Jenna Rich hit a pair of home runs and Teagan Gerhart also hit a home run as the Stanford softball team downed BYU, 7-4, in the Louisville Slugger Classic in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Rich hit her first home run in the first and Gerhart (4-1), who also pitched a complete game, allowing one earned run, for the victory, added a two-run homer in the second.
Rich, who totaled three hits, also hit a home run to lead off the seventh. Maya Burns had two hits and drove in a run. Sarah Hassman also drove in a run for the Cardinal (7-1).
Rich led Stanford with 12 home runs last year. She has six in her first eight games this season. It was her second multi-home run game of the year and extended her season-opening hitting streak to a career-high eight games; nine games dating to her last appearance in 2010.
She went 0-for-3 in a 6-1 loss to Hawaii later in the day, ending her streak.
Danielle Miller hit a home run in the top of the seventh inning to help the Cardinal avoid being shut out. Teagan Gerhart tripled, but was stranded.
Rich, an all-Pac-10 pick last year and former California State High School Player of the Year, also has 18 RBI on the year and is hitting .552 (16-for-29) in the early going. She finished at .326 with 47 RBI last year.
After her first eight games as a freshman, Rich was hitting .462 with three homers and eight RBI.
Men’s swimming
Chad La Tourette won two swimming events, Stanford divers swept their two events and second-ranked Stanford won the Big Splash Saturday, beating host and No. 1-ranked California, 124 1-2 to 118 1-2.
La Tourette won the 500 free (4:26.46) and the 1,000 free (9:03.26), giving the Cardinal junior a combined 9-0 mark in the two races in the dual-meet season.
Stanford’s victory was secured in final event, the 400 free relay, as Austin Staab touched the wall (2:53.97) just ahead of Cal’s Olympian Nathan Adrian (2:54.05).
The Stanford divers added 32 points to the final score. They will be back in action at the Pac-10 Diving Championships, which begin Wednesday in Federal Way, WA.
Freshman Noah Garcia (299.63) finished ahead of freshman Dhruv Tyagi (294.83) and senior captain Brent Eichenseer (294.30) in a close three-way race in the one-meter.
In the three-meter, Eichenseer (357.98) led all divers ahead of Garcia (346.53) and Tyagi (304.35).
Bobby Bollier was also instrumental in the win, taking the 200 fly title (1:44.24) and finishing second in the 200 free (1:37.31). Also winning for the Cardinal was Matthew Swanston in the 200 back (1:46.90).
The Pac-10 swimming championships will be held in Long Beach, beginning March 2.
Women’s tennis
Senior Hilary Barte gained a measure of revenge, beating Denise Muresan, 6-2, 6-4, at No. 1 singles to clinch top-ranked Stanford’s 4-1 victory over Michigan Saturday at the National Team Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, VA.
Muresan and partner Brooke Bolender clinched the doubles point for the Wolverines against Barte and Mallory Burdette.
Freshman Nicole Gibbs tied the score with her victory at No. 4 singles, while Burdette won her match at No. 2 and Stacey Tan won at No. 5 to set up Barte’s clincher.
The Cardinal (7-0) plays the winner of a later match between North Carolina and Northwestern in Sunday’s semifinal.
Men’s volleyball
Spencer McLachlin had 10 kills and a hitting percentage of .600 as Stanford rebounded from Thursday’s loss to beat host Pepperdine, 25-14, 25-18, 25-19, Saturday in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation contest.
Brad Lawson added nine kills and a .500 hitting percentage for the Cardinal (7-4, 10-4), which hit .475 as a team.
Stanford hosts UCLA for a 7 p.m. match Friday in MPSF action.
Baseball
Menlo School grad Kenny Diekroeger had two hits but Stanford fell to host Rice, 7-1, in a nonconference game Saturday.
Austin Wilson hit a home run for the Cardinal (1-1), which meets Rice again on Sunday in the series finale.
Stanford fell behind, 7-0, after three innings and could never recover. Chris Reed took the loss after giving up seven runs on eight hits, with five strikeouts over 4 2-3 innings. A.J. Talt threw 3 1-3 innings of no-hit relief.
Wilson hit his home run with one out in the top of the seventh, after the Owls replaced starter Matthew Reckling (1-0), who allowed four hits over six scoreless innings.
Stanford had runners in scoring position in four of the first six innings against Reckling, who struck out four and walked two.
The Cardinal hosts California in the home opener Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
Men’s tennis
Denis Lin beat Emilio Gomez, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, at No. 4 singles to lift No. 7 Stanford past No. 2 USC, 4-3, in a consolation bracket match of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Seattle on Saturday.
The Cardinal (8-1) won the doubles point and then split the singles matches to earn the victory. Ryan Thacher and Greg Hirshman each won their singles matches to put Stanford ahead, 3-1.
Stanford meets Georgia in Sunday’s consolation semifinal.
Men’s gymnastics
No. 4 Stanford completed its home season at the Stanford Open by placing third overall and second among NCAA teams. A youth national team from Japan stole the show, winning the competition with a score of 362.200.
Among the NCAA teams, No. 1 Oklahoma edged No. 4 Stanford and No. 5 California. The Sooners finished with a score of 357.500, while Stanford had 352.000 and Cal had 351.700.
Synchronized swimming
Maria Koroleva and Olivia Morgan won thge duet competition and Stanford won the University of Incarnate Word Invitational Saturday in San Antonio, Texas.
Koroleva and Morgan finished well ahead of their competition in the duet, scoring an 88.000. Stanford’s Madison Crocker and Morgan Fuller placed second with an 84.667.
Women’s golf
Play has been suspended due to rain and unplaybale conditions at the Peg Bernard Invitational on the Stanford Golf Course.
The field completed 9-11 holes before steady rain and poor course conditions forced the golfers to the clubhouse at approximately 11:50 a.m.
First round play will resume Sunday morning at 8 a.m. with the second round following immediately thereafter.
California had a nine-stroke lead over Washington State when play stopped. Stanford is in a four-way tie for third place.
Men’s golf
Stanford beat USC, 4 1/2 to 1 1/2, in a match play event held at the Cypress Point Golf Club in Pebble Beach on Friday.
Steve Ziegler, Cameron Wilson, David Chung and Sihwan Kim all picked up wins for the Cardinal, while sophomore Andrew Yun earned a half a point in his match against Jeffrey Kang.
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports