became a broadcaster at KZSU for Stanford softball and football, I can say that I learned an important lesson from Scott about engaging people with my commentary: Be yourself. For me, in the well-meant words of my friend and KZSU alum Sam Fisher, this meant being a “Stanford homer,” or to put it another (my) way, to try to hopefully commentate through a lens of positivity, while recognizing the significant efforts of our student-athletes both on and off the field.

In any case, I learned from Mr. Scott that it is impossible to please everyone in your intended audience in broadcasting, so the best course of action is always to be true to yourself and let your natural personality shine through. In turn, whether you liked or did not like Mr. Scott’s style on SportsCenter, the one thing that you could not say about Mr. Scott was that he was fake; his music and pop culture references were always derived from the things that were important to him, whether we all shared those interests or not.

***

In his life, Stuart Scott accomplished the rare feat of leaving an indelible mark on two different groups of people; for Scott’s ESPN colleagues and his contemporaries in sports broadcasting and sports journalism, Mr. Scott’s insistence on utilizing a distinct presentation behind the SportsCenter desk helped allow others to feel comfortable using their creativity and wit in their work. To so many of us in this field, Mr. Scott was a role model, whose passion and positivity we will never be able to fully emulate.

However, what is even more significant than his accomplishments as a journalist and anchor is that Stuart Scott’s memory and legacy will live on through the poignant and beautiful words of his 2014 ESPY speech; I know that his speech will continue to inspire people to raise money and awareness in the struggle against cancer, and that the speech will also continue to encourage cancer patients and survivors in their fight against this horrific disease.

As such, on that day, Mr. Scott wasn’t a sports anchor; he was, in his way, a life saver.  For that, this is something that we can all say “boo-yah”.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Foster Farms Bowl: By the numbers https://stanforddaily.com/2015/01/05/foster-farms-bowl-by-the-numbers/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/01/05/foster-farms-bowl-by-the-numbers/#respond Mon, 05 Jan 2015 08:06:48 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1093224 Stanford football capped its 2014 season in style, blasting Maryland in the Foster Farms Bowl 45-21. The final score does not reflect the complete one-sidedness of the contest, as the Card led by 35 when they began to pull their starters from the game. Here is the breakdown of Stanford’s dominating performance:

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Stanford football capped its 2014 season in style, blasting Maryland in the Foster Farms Bowl 45-21. The final score does not reflect the complete one-sidedness of the contest, as the Card led by 35 when they began to pull their starters from the game. Here is the breakdown of Stanford’s dominating performance:

3: Number of rushing touchdowns scored by senior running back Remound Wright

Wright had another outstanding game for the Card, and the senior’s growth has coincided with Stanford’s surge at the end of the season. Wright tied a Foster Farms Bowl record for rushing touchdowns, with all three of his scores coming in the first half of the contest. With a 6.1 yards-per-carry average, Wright certainly made the most of his eight carries.

70.0: Completion percentage for senior quarterback Kevin Hogan

Hogan also had a memorable game for the Cardinal, following up on his historic performance against UCLA in the regular-season finale. Hogan dissected the Terrapins’ defense with tremendous efficiency, as he hit 10 different receivers en route to a great 9.5 yards-per-attempt average. Aside from a misplaced handoff that led to a turnover, Hogan was terrific, earning offensive MVP honors in the process.

Stanford freshman running back Christian McCaffrey (right)
Stanford freshman running back Christian McCaffrey (right) showed the type of explosiveness Cardinal fans have been yearning for during the team’s bowl game against Maryland, recording 57 rushing yards on 7 carries and 81 punt return yards on 4 runbacks. (DON FERIA/isiphotos.com)

138: All-purpose yards for freshman running back Christian McCaffrey

McCaffrey has also had a marked effect in helping to spur the Cardinal’s three-game winning streak to end the 2014 season. With senior wide receiver Ty Montgomery out with a shoulder injury, McCaffrey was the go-to playmaker in the rout of the Terrapins. The freshman from Colorado continued to show the tremendous speed, physicality and poise that left ESPN color commentator Greg McElroy amazed and Cardinal fans excited for 2015. Make no mistake: McCaffrey is emerging as a star for the Card.

6: Number of sacks of Terrapins sixth-year senior quarterback C.J. Brown

After a shaky first couple of drives for the Stanford defense in which Maryland was able to move the ball fairly well, the Cardinal defense locked down and stifled the Terps the rest of way. Brown was formally introduced to the Card’s “party in the backfield” mantra, and was under pressure all night. Fifth-year senior safety Kyle Olugbode was the beneficiary of the pressure on the Maryland quarterback, snagging a third-quarter interception to round out the defensive performance. Senior James Vaughters, in his final contest on the Farm, earned defensive MVP honors for his two sacks and one forced fumble.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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By the numbers: Stanford vs. UCLA https://stanforddaily.com/2014/12/01/by-the-numbers-stanford-vs-ucla/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/12/01/by-the-numbers-stanford-vs-ucla/#respond Mon, 01 Dec 2014 18:47:50 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1092756 Stanford saved its best for last in 2014, crushing the No. 8 UCLA Bruins 31-10 with its best performance of the season.

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Stanford saved its best for last in 2014, crushing the No. 8 UCLA Bruins 31-10 with its best performance of the season. Here’s the breakdown of the beatdown:

84.2: Senior quarterback Kevin Hogan’s completion percentage against UCLA

Hogan was simply brilliant on Friday against the Bruins, turning in possibly the best performance of his career at the Rose Bowl. In a stadium in which Hogan has already delivered some memorable moments, the senior from McLean, Virginia passed for 234 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a perfect strike to Michael Rector. In short, Hogan completely outplayed his UCLA counterpart Brett Hundley on Hundley’s senior day.

37: Yards on senior receiver Devon Cajuste’s touchdown grab

While Hogan had an outstanding game on Friday, his receivers certainly did their part in order to help their quarterback to his fourth victory against UCLA. Stanford’s best catch against the Bruins came on first-and-10 at the UCLA 37, when Hogan managed to avoid the pass rush and throw a prayer up for grabs into double coverage. That’s when Cajuste made one of the best plays of the season for the Card, jumping up and catching the pass, all while Bruins linebacker Myles Jack was committing one of the most blatant pass interference violations you’ll see by grabbing Cajuste’s jersey and holding him, while practically giving Cajuste a hug.

5: Number of sacks for Stanford defense of Brett Hundley

While Stanford’s offense turned in its best performance of the season against UCLA, the Cardinal defense also stepped up and delivered three quarters of ferocity against Hundley. After the Bruins’ senior quarterback torched Stanford’s defense on UCLA’s opening drive, the Card clamped down, only allowing 3 points the rest of the way while forcing Hundley into errant throw after errant throw. Hundley finished the game with a forgettable stat line of 17-for-32 for 146 yards. While Stanford’s defensive line and linebackers partied in the backfield to the tune of 5 sacks, Stanford’s secondary delivered a brilliant performance with 4 pass breakups, an interception and a longest reception allowed of only 24 yards.

7: Number of consecutive times Stanford has beaten UCLA

The Cardinal continued their recent dominance of the Bruins, as the Card now have the longest winning streak in the series history between the two California schools. UCLA head coach Jim Mora has now lost his first four games in the rivalry to David Shaw, as the Bruins have continued to struggle in big games. Furthermore, with the blowout loss to Stanford, UCLA was officially eliminated from Pac-12 title contention after beginning the day as the front-runner to represent the Pac-12 South against the Oregon Ducks.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Wednesday roundtable: Scoring expectations for the 117th Big Game https://stanforddaily.com/2014/11/18/wednesday-roundtable-scoring-expectations-for-the-117th-big-game/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/11/18/wednesday-roundtable-scoring-expectations-for-the-117th-big-game/#respond Wed, 19 Nov 2014 07:30:51 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1092353 Stanford’s battle with Cal this Saturday will be a clash of polar opposites – Cal ranks first in the Pac-12 in scoring offense while Stanford ranks 12th, and Stanford ranks first in scoring defense while Cal ranks 12th. With that in mind, we asked football writers Joseph Beyda, David Cohn and Michael Peterson:Is this year’s […]

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Stanford’s battle with Cal this Saturday will be a clash of polar opposites – Cal ranks first in the Pac-12 in scoring offense while Stanford ranks 12th, and Stanford ranks first in scoring defense while Cal ranks 12th. With that in mind, we asked football writers Joseph Beyda, David Cohn and Michael Peterson:Is this year’s Big Game more likely to be a high or low scoring matchup?

Joseph: I think this weekend’s game is bound to be a high-scoring matchup. Cal scored 71 points in its two games against USC and Oregon, who have two of the top four scoring defenses in the Pac-12. Sophomore quarterback Jared Goff also averaged nearly 320 passing yards in those two games, proving that his record-breaking season for the Golden Bears last year wasn’t just a fluke.

Stanford's offense
Stanford’s offense will likely have to have a strong day in order for Stanford to win the Axe for the fifth consecutive season. Cal’s offense is ninth nationally in points scored, with over 40 points per game. (KEVIN HSU/The Stanford Daily)

Meanwhile, we’ve grown accustomed to the Stanford offense finding ways to keep itself off the board, but its struggles have come almost entirely against teams that are known for their defenses: USC, Notre Dame, ASU and Utah. On the other hand, the Cardinal lit up Washington State and Oregon State, who boast the ninth- and 10th-best scoring defenses in the conference, respectively.

But it’s not just the stats that convince me we’re bound for a shootout on Saturday. This game is also the biggest chance for senior receiver Ty Montgomery to flex his muscles, which Cal just couldn’t deal with in 2013. He had more offensive touchdowns in last year’s Big Game (five) than he does through 10 games this season (four). Montgomery’s ability to contribute in 2014 has been limited by Stanford’s spurts of ineffectiveness on offense, and against the worst defense the Cardinal have faced since UC Davis (doesn’t that feel like it was ages ago?), Stanford should hold on to the ball long enough to maximize the involvement of its best player.

Michael: If Stanford needed to score at least 24 points to win a game, would you trust it do that? The Card will certainly need to put that many points on the board to beat the Bears, so that is the question ruminating in the minds of all Stanford fans right now.

Outside of traveling to Eugene to face Oregon, this could be the Card’s biggest defensive test this season. In the five games Stanford and Cal have played against mutual opponents this season, the Bears have scored 183 points, while Stanford has been limited to only 118. Cal’s offense can score right along with the best in the country, and the Bears just last week put 30 points on USC at the Coliseum, dwarfing Stanford’s subpar 10-point performance against USC at home earlier this season.

Fortunately for the Card, the outstanding play of their defense has helped keep the overall margin in those five mutual games to +16, while Cal’s horrific defensive play resulted in a -35 margin. And, like Joey shared, Stanford’s offense tends to click against mediocre defensive units. Stanford’s speed on the perimeter will likely be too much for Cal to handle, like it was for Washington State and Oregon State. The added motivation of playing for a bowl game and for the Axe should be enough to stir up what has recently been an uninspired offense.

The Big Game will probably turn into a “mini-shootout,” in that it will seem as a shootout to Cardinal fans, and probably a low-scoring game to Cal fans. However, given the inconsistency of Stanford’s offense and the dominance of the Card’s defense, it could just as easily finish 10-7. If I was a betting man, I’d slightly favor the likelihood of a high-scoring contest.

David: I believe this year’s Big Game will be a relatively high-scoring affair, as Michael alluded to, with both teams having the potential to put up at least 30 points on their respective opposing defenses. Cal’s defense has struggled mightily again this season; while the unit is probably improved from last year’s disaster, the Golden Bears are still 122nd nationally in points allowed, yielding nearly 40 points per game. Even the weakest offenses in the Pac-12, including Washington and Oregon State – which both torched the Bears for 31 points apiece in their respective matchups – have looked strong against Cal’s defense.

As such, I believe Stanford’s offense is fully capable of putting up 30 points against Cal on Saturday; the question with this unit has consistently been whether the execution and play-calling will be there so that the offense can sustain drives long enough to put points on the board. Quite simply, Stanford’s offense has derailed too easily on too many drives this season.

On the other side of this matchup, despite the all-around strong play of Stanford’s defense this year, I believe that the Bears can very easily score 25 points or more against the Cardinal. Stanford has already yielded 25+ points on the road twice to two elite offenses in the Pac-12 (26 points to Arizona State, 45 points to Oregon), and the California offense is elite; Cal ranks fourth nationally in passing yards with over 350 yards per game, and ninth in scoring with over 40 points per game. Quite simply, the only thing that has stopped Cal’s offense this season is Cal: The only time in which the Golden Bears have been held to fewer than 30 points was a three-fumble performance against Washington.

Joseph Beyda, Michael Peterson and David Cohn have unanimously decided that the Cardinal and Golden Bears will light up the scoreboard. However, the question remains whether the Stanford offense can step up to the plate and keep up with a high-octane Cal offense and whether Cal’s offense has what it takes to go up against the staunch Stanford defense. Share your predictions with the trio at jbeyda ‘at’ stanford.edu, mrpetes ‘at’ stanford.edu and dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu. 

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By the Numbers: Dominant defense can’t undo offensive woes https://stanforddaily.com/2014/11/17/by-the-numbers-dominant-defense-cant-undo-offensive-woes/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/11/17/by-the-numbers-dominant-defense-cant-undo-offensive-woes/#respond Tue, 18 Nov 2014 06:35:52 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1092247 The Stanford offensive line had a rough afternoon and evening trying to keep senior quarterback Kevin Hogan upright, as the Utes front seven, which leads the Pac-12 conference in sacks, lived up to their SackLakeCity moniker.

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With the 20-17 loss to Utah on Senior Day, the Stanford football team had some unfortunate statistics but also some seniors that shined in their final home game. It was also the first time that head coach David Shaw had lost two consecutive games.

4: Number of sacks allowed by Stanford offensive line against Utah

The Stanford offensive line had a rough afternoon and evening trying to keep senior quarterback Kevin Hogan upright, as the Utes front seven, which leads the Pac-12 conference in sacks, lived up to their SackLakeCity moniker. Hogan’s passing numbers suffered due to the lack of protection, as he posted a lackluster yards per attempt average. Ultimately, the struggles along the offensive line loomed large in double-overtime against the Utes, when Hogan was sacked on the first play from scrimmage in the second overtime period; Stanford could not move the chains after the first down loss, leading to a field goal from Jordan Williamson. Utah went on to win the game with a touchdown pass to Kenneth Scott.

2.2: Average rushing yards per carry allowed by Stanford defense

Prior to the overtime period, Stanford’s defense was absolutely dominant against Utah, sacking junior Utes quarterback Travis Wilson five times, while also completely stifling the Utes running game. While Utes running back Bubba Poole notched nearly 200 all-purpose yards in 2013’s matchup, Poole was limited to two all-purpose yards on Saturday, while his counterpart Devontae Booker was also held under 100 all-purpose yards. In his final game at home, fifth-year senior Henry Anderson was the best player for the Cardinal, notching 11 tackles, 5.5 tackles for a loss and three sacks.

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Ben Rhyne celebrated his Senior Day in style, averaging over 40 yards a punt and pinning the Utes inside their own 20 twice.  (DAVID BERNAL/David Bernal Photography)

40.2: Average distance per punt for fifth-year senior Ben Rhyne

Another senior who shined in his final game on the Farm was Rhyne, who was called upon to punt eight times on Saturday due to the offense’s struggles. The 2013 Pac-12 Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year did his best to keep the Cardinal in the game, pinning the Utes inside their own 20 on two occasions. Rhyne’s outstanding performance helped at least partially reduce the advantage in field position that the Utes held for most of Saturday’s contest; while the Utes’ average starting field position was their own 27-yard line, the Card had an average starting position at their own 17-yard line.

5-5: Cardinal record heading into Big Game with Cal

The Cardinal and the Golden Bears have taken different paths to their 5-5 records; while Cal has largely exceeded expectations under second-year head coach Sonny Dykes, the Cardinal have been unable to deal with the lofty, and perhaps unreasonable in retrospect, expectations for this season. Nevertheless, despite the records entering this contest, this rivalry game always means a lot to both schools’ alums. In addition to fighting for the Axe, which Stanford has held for the last four years, both squads can secure bowl eligibility with a victory.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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A look back at Stanford’s last three meetings with Utah https://stanforddaily.com/2014/11/14/a-look-back-at-stanfords-last-three-meetings-with-utah/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/11/14/a-look-back-at-stanfords-last-three-meetings-with-utah/#respond Fri, 14 Nov 2014 09:54:51 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1092037 Stanford and Utah have only played six times in college football history, but the last three contests have all been decided by a touchdown or less. Here is a look back at those exciting contests: 1995: Cardinal prevail in “Rocky Mountain High” battle Stanford helped then-first-year head coach Tyrone Willingham notch a 2-0 record to […]

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Stanford and Utah have only played six times in college football history, but the last three contests have all been decided by a touchdown or less. Here is a look back at those exciting contests:

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Senior wide receiver Ty Montgomery (center) returned a kickoff for 100 yards in the first quarter of last year’s matchup against Utah, but he may not even be the best special teams player on the field on Saturday. Utah’s Kaelin Clay has returned four kicks (one kickoff, three punts) for touchdowns so far this season. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

1995: Cardinal prevail in “Rocky Mountain High” battle

Stanford helped then-first-year head coach Tyrone Willingham notch a 2-0 record to start his Cardinal coaching career with a 27-20 win over the Utes at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. While Stanford quarterback Mark Butterfield had a forgettable day through the air, completing only 12 of 22 passes for 117 yards with two interceptions, the Cardinal dominated the ground game. Running back Anthony Bookman rushed for 153 yards on 27 carries in the game, just a portion of Stanford’s 212 team rushing yards.

In a game that featured four lead changes, Stanford scored 14 unanswered points in the third quarter to help turn 13-10 halftime deficit into a 24-13 lead. From there, the Cardinal leaned on their defense, which held the Utes to only seven second half points — the Card recorded six tackles for a loss, blocked a punt and notched two interceptions to help see off Utah.

1996: Utah exacts revenge at Stanford Stadium

After a trip to the Liberty Bowl and a 7-4-1 record in Willingham’s debut campaign, Stanford started the 1996 season with a dud at home against Utah. The Cardinal offense struggled mightily for most of the game, as they were held scoreless through the first three quarters, allowing Utah to jump out to 17-0 lead.

Stanford quarterback Chad Hutchinson tried to a lead a late fourth quarter rally against the Utes, as he found Troy Walters on a nine-yard touchdown strike with 8:42 to go in the game. And kicker Kevin Miller later added a 23-yard field goal with 2:59 left to make it a one-score game. However, Utah held on to steal a victory over a Pac-10 foe for the Western Athletic Conference.

2013: Stanford’s national championship aspirations take a major hit in Salt Lake City

After nearly twenty years between contests, Stanford and Utah resumed their series as Pac-12 conference opponents. To this day, that October contest is a game that Stanford fans would love to forget, as then-No. 5 Stanford suffered a stunning loss to unranked Utah. While the Utes ultimately finished with a 5-7 record and missed the postseason, Utah notched the defining win of its season and its best victory as a member of the Pac-12 by shocking the Cardinal.

After Ty Montgomery electrified Stanford fans following a Utah scoring drive with a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to give the Card a 14-7 lead in the first quarter, Stanford’s offense went completely dormant, going 43 minutes without scoring as the Utes opened up a 27-14 advantage. Stanford’s vaunted defense struggled to contain Utes running back Bubba Poole, as Poole averaged five yards per carry while posting 111 rushing yards and 75 receiving yards on seven receptions.

Poole’s nearly 200 all-purpose yards along with quarterback Travis Wilson’s steady play, proved to be too much for Stanford to overcome. While Devon Cajuste hauled in a seven-yard touchdown reception with 9:22 left in the game to cut the deficit to six, Stanford’s late offensive surge in the fourth quarter died at the Utah six-yard line.

With two downs to go, and the Card in need of two yards to keep their drive alive, Stanford attempted to pass both on third-and-two and fourth-and-two from the six. However, incompletions to Charlie Hopkins and Devon Cajuste led to a turnover on downs, and allowed Utah to run out the clock. The Utes fans capped the 27-21 monumental upset win by storming the field.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Wednesday Roundtable: Will Stanford football’s performance this season affect recruiting? https://stanforddaily.com/2014/11/11/wednesday-roundtable-will-stanford-footballs-performance-this-season-affect-recruiting/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/11/11/wednesday-roundtable-will-stanford-footballs-performance-this-season-affect-recruiting/#comments Wed, 12 Nov 2014 07:15:50 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1091867 After four straight double-digit win seasons, Stanford football will be on the wrong side of the 10-win mark – and possibly by a wide margin – for the first time since 2009. We asked football writers Joseph Beyda, Vihan Lakshman and David Cohn: Will Stanford’s dip in performance this season have a profound impact on […]

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After four straight double-digit win seasons, Stanford football will be on the wrong side of the 10-win mark – and possibly by a wide margin – for the first time since 2009. We asked football writers Joseph Beyda, Vihan Lakshman and David Cohn: Will Stanford’s dip in performance this season have a profound impact on recruiting?

David: While the Cardinal will not represent the Pac-12 North in the Pac-12 Championship Game for the first time in three years, the foundations of the program remain strong, so I do not expect this season to have a profound impact on recruiting. This is because the Card continue to develop players at its historically strong positions. In particular, the emergence of the three sophomore tight ends in Greg Taboada, Austin Hooper and Eric Cotton in their first seasons on the field will mean that the Farm will continue to be Tight End U.

Andrus Peat (right)
Junior offensive lineman Andrus Peat (right) figures to be a high draft pick in the NFL Draft when his Cardinal career ends. In addition to Peat, several offensive linemen, including David Yankey, David DeCastro and Cam Flemming, all developed during their times on the Farm into NFL players. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

While the offensive line, as a unit, has had an up-and-down season on the field, the Card’s placement of David Yankey, Cameron Fleming, David DeCastro, Jonathan Martin and others in the NFL, as well as the development of Andrus Peat into a Day 1 NFL draft prospect, will still hold weight with the best offensive line recruits in the nation. Stanford already has two four star commitments on the offensive line for 2015 in recruits Brian Chaffin and Nick Wilson, and I imagine that the Card will continue to be active and successful in recruiting offensive linemen to the Farm.

I could go through the other position groups one-by-one, but I think that the takeaway message in recruiting for Stanford is development. More specifically, the Cardinal program continues to be successful in developing its players, helping them improve toward achieving their professional goals both in the NFL and outside of football. As long as those two facts hold true, Stanford will continue to recruit at a high level, namely because of its preeminent position as one of the best academic institutions in the world, with four BCS Bowl appearances, two Pac-12 titles, and with one more win, six straight bowl berths in recent years.

Joseph: I’m not quite as optimistic as David. Bumps in the road — whether a bad season, a change in coaching staffs or NCAA sanctions — threaten recruiting for basically every program in the nation, save for the USCs and SEC powers of the world. Stanford has certainly established staying power with recruits over the last five years or so, but this mind-boggling season is bound to test that success at least somewhat.

Now, in the long run, there are a lot of things for Stanford to feel good about on the recruiting trail. Slips by other football programs at strong academic schools (Vanderbilt, Northwestern, UCLA) this season still make the Farm a very competitive option for elite athletes who are interested in getting a great education. The Cardinal also continued to recruit at a very high level after the transition from Jim Harbaugh to the then-first-time head coach David Shaw, perhaps indicating that their target audience isn’t as fickle as the average high school senior.

In the next class or two, however, we shouldn’t be surprised if there’s a dip. Just imagine a recruit choosing between Stanford and ASU, or Stanford and Oregon, who took an official visit to Tempe or Eugene the weekend the Cardinal were run out of town. Watching those games, any recruit’s faith in Stanford would be shaken.

Vihan: Ben Gardner, two-star recruit. Doug Baldwin, two-star recruit. Chase Thomas, three-star recruit. Zach Ertz and Coby Fleener, three star recruits. Trent Murphy, three-star recruit. And the list goes on and on.

Stanford didn’t rise to the upper echelons of college football by waking up one day and suddenly hauling in truckloads of blue-chip prospects. Jim Harbaugh, David Shaw and the rest of the coaching staff identified smart, underrated players with chips on their shoulders and watched them develop into NFL talent.

Recruiting is absolutely crucial — there is no doubt about that. Stanford definitely wouldn’t be the same without the likes of touted prospects like Andrew Luck, Ty Montgomery or Andrus Peat, but there is a reason we don’t hand out championship trophies on National Signing Day. This season was supposed to be the year that Stanford’s record-setting 2012 recruiting class seized the spotlight, but success hasn’t really materialized the way some envisioned.

Will Stanford’s recent struggles lead to a dip in recruiting? I think that’s a certainty, but it won’t be the end of the world. It certainly wasn’t just a few years ago. The fact is that Stanford can win football games by finding players who fit the program’s mentality. It’s never easy, but the Stanford coaching staffs of the late 2000s could recruit and develop current NFL talent despite mediocre records.

Joey makes a great point about Stanford recruiting targets losing faith after watching a couple of those rough road performances. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Canton Kaumatule (brother of Luke) committed to Oregon a day after his official visit to Eugene, when he watched the Ducks crush Stanford at Autzen Stadium. Bad losses will hurt, sometimes for a long time.

Overall, though, I feel pretty optimistic about Stanford’s recruiting future. The Cardinal’s recent success should still entice many of the nation’s top recruits, and the coaching staff has shown a knack for finding the next Gardners, Murphys and Baldwins, underrated players with winning attitudes. That’s what Stanford recruiting has really been about.

With the this less than stellar state of Stanford football, The Stanford Daily’s football writers have no choice but to either be optimistic towards the future or to berate the current team for its shortfalls. In this instance, optimism, has won. Share your optimistic v. pessimistic attitudes toward the team with David Cohn, Joseph Beyda and Vihan Lakshman at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu, jbeyda ‘at’ stanford.edu and vihan ‘at’ stanford.edu. 

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Wednesday roundtable: Discussing the defense’s performance in Eugene https://stanforddaily.com/2014/11/04/wednesday-roundtable-discussing-the-defenses-performance-in-eugene/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/11/04/wednesday-roundtable-discussing-the-defenses-performance-in-eugene/#comments Wed, 05 Nov 2014 05:51:05 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1091412 Before last week’s loss to Oregon, Stanford’s defense had held opponents to fewer than 30 points in 31 straight games — tops in the nation. Additionally, the Cardinal had limited the Ducks to a combined 34 points in their past two meetings. Last Saturday, Oregon routed Stanford to the tune of 45 points, the most the […]

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Before last week’s loss to Oregon, Stanford’s defense had held opponents to fewer than 30 points in 31 straight games — tops in the nation. Additionally, the Cardinal had limited the Ducks to a combined 34 points in their past two meetings. Last Saturday, Oregon routed Stanford to the tune of 45 points, the most the Cardinal had allowed since surrendering 48 to Arizona in October 2012. We asked football writers David Cohn, Do-Hyoung Park and Vihan Lakshman: What happened to the Cardinal’s defense against Oregon, and can the holes that were exposed be fixed?

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The Stanford defense had a rough showing in Eugene this past weekend, giving up 45 points, 267 rushing yards and 525 total yards to the No.4 Oregon Ducks. (KRISTEN STIPANOV/The Stanford Daily)

David Cohn: The Cardinal defense had an uncharacteristically rough game by the astronomically high standards that it had previously set over the course of two and a half years. Quite simply, the Oregon offense outplayed, outschemed and thoroughly dominated the Card to the tune of 525 total yards, 267 rushing yards and 8.3 yards per passing attempt. Mark Helfrich and his coaching staff exploited the thin Stanford defensive line by utilizing physical offensive line play and a powerful running back in Royce Freeman (19 carries for 98 yards).

In addition, Helfrich game-planned perfectly to allow Mariota and the passing game to take advantage of the absence of Zach Hoffpauir by targeting his replacement, freshman Terrence Alexander. Quite simply, Oregon maximized its talent with smart scheming to blast the Cardinal defense.

However, that being said, I think the holes that were exposed against the Ducks can at least be partially fixed, namely because none of the Cardinal’s final three opponents are anywhere close to as talented as Oregon. In particular, the Cardinal’s next opponent, the Utah Utes, have a potentially very one-dimensional offense, as quarterback Travis Wilson has struggled mightily when asked to air it out; Wilson notched a paltry 57 passing yards against Arizona State’s swarming defense while completing barely 50 percent of his passes.

While the Card’s depth issues on the defensive line will likely not go away, game-planning and better execution, coupled with more favorable matchups, can help Stanford regain its footing.

Do-Hyoung Park: Right off the bat: I don’t like this question. It’s a huge overreaction. It says that Oregon’s offense exposed Stanford’s defense, but nothing that went wrong against Oregon was stuff we hadn’t seen before; it was just a really good team that exploited the weaknesses that we had seen before.

We knew the defensive line would be iffy at best with all the injuries. We knew there would be shoddy coverage in nickel sets — Zach Hoffpauir wasn’t exactly a world beater in pass coverage when he was healthy, and Terrence Alexander is a true freshman, after all. We knew tackling could be an issue when Javorius “Buck” Allen and Nelson Agholor twisted and pushed Cardinal defenders around late in the game against USC.

It’s just that Stanford finally faced an offense and a quarterback that can properly exploit whatever weaknesses defenses have and make them pay (ironically, it was somehow a RichRod defense and a Mike Leach “defense” that actually did get the better of Oregon this season, but hey, this year’s Pac-12 is a total crapshoot anyway).

Let’s put it this way: It was like playing Madden against somebody who was playing with custom players, with all settings cranked up to 100 and who is looking at your half of the screen while you pick a play. Because Marcus Mariota is a cheat code, and Mark Helfrich is the guy down the block that you know will want to play everyone with his cheat team, but you play against anyway, because you can’t help but have a morbid fascination for the results.

That said, there really isn’t anything you can fix at this point in time. This defense, “holes” and all, was the No. 1 unit in the country, after all. You can’t just tell Hoffpauir, Aziz Shittu and David Parry to walk it off and get back in the game. You can’t expect Lance Anderson to have every answer to every situation.

Oregon just had better pieces, better tools and a better builder. But that’s not to say that what Stanford has isn’t sturdy and durable as well. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Vihan Lakshman: The Cardinal defense ran into one of the best offenses in the country, one that is clearly hitting its stride and just happens to feature, for my money, the most dangerous player in college football in Marcus Mariota. Do nailed it when he said that Stanford’s defense was not exposed against Oregon, but simply outplayed.

Did Stanford miss an uncharacteristic number of tackles? Did it get pushed around by an Oregon offensive line that put up a Stanford-esque performance? Absolutely. But those are not deep-seated flaws that were suddenly brought to the forefront; they were the result of a defense dealing with injuries that ran into an elite offense out for revenge.

To say that the beatdown that took place on Saturday at Autzen was a result of Stanford’s defense regressing would be a huge disservice to the beautiful offensive gameplan Scott Frost and Mark Helfrich put together, to the physicality of the Oregon front line and to the brilliance of Mariota through the air and on the ground. Heck, this game could have been even worse for Stanford if Mariota doesn’t uncharacteristically miss on four or five throws.

Stanford came into Eugene as, statistically, the number one total defense in the country, but the Card had not played any offense in the same universe as the Oregon team that showed up and played lights-out on that particular day. We have quibbled about this defense in the past, saying that it should force more turnovers or get more sacks, but the bottom line is that Oregon’s offense was the better unit and the healthier unit, just like Stanford was in 2013.

Going forward, I don’t expect teams magically to start racking up points on an “exposed” Stanford defense. A team as well-coached as Stanford will not consistently miss tackles like it did on Saturday, and the upcoming bye week should help the ailing defense to get healthier. Overall, I expect to see a very solid Stanford defense the rest of the season. Saturday’s game showed that it might not be the best defense in the country, but I would still take the Card’s defense over just about anybody.

For a Stanford defense that raised eyebrows at the start of the season when it experienced no drop-off in performance despite huge personnel losses, it’s notable that they haven’t faltered until now. Share with David Cohn, Do-Hyoung Park and Vihan Lakshman your optimism or pessimism on the subject at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu, dpark027 ‘at’ stanford.edu and vihan ‘at’ stanford.edu. 

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Stanford – Oregon State: By the Numbers https://stanforddaily.com/2014/10/26/stanford-oregon-state-by-the-numbers/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/10/26/stanford-oregon-state-by-the-numbers/#respond Mon, 27 Oct 2014 05:24:56 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1090650 Following Stanford’s 38-14 win over the Oregon State Beavers, the Cardinal are able to take away some positives from the huge victory and were able to rekindle the flames of Stanford’s offense and stoke the flames of the defense. Here’s a look at how they did that: 1st: Career receiving touchdown for Jordan Pratt The […]

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Following Stanford’s 38-14 win over the Oregon State Beavers, the Cardinal are able to take away some positives from the huge victory and were able to rekindle the flames of Stanford’s offense and stoke the flames of the defense. Here’s a look at how they did that:

1st: Career receiving touchdown for Jordan Pratt

The senior wide receiver and former minor league baseball player picked a tremendous time to come up with a highlight-reel worthy 37-yard TD reception against Oregon State. Pratt caught the ball on the right side of the field, sidestepped three defenders and then turned on the jets in one of the best plays on offense this season.


6: Number of sacks by the Cardinal defense of OSU QB Sean Mannion

While Stanford’s defense has been one of the top units in the entire country, the Card turned in perhaps its best performance of the season. Mannion, who stands to become the all-time leader in career passing yards in Pac-12 conference history by the end of the season, was running for his life most of the afternoon. Junior Blake Martinez partied three times in the OSU backfield — to the tune of 2.5 sacks — while senior Kevin Anderson was once again one of the best players on the field for the Cardinal, notching yet another sack to add to his total. Anderson is now tied with sophomore Peter Kalambayi for the team lead in sacks at 4.5.

8: Quarterback hits on Sean Mannion

While the previous statistic highlighted Stanford’s sack total against Oregon State, the Cardinal’s defensive performance was so dominant that the unit deserves another statistic. Mannion had to leave Stanford Stadium with a lot of ice, while his offensive line will have to burn the film of this performance. Henry Anderson recorded three quarterback hits to go along with a batted down pass. Remarkably, 33 of OSU’s 67 plays on the Farm went for no gain or negative yardage, as Mannion completed only 14-30 passes for 122 yards. In short, the Cardinal defense turned in an A+ performance on their Oregon State midterm.

147: Number of All-Purpose Yards for Ty Montgomery

The senior wide receiver had an outstanding day for the Cardinal, catching six balls for 73 yards to go along with 16 rushing yards. However, Montgomery saved his biggest heroics for his speciality: special teams. Montgomery’s patient 50 yard punt return for a touchdown against the Beavers electrified the 48,000 fans in attendance. Montgomery followed his blockers perfectly, strolling into the end zone to cap off Stanford’s rout of the Beavers — its best performance of the campaign.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Wednesday roundtable: How can David Shaw spark the Cardinal offense? https://stanforddaily.com/2014/10/08/wednesday-roundtable-how-can-david-shaw-spark-the-cardinal-offense/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/10/08/wednesday-roundtable-how-can-david-shaw-spark-the-cardinal-offense/#comments Wed, 08 Oct 2014 07:02:35 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1089251 After losing 17-14 to Notre Dame last weekend, Stanford football nears the second half of its schedule with already two losses. With this in mind, The Stanford Daily asked football writers David Cohn, Joseph Beyda and Ashley Westhem, what are your realistic expectations for this team in terms of its performance in the second half […]

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After losing 17-14 to Notre Dame last weekend, Stanford football nears the second half of its schedule with already two losses. With this in mind, The Stanford Daily asked football writers David Cohn, Joseph Beyda and Ashley Westhem, what are your realistic expectations for this team in terms of its performance in the second half of the season, its chances to win the Pac-12 and what adjustments David Shaw needs to make?

David Cohn: Let me first say that I know that this must be an immensely difficult time for the entire team right now, especially for the offense. As such, in order to boost morale, I think Shaw has to re-install some confidence in his offense, particularly in his young but talented offensive line.

Freshman Christian McCaffrey (center) has been a bright spot in his debut campaign. McCaffrey  has averaged 23.5 yards per reception with one touchdown.
Freshman Christian McCaffrey (center) has been a bright spot in his debut campaign on the Farm. McCaffrey has averaged 23.5 yards per reception with one touchdown. (FRANK CHEN/The Stanford Daily)

However, at the same time, I still think the Cardinal would benefit from giving experienced players, like fifth-year senior wide receiver Jeff Trojan, senior receiver Jordan Pratt, senior center Kevin Reihner, more plays on offense; while all three players may not be as talented as the starters listed at their positions, I think the offense would benefit from having more senior leadership on the field, particularly when the Card are on the road in hostile road environments. Sometimes, having a calming voice in the huddle during high pressure moments is the only spark that a team needs.

Finally, I think Shaw has to emphasize that, although a 3-2 start is certainly not where the program hoped to be at the start of the season, the Card can still right the ship and compete for a third consecutive Pac-12 championship. In short, every team in the conference (including Stanford) is vulnerable to losing on any given Saturday to any Pac-12 opponent. While this position may be unfamiliar for the Cardinal, Shaw can empower the offense by rightfully stating that the Card’s hopes in conference play will rest on the offense’s performance.

Although the defense may be playing at a much higher level right now, the offense can still take the mantle and help return the Card to the top of the Pac-12.

Joseph Beyda: Unlike George Chen, who wrote earlier this week that the Cardinal were never talented enough to reach the playoff, I think that all the pieces are there for Stanford’s offense to shine: three big-time mismatches at receiver, a third-year starting quarterback, steady tight ends and an offensive line that, while green, has all the physical talents it needs. And yet the offense’s miscues have been so consistent that I’m not going to waste any words listing them out for a fifth time. Around the office this week, different Daily staffers have given different reasons for the downturn. Does Stanford’s offense lack winners? Leaders? Players to take ownership of the group’s success or take matters into their own hands?

I’m not sure which label is best, but at the end of the day, the Cardinal’s core offensive players just haven’t gotten it done. That is why David Shaw should mix things up in a big way against Washington State.

Use Christian McCaffrey, who has executed almost seamlessly on special teams and on his limited offensive snaps, as the team’s starting running back on Saturday. Throw in Reihner or senior Brendon Austin, who have been waiting in the wings forever, on the offensive line. Even consider giving Evan Crower or Ryan Burns a series at quarterback.

None of those players is in an ideal position to take over those roles; that is why they were not starting at the beginning of the season. However, every offensive player sitting on the Cardinal’s bench should be given the opportunity to be a winner. Shaw indicated in Tuesday’s press conference that the offense would be simplified, though no major mix-ups were in the works. But Stanford’s starters have had five chances to make things happen, and so far, they have not lived up to their potential. Can the Cardinal afford to give them a sixth?

Ashley Westhem: To answer Joey’s question, I don’t think that the Cardinal offense can afford to blow a sixth chance to prove themselves. By all means give them a chance at Stanford Stadium to redeem themselves — maybe the home turf will remind them what Stanford football is — but if they don’t perform, it’s going to be hard for Shaw to justify not putting in those bench players that Joey mentioned previously.

Luckily, the Pac-12 is a mess. If the Pac-12 championship game were played today, it would be Cal and Arizona going to head to head. For those of you unaware, Cal only won one game last season and the Wildcats had a losing record in Pac-12 play. So the Pac-12 is wide open and Stanford can easily win the Pac-12 North since Oregon lost last week to Arizona. The Big Game might actually end up being a big game for the Card after all. The team’s fate in regards to the college football playoffs though is entirely out of their hands at this point and up to the rest of the college football world to decide what bowl they end up in.

All hope is not lost though because the Card have been in this position before. Two years ago, after early season losses to Notre Dame and Washington, the Card rallied and won eight straight, took the Pac-12 crown and earned themselves a berth into the Rose Bowl. So what does Stanford have to do to experience this same kind of turn around? The offensive line needs to coalesce, the running game has got to be better executed and the tight ends better utilized; Ty Montgomery has got to produce some impressive stats and Hogan needs to (I feel like a broken record here) have a shred of confidence in himself.

Stanford football may be suffering this season, but at least the Cardinal are still doing better than the sum of David’s Pittsburgh Steelers, Ashley’s Los Angeles Lakers and, of course, Joey’s ever-so-clutch San Jose Sharks. Remind them that Stanford is still their best favorite team at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu, awesthem ‘at’ stanford.edu and jbeyda ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford in the NFL: Luck shines again with fellow alum Fleener https://stanforddaily.com/2014/09/29/stanford-in-the-nfl-luck-shines-again-with-fellow-alum-fleener/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/09/29/stanford-in-the-nfl-luck-shines-again-with-fellow-alum-fleener/#respond Tue, 30 Sep 2014 05:15:37 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1088571 On Sunday afternoon, Andrew Luck ‘12 continued his tremendous start to his 2014 campaign, throwing for 393 yards and four touchdowns in the Colts’ 41-17 rout of the Tennessee Titans in Indianapolis, Indiana. Against the Titans, Luck completed 29-of-41 passes, finding nine different receivers in picking apart the Titans secondary.

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On Sunday afternoon, Andrew Luck ‘12 continued his tremendous start to his 2014 campaign, throwing for 393 yards and four touchdowns in the Colts’ 41-17 rout of the Tennessee Titans in Indianapolis. Luck, who is currently maintaining career high numbers in terms of completion percentage (68.3%) and quarterback rating (103.0), has helped the Colts get back on track after an 0-2 beginning to their season; Indianapolis is now 2-2, one game behind the AFC South-leading Houston.

Coby Fleener '12 scores one of his many touchdowns. (SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily)
Coby Fleener ’12 had a two-yard touchdown pass to give the Colts a 34-10 lead over the outmatched Titans. (SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily) 

Against the Titans, Luck completed 29-of-41 passes, finding nine different receivers in picking apart the Titans secondary. Luck threw touchdown passes to Reggie Wayne, Dwyane Allen, Ahmad Bradshaw and fellow Stanford alum Coby Fleener ‘12. Fleener, whose two-yard TD reception gave Indy a 34-10 lead, added another 24-yard catch in a relatively quiet afternoon. On the season, Fleener has only eight catches for 83 yards playing behind Allen.

Against the Titans, Luck completed 29-of-41 passes, finding nine different receivers in picking apart the Titans secondary. Luck threw touchdown passes to Reggie Wayne, Dwyane Allen, Ahmad Bradshaw and fellow Stanford alum Coby Fleener ‘12. Fleener, whose two-yard TD reception gave Indy a 34-10 lead, added another 24-yard catch in a relatively quiet afternoon. On the season, Fleener has only eight catches for 83 yards playing behind Allen.  

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In a matchup of Stanford football alums, Zach Ertz ‘13 and the Philadelphia Eagles took on the San Francisco 49ers, who feature Jonathan Martin ‘12 and Chase Thomas ‘13. For the second consecutive week, Ertz was held in check, notching only four receptions for 43 yards. After Ertz started the first two weeks of the season on fire, with a combined total of 163 yards and a TD reception, Ertz has only managed a combined 57 yards in Weeks 3 and 4.

On the other side of the ball, Martin and the Niners offensive line struggled mightily against an opportunistic Eagles defense, as Philly sacked Colin Kaepernick four times; the Eagles also managed to hit Kaepernick seven times, with Martin and the O-line failing to contain linebackers Trent Cole (two QB hits and 0.5 sacks) and Connor Barwin (two QB hits and one sack). However, Martin, Thomas and the Niners came out on top by a 26-21 margin.

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Levine Toilolo ‘12 had an interesting afternoon and evening in Minnesota for the Atlanta Falcons, as the tight end was forced to play right tackle on the Falcons offensive line due to a number of injuries in that unit. Though Toilolo is certainly used to blocking after playing in Stanford’s power run-oriented offense, matching up against defensive linemen, such as Sharrif Floyd (6’ 5”, 305 lbs.), Shamar Stephen (6’ 5”, 310 lbs.) and Lindval Joseph (6’ 4”, 323 lbs.) is a tall order; Toilolo, while huge for his position (6’ 8”, 265 lbs.), still gave up at least 40 lbs. to opposing defensive lineman. Toilolo added one catch for 12 yards during a positionally strange game for the second-year tight end.

***

Although Richard Sherman, Doug Baldwin and the Seattle Seahawks had a bye this week, that does not mean that Sherman and Baldwin did not have a busy weekend. Sherman ‘09 MA ‘10 and Baldwin ‘10 were on hand for Stanford’s 20-13 victory over the Washington Huskies in Seattle. Sherman, a two-time First Team All-Pro selection, and Baldwin served as honorary captains for the Cardinal; the two also watched the game from Stanford’s sideline. Finally, Sherman and Baldwin offered their words of encouragement during a pre-game meeting at the team hotel.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu. 

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By the Numbers: Cardinal stifle Army offense in shutout win https://stanforddaily.com/2014/09/17/by-the-numbers-cardinal-stifle-army-offense-in-shutout-win/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/09/17/by-the-numbers-cardinal-stifle-army-offense-in-shutout-win/#respond Thu, 18 Sep 2014 05:20:25 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1087952 3-for-3: Red zone conversion against Army One of the biggest differences between Stanford’s performance last week in the 13-10 home defeat against USC and in the Cardinal’s 35-0 rout of Army this week was the red zone efficiency stat. After a woeful one touchdown and one field goal against the Trojans in five red zone […]

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3-for-3: Red zone conversion against Army

One of the biggest differences between Stanford’s performance last week in the 13-10 home defeat against USC and in the Cardinal’s 35-0 rout of Army this week was the red zone efficiency stat. After a woeful one touchdown and one field goal against the Trojans in five red zone chances, the Cardinal cashed in for seven points on each of their three red zone trips against the Black Knights.

A huge part of that change was due to the efforts of senior Devon Cajuste, who made two tremendous catches for touchdowns on two third-and-goal opportunities. In particular, Cajuste’s highlight-worthy catch on third-and-goal from the 15-yard line helped save a drive that appeared to be headed for a field goal attempt.

9: Passing yards allowed by the Stanford defense against Army

While Army’s triple-option system relies heavily on the running game and simultaneously de-emphasizing the passing game, Stanford’s defensive performance, particularly in the secondary, was spectacular against the Black Knights. While Army managed more than 17 yards per passing attempt with a 100 percent completion percentage in its opening win against Buffalo, Army quarterbacks Angel Santiago and A.J. Schurr combined for fewer than five yards per passing attempt along with an interception against the Cardinal.

Furthermore, when Santiago and Schurr tried to pass on a few third-and-long situations, they were often forced to tuck it and run, as Stanford’s back four simply stifled playmakers Edgar Poe and Raymond Maples. Poe and Maples, who combined for 98 receiving yards against Buffalo, only managed a single combined reception for 10 yards against the Card. Finally, Alex Carter’s forced fumble against West Point, coupled with Dallas Lloyd’s standout tackle of Schurr for a loss on fourth-and-goal at the Stanford 2-yard line, capped an outstanding day for the Stanford secondary, as well as the entire defense.

8:55: Time of possession for a third quarter Army drive that resulted in zero points for the Black Knights

Although the Cardinal were fairly dominant throughout Saturday’s contest against Army, two drives in the third quarter helped Stanford ice the game. In particular, on the first drive in question, the Black Knights took nearly nine minutes off the clock without putting any points on the board. While Army’s heavy emphasis on running the football will inherently chew up clock, West Point’s failure to come away with anything on its opening drive of the second half, which consumed nearly 60 percent of the third quarter, was particularly demoralizing.

With a longest play of 10 yards on that drive, the Black Knights were able to gradually move the ball down the field, eventually setting up a fourth-and-3 at the Stanford 33-yard line. However, a crushing false start penalty on wide receiver Chevaughn Lawrence took the Army offense off the field, and Army was forced to punt. While Army was able to pin Stanford on its own 2-yard line on a fantastic punt from Alex Tardieu, the Cardinal subsequently marched 98 yards down the field to make it 21-0, finishing off the Black Knights once and for all.

705: Passing yards for senior quarterback Kevin Hogan in his first three games

While Kevin Hogan has had his moments of inconsistency in all three of his contests to start the 2014 season, Hogan has nevertheless aired it out more this season. While Hogan had only six games last year in which he passed for more than 200 yards, Hogan has eclipsed the 200-yard mark in every game so far this season, including a 285-yard performance against USC. Furthermore, Hogan has seven touchdown passes to go along with only one interception.

However, on the other hand, Hogan missed high on several throws on Saturday against the Black Knights, including a horrible overthrow of Jordan Pratt on third-and-7 at the Army 45-yard line, which would have been an easy first down. In addition, Hogan has also been noticeably shut down on the ground; on 20 attempts this season, he has a measly 34 yards rushing, with only one rushing touchdown. The Cardinal will likely need Hogan to be more productive with his feet as Stanford enters the heart of its conference schedule in a few weeks.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn@stanford.edu.

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Quick hits: A preview of Stanford vs. Army through numbers https://stanforddaily.com/2014/09/11/quick-hits-a-preview-of-stanford-vs-army-through-numbers/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/09/11/quick-hits-a-preview-of-stanford-vs-army-through-numbers/#respond Thu, 11 Sep 2014 10:30:22 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1087905 341: Number of Rushing Yards accrued by Army in its 47-39 win versus Buffalo Army ran its triple-option offense to near perfection in last Saturday’s home opener against Buffalo, as the Black Knights just kept scoring on the ground. Senior running back Larry Dixon had 174 total rushing yards, and two of the seven rushing […]

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341: Number of Rushing Yards accrued by Army in its 47-39 win versus Buffalo

Fifth-year senior safety Kyle Olugbode (22) and the Stanford secondary must be prepared for a sporadic yet efficient Army passing game. (TRI NGUYEN/The Stanford Daily)
Fifth-year senior safety Kyle Olugbode (22) and the Stanford secondary must be prepared for a sporadic yet efficient Army passing game. (TRI NGUYEN/The Stanford Daily)

Army ran its triple-option offense to near perfection in last Saturday’s home opener against Buffalo, as the Black Knights just kept scoring on the ground. Senior running back Larry Dixon had 174 total rushing yards, and two of the seven rushing touchdowns for Army in the game. Stanford’s defense will have to be prepared for a unique, yet difficult offense to shut down.

3: Number of Interceptions forced by West Point’s defense against Buffalo last Saturday

Although the Black Knights gave up 39 points and 554 total yards, including 401 yards through the air, Army’s opportunistic defense forced a couple of key turnovers to help clinch the eight point victory. Sophomore defensive back Josh Jenkins had two of the three picks in the game, including an interception at Army 41-yard line, just as Buffalo was trying to sustain a drive down 21-3.

7: Number of Passing Attempts for Army in its win over Buffalo

The Black Knights will not air it out much on offense, but when they do, Army has been very successful in the passing game. Quarterbacks A.J. Schurr and Angel Santiago completed all seven attempts against Buffalo for a total of 125 yards. This constituted an extremely efficient 17.9 yards-per-attempt. While Stanford’s defense will have to key in on shutting down the rushing attack of Army, Stanford’s secondary will nevertheless have to be on the lookout for a change-of-pace throw through the passing game.

7-0: Record of Stanford after a loss under head coach David Shaw

While Coach Shaw and the Cardinal suffered a rare loss to a ranked opponent last Saturday against USC, Shaw has been fantastic at motivating his team to respond after a setback. In particular, after last year’s deflating loss to the Trojans at the Coliseum, Stanford put together its most impressive performance in recent Big Game history, blasting Cal 63-13, while totaling 603 yards of total offense. Based on all indications from the Cardinal players, and prior history with this program, Stanford fans should not expect the Card to come out flat against the Black Knights.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Looking back: Recent meetings between Stanford and USC https://stanforddaily.com/2014/09/04/looking-back-recent-meetings-between-stanford-and-usc/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/09/04/looking-back-recent-meetings-between-stanford-and-usc/#respond Thu, 04 Sep 2014 08:00:37 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1087830 The direction of the Stanford-USC rivalry forever changed with the hire of Jim Harbaugh in 2007. Prior to Harbaugh’s arrival on the Farm, Southern California dominated the Cardinal and the Pac-10 conference, winning two AP national titles and multiple BCS bowls. However, in his first season on the Farm, Harbaugh and the Card stunned the […]

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The direction of the Stanford-USC rivalry forever changed with the hire of Jim Harbaugh in 2007. Prior to Harbaugh’s arrival on the Farm, Southern California dominated the Cardinal and the Pac-10 conference, winning two AP national titles and multiple BCS bowls.

However, in his first season on the Farm, Harbaugh and the Card stunned the No.1 ranked Trojans in the Coliseum in the “Biggest Upset Ever,” which helped begin Stanford football’s renaissance. Later, in a 2009 matchup at the Coliseum now known as “What’s your Deal?”, the Cardinal clobbered the Men of Troy by a score of 55-21; late in a fourth quarter that saw the Card outscore USC by a 27-0 margin, Harbaugh went for two, much to the anger and dismay of Trojan fans and then USC head coach Pete Carroll.

The 2009 season was another huge turning point in the direction of both teams; while Stanford has ascended to extraordinary heights by making four consecutive BCS bowls, and winning two consecutive Pac-12 titles, USC has largely suffered under the weight of heavy NCAA sanctions, failing to win a Pac-12 title or participate in a BCS bowl since the 2008 season.

***

Senior quarterback Kevin Hogan (8) will look to beat USC for the first time as a starting quarterback. (DAVID BERNAL/isiphotos.com)
Senior quarterback Kevin Hogan (8) will look to beat USC for the first time as a starting quarterback. (DAVID BERNAL/isiphotos.com)

Nevertheless, in spite of the Cardinal’s emergence as a top team in the Pac-12 conference, the Stanford-USC rivalry has been extremely competitive in the last three years, with each game being decided by eight points or less.

In 2011, in a memorable back-and-forth duel at the Coliseum, Andrew Luck and Matt Barkley kept exchanging scores in a wild second half that featured three lead changes. Luck, who passed for 330 yards and three touchdowns in the contest, seemingly gifted USC a touchdown when he threw a very poor pick-six to Nickell Robey with 3:08 remaining in regulation. The Robey interception gave USC a 34-27 lead.

However, Luck would help lead the Cardinal response, as he cooly drove the Card down the field for the game-tying score. Stepfan Taylor would score from two yards out to help bring Stanford level heading into overtime.

In the extra session, USC and Stanford continued to exchange scores until the third overtime, when Terrence Stephens forced a fumble on a Curtis McNeal run during USC’s possession. A.J. Tarpley recovered the fumble in the end zone to seal a 56-48 victory. The 2011 win over USC at the Coliseum helped preserve the Cardinal’s then undefeated season, and will go down as one of the most memorable victories in program history.

***

In 2012, USC came to the Farm with a No. 2 ranking and hopes for the first time in three years of winning a national championship. However, No. 21 Stanford had other plans. Despite the Cardinal losing Andrew Luck to the NFL Draft after the 2011 season, Stanford still believed it could knock off the high-powered Trojans.

While Matt Barkley and USC torched the Cardinal defense in 2011, the Card’s defense gave Barkley problems in 2012 all night long. Stanford sacked Barkley four times, while also landing three additional hits on the Trojans star quarterback. USC also struggled mightily to convert on third down in the contest, failing to convert a single first down (0-for-12).

In turn, Stanford managed 417 total yards, including 202 yards on the ground. Stepfan Taylor’s outstanding night (153 rushing yards and a touchdown) and Josh Nunes’s steady second-half play helped the Card overcome a bad night for kicker Jordan Williamson; Williamson went 0-for-3 on his field goal attempts, missing from 23 and 47 yards, while also having a 51-yard kick blocked.

In the end, Nunes’s 37-yard strike to Zach Ertz with 10:20 remaining in the game broke a 14-all tie, while Stanford’s defense pitched a second half shutout to give the Cardinal its fourth consecutive victory over its southern California rivals.

***

In 2013, after losing to Stanford for four consecutive years, USC was striving for revenge against the Cardinal. In the midst of a tumultuous season that saw Lane Kiffin pulled off the team bus at LAX and unceremoniously fired by Trojans athletic director Pat Haden, USC was desperately seeking a positive spark. The Trojans, under interim head coach Ed Orgeron, took advantage of their opportunity against No.5 Stanford in front of a sellout crowd on Homecoming Night.

The Cardinal, who had re-established their hopes of winning a national title after knocking off No. 3 Oregon at home, came out very nervous in front of a hostile Coliseum crowd, as Stanford had to burn two first-half timeouts on the opening drive alone. In contrast, USC came out sharp, scoring on two one-yard toucdowns to take a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Stanford was able to steady itself after the opening drive, tying the score at 17 on a 18-yard touchdown run by Tyler Gaffney with 8:22 left in the third quarter. However, the Cardinal wasted two valuable opportunities to take the lead later in the game, as Conrad Ukropina had a 30-yard field goal attempt blocked, and Kevin Hogan had a disastrous red zone turnover on third-and-goal from the 10-yard line.

Ultimately, Hogan’s second interception at the USC 44-yard line with 3:02 remaining in the game helped doom the Cardinal to a shocking upset. Andre Heidari’s 47-yard field goal with 19 seconds left gave the Trojans a 20-17 win, prompting the USC fans to storm the field in celebration.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Looking back: The history between Stanford and UC-Davis https://stanforddaily.com/2014/08/28/looking-back-the-history-between-stanford-and-uc-davis/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/08/28/looking-back-the-history-between-stanford-and-uc-davis/#respond Thu, 28 Aug 2014 10:34:11 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1087690 Stanford and UC-Davis have only met twice all-time on the football field. In the first contest back in 1932, the Cardinal routed the Aggies 59-0 in a matchup on the Farm. Cardinal fans are certainly more familiar with the second meeting between the two squads in 2005; in a 20-17 upset that was the low […]

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Stanford and UC-Davis have only met twice all-time on the football field. In the first contest back in 1932, the Cardinal routed the Aggies 59-0 in a matchup on the Farm.

Cardinal fans are certainly more familiar with the second meeting between the two squads in 2005; in a 20-17 upset that was the low point in the Card’s 5-6 campaign, UC-Davis overcame a 17-0 deficit to stun the Cardinal. Aggies quarterback Jon Grant threw a three-yard touchdown pass to Blaise Smith with eight seconds left in the game to send Aggie fans into a euphoric celebration.

An injury to quarterback Trent Edwards '07 (above) helped bring about the demise of the Cardinal in their last meeting with UC Davis. (David Gonzales)
An injury to quarterback Trent Edwards ’07 (above) helped bring about the demise of the Cardinal in their last meeting with UC-Davis. (David Gonzales)

The loss was particularly humiliating for the Card, as UC-Davis was transitioning from Division II football to Division I-AA (FCS) football at the time. To add further insult to the loss, Cardinal starting quarterback Trent Edwards was lost after only two series with a right hand injury.

Edwards’ backup, T.C. Ostrander, played a horrible game in relief of Edwards. Ostrander was thoroughly outplayed by his counterpart in Grant, as Ostrander went 7-for-17 for 108 yards and an interception. Ostrander and the Cardinal offense also failed to score a touchdown, as the Card’s two touchdowns came on defensive fumble recoveries.

In just about every statistical category, the Aggies dominated the Cardinal en route to the historic upset. UC-Davis ran 90 offensive plays for 361 yards, compared to only 51 plays and 192 total yards for Stanford. Davis was also far more successful on third downs, converting 12 of its 22 opportunities, compared with a 3-for-12 mark for the Card.

Field goal kicking was a particular struggle for both teams in the contest, as Cardinal kicker Michael Sgroi and Aggies kicker Emmanuel Benjamin combined to go 1-for-6 on field goal attempts in the contest. Benjamin missed two kicks inside of 35 yards and an extra point, while Sgroi missed from 45 yards and had a 47-yard attempt blocked.

In short, the Card’s 2005 loss to UC-Davis was defined by a comedy of errors, and helped precipitate the downfall of Walt Harris as the Cardinal’s head coach.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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An inside look at new softball head coach Rachel Hanson https://stanforddaily.com/2014/08/08/an-inside-look-at-new-softball-head-coach-rachel-hanson/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/08/08/an-inside-look-at-new-softball-head-coach-rachel-hanson/#respond Fri, 08 Aug 2014 16:00:40 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1087318 It has been a whirlwind of a last couple of months for new softball head coach Rachel Hanson — with a new job, a move to the West Coast and recruiting for her new program, the Stanford Cardinal. However, in spite of all of her responsibilities, Hanson has been able to manage it all with […]

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It has been a whirlwind of a last couple of months for new softball head coach Rachel Hanson — with a new job, a move to the West Coast and recruiting for her new program, the Stanford Cardinal. However, in spite of all of her responsibilities, Hanson has been able to manage it all with a plan and a vision for Stanford softball in the immediate and long-term future. From talking with Hanson, it is evident that the program is in the capable hands of a coach who has been a success at each stage of her coaching career.

Rachel Hanson (above) has been named the 3rd head coach in Stanford softball program history. Prior to arriving on the Farm, Hanson helped lead Dartmouth to its first Ivy League title in 2014. (STANFORD ATHLETICS)
Rachel Hanson (above) is ready to leave her mark on Stanford softball. As the third coach in program history, coach Hanson is excited for the opportunity to step into a program and a athletic department that has a reputation for excellence. (STANFORD ATHLETICS)

In particular, Hanson built Dartmouth and the University of Dallas, two programs that had previously lacked a history of consistent success, into conference contenders. Most recently, Hanson was able to lead the Big Green to its best finishes in Ivy League conference play in her last two seasons in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Under Hanson’s guidance, Dartmouth made two consecutive appearances in the Ivy League Championship Series after winning two consecutive Ivy League North Division titles. While the Big Green fell in 2013 to Pennsylvania in the Championship Series, Hanson and Dartmouth were able to knock off the Quakers in the 2014 rematch to advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history.

Now, as the third coach in Stanford softball program history, Hanson is excited for the opportunity to lead the Cardinal.

In describing her initial reaction when she learned that she would be Stanford softball’s next head coach, Hanson stated, “For me, it was very exciting to know that I was stepping into a program that has seen a lot of success, and into an athletic department that has such a reputation for excellence.

“To know that I can walk down the hall and talk to championship-level coaches every day, and that our players are around championship-level programs every day, that is very exciting to me to know that we are one of many here that are pushing the bar toward that level of excellence.”

***

In talking about her approach to program-building and establishing a standard of excellence, Hanson frequently cited her “process” as an important key to achieving the goals that she has set out for the softball program.

“You will hear it every time we talk about what our intentions are: We are going to be very committed to the process,” Hanson said. “We are not going to get caught up with our end goal for this year. Right now, it is about doing the little things the right way. Let’s build championship behaviors on a daily basis. There is a lot of that already in place. We just want to build on that, and build toward a process of playing like a champion every day.”

In elaborating further on this process, Hanson added, “We are very excited about the plans and the process that we are committed to. Every step we take is intentional. That doesn’t mean that we won’t make wrong steps at times, but as with the players, it is all about the process. We are going to learn from each one of those, and continue to execute this plan and vision that we have for Stanford softball. I have no doubt that we will build the type of program that we want to be.”

To that end, Hanson’s process is inherently linked with her staff; she announced last Thursday that Dorian Shaw, a former All-American softball player at the University of Michigan and National Fastpitch (NPF) professional athlete, would be joining her staff. Shaw has also previously coached under Hanson as an assistant at Dartmouth.

“Coach Shaw is a dynamite coach,” said Hanson about Shaw. “I am very excited to bring her with me…She obviously has a playing background at a program of excellence under coach Hutchins, and did quite well on a big stage.

Dorian Shaw (above) has been named an assistant coach on Rachel Hanson's staff for Stanford softball. Shaw was a 2010 NFCA second team All-American at the University of Michigan.
Dorian Shaw (above) and Megan Langenfeld will serve as assistants on coach Hanson’s staff. Coach Hanson described coach Shaw as a “dynamite” coach, adding that coach Shaw’s experience as a player at the University of Michigan and in professional ranks will help her in her coaching role on the Farm. (STANFORD ATHLETICS)

“I think one thing that our student-athletes are really going to love about [Shaw] is her ability to build relationships, and really draw the best out of the players that she works with. She cares about them, as does the whole coaching staff. She really invests in them on and off the field. To me, that is where you see the most growth is when players see that they are not just a cog in the machine, but that we really care about them, and we are really invested in their growth.”

Subsequently, on Monday, Hanson completed her staff with the announcement that Megan Langenfeld, a three-time All-American and UCLA legend, would be joining her on the Farm after serving as a graduate assistant at Arkansas.

In a statement to GoStanford.com, Hanson stated that “Megan brings Pac-12 and national championship experience, a great hard work mentality and a relentless competitive spirit. She’ll provide an energy to our team and will quickly strengthen our pitching staff.”

***

The last few months have certainly not been the easiest stretch in the history of the Stanford softball program. Longtime head coach John Rittman, who helped establish the Cardinal as a perennial Pac-12 contender, resigned after 18 years on June 2. The Cardinal also suffered through a difficult season in 2014, as the Card could not overcome the losses of Carley Hoover and Nyree White in the circle; Stanford finished 5-19 in conference play this past season while missing the postseason for the first time in over a decade.

When asked to offer a message to Stanford softball fans regarding the difficult times of the last few months, Hanson stated, “I think what we are excited about is there is obviously a rich tradition in the athletic department as a whole, and in the softball program. For us, we don’t take that lightly. We are excited to get to know the alumni who have built that tradition of success, a tradition that coach Rittman and his assistants have built previously.

“We are also excited to build on that legacy, both with the current and future players. I don’t think we have seen the best of Stanford softball yet. There have been some great years; we are excited to build on those and continue to move forward. I really look forward to getting to know our fans, to have them be a part of our process, and have them be a part of Stanford softball in some really fun and new ways.”

***

One alumna who has been outspoken in her support of Hanson is four-time All-American and Stanford softball legend Jessica Mendoza, who wrote a statement to GoStanford.com about Hanson’s hire.

“Rachel is a great fit because she knows how to work with the student-athlete and relate to the uniqueness of the Stanford student-athlete,” Mendoza wrote. “She’s able to bring out the best of the players and represent the university in the best way possible. The great thing about Stanford is that it’s ‘student’ before ‘athlete’ and Rachel gets that.”

“Jessica is someone that has been phenomenal throughout the process,” said Hanson about her relationship with Mendoza. “She is excited to make sure that Stanford softball continues to head in the right direction. You will see a lot of Jessica Mendoza in the coming years, I am sure.”

***

In talking about her team for this coming year, Hanson highlighted her offense as a potential strength for her 2015 squad.

“[Offense] is a big area of strength for this team. We will build on that; we won’t make any huge changes,” Hanson said. “We will probably add some pieces to their bucket, whether it is approach, or tweaking little things when we face different pitchers. By and large, we are going to let them do what they are already doing well. For me, that is a really exciting aspect of this coming year.”

However, in spite of the offensive explosion that was seen on the Farm, and throughout college softball in 2014, Hanson stressed the importance of a strong pitching rotation: “At the end of the day, this is still a pitcher-dominated sport. Even with the run totals increasing, it is going to come down to whether your pitching can limit those at-bats.

“We see some areas where I think we can grow and improve. Obviously, Madi Schreyer did a heck of a job last year with having to shoulder so many of the innings. I think that with having one other [freshman] pitcher come in now, we will see some release [of the pressure on Schreyer]. I am very excited that we will have a staff in the coming years that we can build on.”

In putting together that pitching staff and executing her vision for the rotation, Hanson is looking forward to working with her team.

“We want to wait and see what we have. We want to see these women in practice, see them compete, and see what our pitching looks like before we put together a specific, detailed plan,” Hanson said. “But I will tell you that we are looking forward to putting that plan together, and I know that we will have talent, and some some options, in terms of how we do that.”

***

Hanson cited numerous times the importance of building relationships, particularly with her players, Stanford softball alumni and with the fans of the program. At this critical moment for the program, this important quality will help Hanson establish a successful program on and off the field.

At this time, Stanford softball needs someone who leads by example through her actions. As important as coaching the softball fundamentals will be, Hanson’s ability to bring people together might be even more important at this juncture. From talking with her, there is no doubt that Hanson will be able to do all of these things.

In addition, Hanson understands the rich history associated with the Stanford softball program — a history that was created under Rittman’s leadership. The WCWS berths, the NCAA regional titles, the streak of consecutive postseason appearances and the hundreds of wins are all a part of the indelible mark that Rittman and his staff left on that history.

Nevertheless, Hanson is ready to add her own chapter to the program’s history. With her “process,” Hanson is fully capable of leaving her own mark on the Farm, and raise the Stanford softball program to even greater heights moving forward.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Dorian Shaw hired as Stanford softball assistant; John Rittman heads to the University of Kansas https://stanforddaily.com/2014/08/04/dorian-shaw-hired-as-stanford-softball-assistant-john-rittman-heads-to-the-university-of-kansas/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/08/04/dorian-shaw-hired-as-stanford-softball-assistant-john-rittman-heads-to-the-university-of-kansas/#respond Tue, 05 Aug 2014 00:00:05 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1087290 New softball head coach Rachel Hanson has officially hired one of her assistants from her time at Dartmouth, Dorian Shaw, to be an assistant coach for Stanford softball. The hire was announced by GoStanford.com on Thursday. Shaw had a distinguished playing career at the University of Michigan and was an NFCA All-America second team selection […]

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New softball head coach Rachel Hanson has officially hired one of her assistants from her time at Dartmouth, Dorian Shaw, to be an assistant coach for Stanford softball. The hire was announced by GoStanford.com on Thursday.

Dorian Shaw (above) has been named an assistant coach on Rachel Hanson's staff for Stanford softball. Shaw was a 2010 NFCA second team All-American at the University of Michigan.
Dorian Shaw (above) has been named an assistant coach on Rachel Hanson’s staff for Stanford softball. Shaw was a 2010 NFCA second team All-American at the University of Michigan. During her All-American season, Shaw hit .362 with 21 home runs and 60 RBI. (Courtesy of Stanford Athletics)

Shaw had a distinguished playing career at the University of Michigan and was an NFCA All-America second team selection as a junior in 2010. In earning All-America honors, Shaw hit .362 with 60 RBI, while tying a single-season record for home runs with 21 homers.

For her four-year career at Michigan, the Burke, Virginia native posted a .315 batting average with 58 home runs, 178 RBI, a .663 slugging percentage and a .501 on-base percentage. Shaw also earned recognition for her accomplishments in the classroom by either the Michigan Athletics Department or the Big Ten Conference in each of her four seasons. Shaw graduated from Michigan in 2011 with a degree from the School of Kinesiology.

After graduation, Shaw was the fourth overall selection in the 2011 National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) Draft. Shaw won a title with the Chicago Bandits in 2011 as a rookie; after taking a year off from professional softball to pursue coaching opportunities, Shaw signed with the NY/NJ Comets for the 2013 season.

In addition to her experiences as a professional softball player, Shaw also served as an assistant coach at George Mason University in 2012 and 2013 before joining coach Hanson’s staff at Dartmouth in 2014.

In announcing the hire, Hanson released the following statement about Shaw: “I’m thrilled to bring Dorian with me, as she’ll bring a passion for the game, a great competitive background and a unique ability to connect with Stanford softball players both present and future. She also brings a familiarity with my systems, which will allow us to jump right in to the coaching side at Stanford.”

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Former Stanford head coach John Rittman will take over as the associate head coach at the University of Kansas. As Stanford’s second head coach in program history, Rittman elevated Stanford softball to new heights, leading the Cardinal to the postseason in 16 out of his 18 seasons on the Farm.

Former Stanford softball head coach John Rittman (left) has been named the associate head coach at the University of Kansas. Rittman notched 16 NCAA tournament berths and seven regional titles during his time on The Farm.
Former Stanford softball head coach John Rittman (left) has been named the associate head coach at the University of Kansas. Rittman notched 16 NCAA tournament berths and seven regional titles during his time on the Farm. (DAVID ELKINSON/stanfordphoto.com)

While at Stanford, Rittman led the Card to seven NCAA regional titles and two Women’s College World Series berths. Stanford also won a Pac-10 conference title in 2005 under Rittman’s leadership.

Widely recognized for his ability to coach hitters, Rittman will work to help boost a Jayhawk offense that finished last in the Big 12 in batting average with .288 mark in 2014. Kansas also finished second-to-last in home runs and runs scored in the conference.

Kansas finished with a 34-23 overall record in 2014 despite its struggles on offense, as a dominant pitching rotation helped lead the Jayhawks to the postseason for the first time since 2006. The Jayhawks were eliminated in the NCAA regional round after consecutive losses to Nebraska and Missouri.

Sixth-year Jayhawk head coach Megan Smith released a statement to kuathletics.com to confirm Rittman’s hire.

“John Rittman is one of the most well-respected coaches in our game,” Smith said. “He has had such a successful career and we are excited to have his expertise and experience to help us continue to build success at Kansas. He will come in and make an immediate impact working with our hitters and outfielders and his recruiting experience and connections will be invaluable to our program. His excellent reputation as an elite softball coach is matched by his impeccable character. Our entire staff welcomes John, Lorie, Justin and Jake to the Jayhawk family.”

Rittman also released a statement through the Kansas Athletics Department concerning his new position.

“I’m extremely excited to join Megan Smith and the KU softball program,” Rittman said. “I’m looking forward to assisting and developing our student-athletes on the field, in the classroom and in the community. I think Coach Smith is a true leader and an outstanding coach. I’m really looking forward to contributing to the success of the program. I saw the new softball facility, and it is absolutely amazing. It’s a very exciting time to be joining KU softball. I’m really, really looking forward to getting out there and getting started.

“I was very fortunate to spend 18 years at Stanford, but to have the opportunity to move to Kansas and help contribute to the program’s success is something I’m really looking forward to.”

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Carol Zhao caps fine run at the Bank of the West Classic with first WTA win https://stanforddaily.com/2014/08/01/carol-zhao-caps-fine-run-at-the-bank-of-the-west-classic-with-first-wta-win/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/08/01/carol-zhao-caps-fine-run-at-the-bank-of-the-west-classic-with-first-wta-win/#respond Sat, 02 Aug 2014 02:38:47 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1087276 Stanford sophomore Carol Zhao picked a great time to notch her first career WTA win, as the 2014 singles All-American won her first match at the highest level of women’s tennis in a tournament on the Farm. Zhao capped off a tremendous run at the Bank of the West Classic after having advanced through the […]

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Stanford sophomore Carol Zhao picked a great time to notch her first career WTA win, as the 2014 singles All-American won her first match at the highest level of women’s tennis in a tournament on the Farm. Zhao capped off a tremendous run at the Bank of the West Classic after having advanced through the qualifying rounds into the main draw as a wild-card selection with a first-round rout of Yanina Wickmayer 6-2, 1-0 (ret.).

(SHIRLEY PEFLEY/Stanford photo.com)
Sophomore Carol Zhao capped an impressive showing at the Bank of the West Classic with a 6-1, 1-0 (ret.) rout of Yanina Wickmeyer in the first round of the main draw. Zhao, a 2014 singles All-American, also won two qualifying stage matches to reach the main draw. (SHIRLEY PEFLEY/stanfordphoto.com)

Wickmayer retired in her match with Zhao after only 36 minutes due to a viral illness, as the Belgian native simply could not keep up with the 2014 All-Pac-12 second-team selection. Zhao won an outstanding 82 percent (14  of 17) of her first service points while also notching five aces in the brisk contest. In pushing Wickmayer’s challenge aside, Zhao also broke the No. 65 ranked player in the world on two out of three total opportunities.

Zhao was able to take on Wickmayer after a fine run in the qualifying stage of the tournament last weekend. After receiving a wild-card bid in the Bank of the West Classic, the Ontario, Canada native took down No. 2 qualifying seed Katerina Siniakova in a three-set thriller 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (3). The win over Siniakova set up Zhao for a second qualifying match, with a spot in the main draw on the line; in a back-and-forth match with Russian native Marina Shamayko, the No. 9 qualifying seed, Zhao prevailed in another three-set nail-biter, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4.

Zhao’s run ended on Wednesday with a 1-6, 1-6 loss to Ana Ivanovic, the No. 5 player in the world. Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open winner and former world No. 1, dominated her second service points in eliminating Zhao; Ivanovic won 75 percent of her second service points (18 of 24), compared to a measly 18 percent (3 of 16) for Zhao. Ivanovic also broke the 2013 Tennis Canada Junior Player of the Year on five out of six total chances.

Kristie Ahn ‘14 and sophomore Caroline Doyle also participated in the Bank of the West Classic. Ahn, a three-time singles All-American for the Cardinal, received a wild-card spot into the main draw. However, Ahn lost in the first round to fellow American Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets, 2-6, 5-7. Vandeweghe, despite double faulting seven times against Ahn, was able to advance at the hour and 20 minute mark. Neither player was on point in the sloppy match, as both players converted less than 50 percent of their second service points.

Doyle, a San Francisco product, was not able to make it out of the qualifying phase of the tournament after drawing a very difficult matchup in No.1 qualifying seed Aleksandra Wozniak. Wozniak, the No. 101 player in the world, ended Doyle’s time at the Bank of the West Classic with a 7-5, 6-3 win.

On the doubles side of the tournament, Zhao and Ahn, Stanford’s No. 1 doubles team in 2014, teamed up once more to compete in the Bank of the West field. Zhao and Ahn lost a three-set thriller in the first round on the doubles side to the team of Caroline Garcia and Shuai Zhang, 6-3, 1-6, 10-12. Zhao and Ahn, who went 29-6 as a team this past season, nearly took down Garcia and Zhang, with 15 first service point winners in the first set of the match. However, Zhao and Ahn were only able to win seven combined first service points in the final two sets of the contest.

The Bank of the West Classic was also in the news because of Sabine Lisicki, as the German native broke Venus Williams’ record for the fastest serve on the WTA tour. Lisicki, the No. 29 player in the world, blasted a 131 mph serve in her first round match against Ivanovic. The powerful serve came at 5-5, 40-30 in the contest between the two top players.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Shaw, Hogan and Richards represent Cardinal at Pac-12 Media Day https://stanforddaily.com/2014/07/26/shaw-hogan-and-richards-represent-cardinal-at-pac-12-media-day/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/07/26/shaw-hogan-and-richards-represent-cardinal-at-pac-12-media-day/#respond Sat, 26 Jul 2014 18:07:03 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1087069 Stanford football and the other schools of the Pac-12 conference wrapped up the second and final day of Pac-12 Media Day on Thursday at the Paramount Pictures Studio in Hollywood, California. Stanford head coach David Shaw, senior starting quarterback Kevin Hogan and senior strong safety Jordan Richards represented the football program in southern California. In […]

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Stanford football and the other schools of the Pac-12 conference wrapped up the second and final day of Pac-12 Media Day on Thursday at the Paramount Pictures Studio in Hollywood, California. Stanford head coach David Shaw, senior starting quarterback Kevin Hogan and senior strong safety Jordan Richards represented the football program in southern California.

Sophomore safety Jordan Richards has established himself as the backbone of the Cardinal's much-improved secondary this season. He'll need to be at his best Saturday, because when Stanford stacks the box against Oregon's talented running backs, Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota will look to exploit the Cardinal through the air. (SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily)
Senior strong safety Jordan Richards (above), along with head coach David Shaw and senior quarterback Kevin Hogan, represented the Card at Pac-12 Media Day in Los Angeles. Richards was a pre-season All-American selection after earning Academic All-American honors in 2013. (SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily)

In addressing the media gathered in Los Angeles, Shaw offered an update on senior wide receiver and 2014 Biletnikoff Award watch list selection Ty Montgomery. Montgomery, who missed all of spring practice after suffering a knee injury on a kickoff return in the Cardinal’s Rose Bowl loss to Michigan State, has also been recovering from an arm injury. Shaw said that Montgomery might be held out of the Cardinal’s season opener on August 30th against UC-Davis, and that “it will be close” as far as whether the consensus All-American will be ready to go against USC in Week 2.

Shaw also shrugged off the Cardinal’s place in the preseason Pac-12 media poll, as Stanford was picked to finish second in the Pac-12 North behind Oregon.

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t use it as motivation. I don’t get happy or sad about it. It is what it is. I might pick Oregon [as well],” Shaw said.

Shaw also added that the media hype surrounding a program in the preseason will disappear once the season begins in late August.

Finally, in talking about the losses of senior leaders from last year’s Pac-12 champion squad, particularly linebackers Shayne Skov and Trent Murphy, as well as defensive end Ben Gardner and running back Tyler Gaffney, Shaw stated that losing players to graduation and the NFL is nothing new for the program.

“We’ve lost a lot of senior leadership, but that’s what happens every year,” Shaw said. “Every year you lose guys and guys step up. I’m excited about where we are, and the fact that we’re bringing back a three-year starting quarterback.

“We are also bringing back one of the most explosive players in college football in Ty Montgomery. We are led by a young, athletic line that needs to gel for us. I am looking forward to the new tight ends that will step in, and the receiving corps and rotation in running backs that will be exciting to watch.”

Shaw, Hogan and Richards all conducted on-air interviews on the Pac-12 Networks as part of their participation in Pac-12 Media Day. It was announced this week that Hogan was named to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. In a joint interview, Hogan and Richards both said that the class of 2015, as well as the Card’s fifth-year seniors, have embraced the leadership roles that they inherited with the graduation of the class of 2014.

“We talk about as a group of seniors as being a product of the program — the past players, each other and future Stanford football players,” Richards said. “Over the past four, five or six years, there is a standard that has been set, and that we need to meet or exceed those expectations. As leaders on this team, we need to make sure everyone is on board and ready to pay the price it takes in order to win.”

“Something that we preach is that the price always increases,” Hogan added. “We are never going to settle. We are never going to relax. We have a big banner on our field that says you are either getting better or getting worse. You never stay the same. We wanted the coaches to put more on us, because we feel it will make us better.”

Stanford football opens on August 30 at home against UC-Davis.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford’s softball star pitcher Carley Hoover transfers to LSU https://stanforddaily.com/2014/07/20/stanfords-softball-star-pitcher-carley-hoover-transfers-to-lsu/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/07/20/stanfords-softball-star-pitcher-carley-hoover-transfers-to-lsu/#comments Mon, 21 Jul 2014 01:56:15 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1086908 Daily News sports reporter John Reid has reported that rising sophomore Carley Hoover is transferring to LSU to continue her softball career. Reid tweeted that Hoover had made the announcement on Twitter, with Hoover also announcing her intentions to transfer on Facebook and Instagram. The loss of Hoover is certainly a significant blow to the […]

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Carley Hoover
Carley Hoover (above) decided to transfer from Stanford to LSU to continue her softball career. Hoover, the 2013 High School Gatorade Player of the Year, suffered a season-ending pectoral injury only eight games into her freshman season. Hoover finished the 2014 season with a 2-0 record and a 1.65 ERA. (KAREN AMBROSE HICKEY/StanfordPhoto.com)

Daily News sports reporter John Reid has reported that rising sophomore Carley Hoover is transferring to LSU to continue her softball career. Reid tweeted that Hoover had made the announcement on Twitter, with Hoover also announcing her intentions to transfer on Facebook and Instagram.

The loss of Hoover is certainly a significant blow to the Cardinal softball program, as Hoover was the 2013 Gatorade Player of the Year as a high school senior at D.W. Daniel High. Hoover was a huge pick up for the Cardinal program when she signed with Stanford, as the Clemson, South Carolina native was rated as the No. 1 softball recruit in the country in many recruiting polls. Hoover had a 0.15 ERA as a senior in high school with a 16-4 record in 138 innings; the 2012 and 2013 Max-Preps All-American also hit .500 with 28 homers in her high school senior season.

However, in her first year on the Farm, Hoover had an adversity-filled season. After going 2-0 at the season-opening Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Arizona, Hoover exited her only home start on the Farm after pitching only 2.0 innings in a 7-3 win over Bradley. Hoover would miss the rest of the season with what ESPN broadcaster Jessica Mendoza called a pectoral injury.

The Cardinal pitching staff suffered mightily without Hoover, as fellow freshman Madi Schreyer and a rotation of position players would have to hold the pitching staff together for the rest of the season. As a result, after starting the year 13-0, the Card faded in conference play as the depleted pitching staff wore down; Stanford would finish with a 5-19 record in Pac-12 play and missed the postseason for the first time since 1997.

Hoover joins an LSU squad that had a strong 2014 campaign; the Bayou Bengals went 38-24 last season with a 13-11 mark in regular-season SEC play. The Lady Tigers lost in the Tucson Regional to Arizona in a decisive game 7. Hoover will join a staff that returns two fellow rising sophomores in Kelsee Selman and Baylee Corbello.

With Hoover’s decision to transfer to LSU, newly hired head coach Rachel Hanson will likely rely on a young and relatively thin staff in 2015. However, the pitching staff may not have to do much to support an experienced Cardinal lineup, as several seniors could highlight another high-powered offense next spring.

Stanford’s 2015 softball campaign will begin in February.

Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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