Softball falls to Stanford in Heartbreaker
April 14, 2000
Stanford, Cal. -
Cassi Brangham two-out two strike RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning lifted the No. 9 Stanford Cardinal (34-9, 3-6 Pac-10) to a 3-2 victory over No. 12 Oregon State (29-13-1, 1-7) in a Pacific-10 Conference women's softball game Friday.
Brangham's hit spoiled the Beavers' comeback in the top half of the final inning. Oregon State was down to its last strike with no runners on base when freshman Shelly Prochaska clubbed her second home run of the season. Prochaska had a big day at the plate with three hits in four at-bats.
The theme of the game was Oregon State's inability to come up with clutch hits. The Beavers returned to their trend of leaving baserunners stranded, leaving eight for the game and at least one in six of the seven innings. Oregon State had 10 hits for the contest, compared to five for the Cardinal.
"We just struggled again getting timely hitting," Beaver Head Coach Kirk Walker said. "We gave them some easy outs for the most part, and just didn't put any pressure on Stanford defensively."
Oregon State led the game into the bottom of the fifth inning 1-0. The Beavers scored in the second on a RBI double by Cara Maxey. Maxey's hit scored Jenni Jodoin who led off the inning with a double. Maxey and Jodoin each finished the game 2-for-3 at the plate, and teammate Shawna Feldt was 2-for-4.
Stanford took the lead for the first time when Jessica Mendoza stroked her seventh home run of the season with one aboard. Mendoza was this week's Pac-10 Player of the Week and entered the contests batting .470.
Tarrah Beyster suffered the loss in relief for Oregon State, her record is now 17-9 for the season. Crystal Draper started the game on the mound for OSU and struck out seven in five innings.
"Crystal really threw well today," Walker said. "She was keeping Stanford off balance almost all day - it was tough to see her not get a victory."
Oregon State will conclude this week's action with games at California Saturday and Sunday.
Oregon State 0-1-0 0-0-0 1 2-10-2 Stanford 0-0-0 0-2-0 1 3-5-0Draper, Beyster (6) and Prochaska, Sorensen and Wiginton HR: Prochaska (2), Mendoza (7) WP: Sorensen (17-5) LP: Beyster (17-9) T. 1:55 Att. 212
