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Sarah Hassman and Erin Ashby helped christen the softball season for Stanford, each hitting a home run as the 20th-ranked Cardinal opened with an 8-2 victory over Bradley at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe on Thursday.

Stanford continues in the tournament Friday with an early morning contest against No. 2 Oklahoma and an afternoon game with Cal Poly.

Freshman pitcher Kelsey Stevens earned the victory in her first collegiate action. She went 2 1/3 innings in relief of senior starter Teagan Gerhart.

Stevens gave up a run on two hits and struck out five. Gerhart went 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out seven.

Nyree White pitched the final inning for Stanford.

Ashby and Hassman each hit their home runs in the second inning. Ashby gave the Cardinal a 1-0 lead and Hassman hit a three-run shot to make it 5-0.

Ashby, Leah White and Tegan Schmidt each collected two hits.

— Palo Alto Online Sports

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