Stanford Softball Advances to Regional Final with Win Over Oregon

On Saturday afternoon, the Stanford Cardinal (42-11, 16-8 ACC) took on No. 16 Oregon in the second round of regionals, winning 14-1 in six innings to advance to the regional finals. With the win, the Cardinal are now one game away from earning another trip to the Super Regionals--and are even closer to a third straight Women's College World Series appearance.

Stanford wasted no time in taking control, scoring the first run of the game in the very first inning to take a 1-0 lead thanks to a single from Emily Jones that scored Taryn Kern. Then, in the second inning, Joie Economides hit a solo home run to give the Cardinal a 2-0 lead.

After an inning of things staying steady, the Cardinal once again added onto their lead in the fourth, when Allie Clements hit a home run of her own to make it 3-0 Stanford.

Oregon got on the board in the bottom of the fourth on a single, but that's all they would muster. Stanford then took over and never looked back the rest of the game, scoring two more runs in the top of the fifth to take a 5-1 lead when both River Mahler and Jade Berry hit solo homers.

Then, the sixth inning is when Stanford really poured it on as they managed to score nine unanswered runs. Starting things off was Clements, who hit a single to left field to bring in another run, making it a 6-1 game. After Clements came Jones, who hit a two-RBI single that scored both Clements and Kylie Chung, making it an 8-1 game.

Later on, with Jones standing on first and Kern standing on third, Mahler reached base on an error to score Kern and extend the lead to 9-1. With the bases loaded, Economides came up to bat and after getting hit by a pitch, Jones scored to make it 10-1 Stanford. Caelan Koch made it an 11-1 game after she, too, was hit by a pitch with bases loaded.

Chung made it 12-1 the very next batter when she hit an RBI single that brought in Chan from third before Clements reached on a fielder's choice-- allowing Mylia Perez to score from third base to make it 13-1. The final run for Stanford came across when Kern flied out to center field, but it was deep enough for Koch to score, making it 14-1 Stanford--the game's final score.

On the mound for Stanford was Alyssa Houston, who got the win to improve to 15-2 on the season. She allowed one run on two hits and a walk while striking out seven through 4.1 innings of work. Zoe Prystajko and Kylie Chung also pitched, with Prystajko going one inning and allowing only one hit while Chung went 0.2 innings and allowed just one walk.

Stanford is set to face Oregon again on Sunday, with first pitch at 3:30 p.m. (PT). There is a second game scheduled for the day, if the Cardinal lose Game 1. The time of a potential second game has not been determined. All games will be available to watch on ESPN+.