SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Third-ranked Stanford combined for 14 runs and
17 hits in two games on its way to a doubleheader sweep over the
Sacramento State softball team Wednesday afternoon at Shea Stadium.
The Cardinal won the first game, 11-0, before taking the nightcap,
3-2, in eight innings.
With the victories, Stanford improved to 46-9-1 while Sacramento
State fell to 17-34. The doubleheader marked the final home games of
the season for the Hornets, who are now a season-worst 17 games under
.500.
In game one, Stanford pounded out 11 runs and 11 hits as Sarah Beeson
and Jessica Allister combined to go 7-for-7 with seven RBI, three
doubles and three runs scored. Michelle Thiry added two doubles and
an RBI as the game was stopped after five innings because Stanford
had enforced the eight-run rule.
Stanford scored three runs in the first, seven in the third and one
more in the fifth. Maureen LeCocq (15-7) got the win for the
Cardinal, allowing three hits in four innings of work. Gina
Steenburgen (4-7) picked up the loss for the Hornets, allowing 11
runs (all earned) and 11 hits in five innings.
In the second game, Beeson's RBI-double in the top of the eighth
inning proved to be the game-winning run as Stanford hung on for the
win. Jessica Mendoza led off the inning with a double before Beeson,
who finished the doubleheader with four doubles, drove her in.
Stanford got on the board first with two unearned runs in the fourth
inning as the Cardinal took advantage of a dropped fly ball by Hornet
center fielder Cathy Coupar to start the inning. Michelle Thiry's
RBI-double and Jenni Shideler's RBI-single accounted for both runs in
the inning.
The Hornets began to claw back with a run in the bottom of the fourth
after an RBI-single by Lori Meixner scored Yolanda Estrada. The team
tacked on another in the sixth after a wild pitch scored Roni
Rodrigues. The Hornets had a chance to score more in the inning but
Cardinal reliever Jaime Forman-Lau got Meixner and Nicole Deatherage
to strike out, stranding Arlette Sunseri at third base.
Forman-Lau (4-0) picked up the win, allowing no hits while striking
out seven in three innings of relief work. Sacramento State starter
Deatherage (7-15) got the loss despite allowing three runs (one
earned) and six hits in eight innings. The right-hander struck out a
season-high six batters.
The Hornets close out the 2001 season as they travel to Long Beach
State for a three-game Big West Conference series this weekend.
