COLLEGE SOFTBALL
STANFORD ROUNDUP
Facing Cal is just the start
Cardinal men looking forward to NCAA show Solid performance at Pac-12 Tournament will help push Stanford into that long-awaited postseason berth
Stanford opens Pac-12 season with injuries and a young lineup By Rick Eymer here are no seniors in the starting lineup and the only two on the roster have been limited due to injuries. When it comes to Stanford softball, though, the lack of a senior starter does not mean a lack of leadership. Seniors Danielle Miller, who has been dealing with a knee injury all season, and Corey Hanewich, a former All-Pac-10 pick, still keep things lively at practices and games. It’s just the 19thranked Cardinal players have found other ways to keep each other focused. Paying attention in the Pac-12 is particularly crucial given the strength of the conference, which boasts five of the top seven teams in the nation. The conference schedule gets under way this weekend, with Stanford (22-6) hosting Bay Area rival California in a three-game set beginning Friday at 5:30 p.m. and continuing Saturday with a doubleheader that begins at noon. “The Cal-Stanford rivalry is there regardless of the sport,” Stanford coach John Rittman said. “In softball, because of the success of all the teams, they are all big series. We’re all fighting for the postseason.” Last year, eight of the nine conference teams were selected to play in the NCAA tournament. Entering play this week, only two teams have overall records under .500 and that’s all likely to change in a few short weeks. Five Pac-12 teams, including California, have won a national title. The conference has won 24 titles and had 15 runner-ups since the NCAA began sponsoring the tournament in 1982. Stanford has qualified for the past 16 consecutive years and has appeared in five Super Regionals (since they were introduced in 2005) and a pair of Women’s College World Series. Just getting through conference play becomes a cause for celebration. “Every time you step on the field against a Pac-12 team you’re facing a lineup full of All-Americans,” said Rittman, in his 18th year at Stanford. “There are quality players everywhere.” The Cardinal has a few of its own, with five junior starters and a pair of sophomores and freshmen. “We don’t have a team captain,” Rittman said. “Basically, they are all leaders. The upperclassmen take charge but everybody leads in their own way. They hold each
By Rick Eymer
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Stanford freshman Madi Schreyer has thrown 123 of the team’s 179 innings thus far, producing a 16-4 record with a 1.59 ERA in 22 games. other accountable.” Freshmen Kylie Sorenson, Bessie Noll and Madi Schreyer already have distinguished themselves. Lauren Bertoy has started a handful of games and Carley Hoover is 2-0 with a 1.65 ERA in five appearances. Hoover, last year’s national Gatorade Player of the Year, has been out of action since early in the season. “Injuries are part of the game,” Rittman said. “We’ve been like a MASH unit with our pitching staff.” That’s where Schreyer fits in. She’s thrown 123 of the team’s 179 innings thus far, producing a 16-4 record with a 1.59 ERA in 22 games, 18 starts. The Canadian National Team member stepped up to the challenge. “She’s done well in taking a lot of the innings,” Rittman said. “She’s matured quickly and done a great job of becoming a complete pitcher.” Leticia Olivarez, starting her first year as an assistant after spending two years as a volunteer assistant, has been working overtime to assure Stanford has enough pitchers. Rittman has had to adjust quickly with a pitching staff that lost Teagen Gerhart (she’s a volunteer assistant this year) to graduation, last year’s Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Kelsey Stevens, who transferred to defending national champion Oklahoma, and veteran junior Nyree White, who had given up one hit in five innings thus far. She’s currently injured. Sorenson, the starting shortstop and team leader with a .400
batting average and 12 doubles, has appeared in eight games as a pitcher, starting three. Juniors Tylyn Wells and Erin Ashby and sophomore Kayla Bonstrom also have taken turns on the mound. Sorenson, a two-time All-CIF Division I pick who did some pitching at West Ranch High, also leads the Cardinal with a .653 slugging percentage and a .525 on-base percentage. Stanford was able to navigate a strenuous preseason schedule due to Schreyer’s emergence and the team’s offensive capabilities. Cassandra Roulund leads the Cardinal with 27 RBI, but seven others have at least 13. Freshman Bessie Noll is right behind Sorenson in terms of average at .361, while seven others are hitting over .300, contributing to Stanford’s .329 team average. Catcher Jessica Plaza is hitting .352 with a team-high four home runs and a .648 slugging percentage. Hanna Winter leads the team with 32 hits, followed by Sorenson and Leah White, each with 30. The 3 W’s (White, Winter and Wells) are a combined 31 of 34 in stolen base attempts. “Our lineup is tough one through nine,” Rittman said. “There are no easy outs and we’re getting production from every part of the lineup. We have a nice blend of speed, average and power. We have a lot of depth, a lot of options.” Hanewich and Miller, for example, started 78 percent of the time over their first three years. Junior Lauren Donovan and sophomore Kaitlin Schaberg also have started a few games this year. N
tanford has had to settle for postseason men’s basketball tournaments lacking the NCAA moniker for more years than coach Johnny Dawkins cares to remember. The last time the Cardinal qualified for the NCAA tournament, a pair of towering twins named Lopez dominated action and led Stanford to the Sweet Sixteen. Dawkins was still an assistant coach at Duke and Mike Montgomery was still unemployed. There’s been the postseason NIT championship in 2011, a couple of other invitations to the NIT and CBI, but those didn’t seem to satisfy the Cardinal appetite. This year’s strength of schedule, which included road wins at Connecticut, Oregon and Cal, combined with the Pac-12’s overall strength, and Stanford should be feeling good about its chances come Sunday’s selection show. The Cardinal won its 20th game of the season on Wednesday, beating Washington State, 74-63, in the first round of the Pac-12 Conference tournament in Las Vegas. No. 6 seed Stanford (20-11) met No.3 seed Arizona State late Thursday night in the quarterfinal round (see http://www.paloaltoonline.com/sports/ for results) of the tournament and unless something bizarre happened, even a loss to the Sun Devils should not hurt. The Cardinal also own wins over Arizona State and UCLA and played current eighth-ranked Michigan on a neutral court; all good things. Stanford also avoided losing to teams with records under .500. In fact, the 10 teams that beat Stanford, including third-ranked Arizona twice, have a combined record of 215-99, as of Wednesday, for a winning percentage of .685. Seven of those teams have at least 20 wins and the Golden Bears would make it eight if they defeated Colorado last night. It’s not a slam dunk, but it is a bulky resume. Other factors are based on mid-major conference tournaments that produce a surprise winner. Having finished in a five-way tie for third place in the Pac-12 does offer some credence. It would also give players like Dwight Powell and Chasson Randle, both of whom earned spots on the All-Pac-12 first team, a chance at a little more exposure. That’s also true for Josh Huestis, who was named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team, and Anthony Brown, who was named the Most Improved Player of the Year. “I haven’t really thought too much about that,” Randle said. “As a team, we’re in the moment. We just beat a great team
in Washington State, and we’re looking forward.” Powell scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half and Randle added 22 points in the win over the Cougars. “I haven’t been to the tournament personally and it’s always been a dream of mine,” Powell said. Brown scored 12 points and led the team with seven rebounds. Huestis added 12 points and a pair of blocked shots. Stefan Nastic added 10 points. On Thursday, Powell was named the 2014 Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. A Science, Technology & Society major, Powell sports a 3.05 GPA and will graduate in June. Men’s swimming Stanford finished second at the Pac-12 Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships, which wrapped up Saturday at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash. Cal took home its second consecutive conference title, scoring 786 points en route to the victory. Stanford had 661 points and finished ahead of third-place USC. “It was not a perfect meet, they never are,” said Stanford coach Ted Knapp. “We finished with a lot of best times. We have our work cut out for the NCAA Championships.” The highlight of the meet for Stanford was David Nolan’s conference record of 1:41.49 in the 200 IM. He became the third swimmer to win three straight titles in the event at the conference meet. Nolan broke the previous meet record of 1:41.52, but missed his own school record of 1:41.21. Women’s tennis Nationally No. 4 Stanford returns to action on Friday, hosting No. 42 Washington (0-2, 10-4) in its Pac-12 opener at Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The Cardinal (8-0) remains unbeaten after last week’s 5-2 road win over California and jumped five spots in this week’s edition of the national rankings. Earlier this week, Stanford was invited to attend a celebration of 2012-13 NCAA Championship teams at the White House, with President Barack Obama offering congratulations and recognizing each program individually. Track and field Stanford sends 12 athletes, plus four alternates, to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend in Albuquerque, N.M. In all, eight men and eight women will make the trip and compete in a total of six events, all on the track. N
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