Freshmen Shine in Win

MORAGA, Calif. – The No. 7 Stanford Cardinal picked up a mid-week win this evening, beating Saint Mary's 9-4 in Moraga. Eight different members of the Card picked up hits, led by freshman Kiley Buckley crushed her first career homer to cap the offensive onslaught. The freshman class of Buckley, Ava Gall, Alyssa Houston and Jade Berry contributed two homers, five RBI and a save in the win.
 
Stanford jumped out to an early lead, scoring in the top of the first on an RBI single from senior Aly Kaneshiro. Kaneshiro extended her team RBI lead with the knock, her 32nd of the season.
 
Two batters later, senior Caelan Koch was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to pick up an RBI and make it a 2-0 Cardinal lead.
 
The Card added four more in the top of the second, thanks to freshman Ava Gall's ninth home run of the season. The three-run blast moved her into a tie for the team lead with Kaneshiro. Two batters later, Koch came through with another RBI, this time thanks to a single that drove in Kaneshiro.
 
Saint Mary's added an unearned run in the bottom of the second, then an earned run in the bottom of the fourth to make it a 6-2 lead for the Card.
 
Sophomore Taryn Kern drove in another in the top of the fifth, hitting a sacrifice fly to left field to score grad student Kaitlyn Lim and make it 7-2.
 
The Gaels added two more in the bottom of the sixth, but the Card was able to quickly answer.
 
Freshman Kiley Buckley, making her first career start, blasted a home run to centerfield for her first career hit. The long ball drove in two, making it 9-4. Buckley entered the game with only one at bat on the season, after pinch running in 25 games.
 
Fellow freshman Alyssa Houston recorded a first as well, picking up her first career save with 1.1 scoreless innings to close the game.
 
Sophomore Emily Jones' bunt single in the first inning moved her hitting streak to 16 games, now tied for the longest streak by a Cardinal hitter since Ashely Hansen and Sarah Hassman each posted 19-game streaks in 2011.
 
Senior Regan Krause started in the circle, going 5.2 innings and allowing just two earned runs on seven hits.
 
Stanford continues the road swing this weekend, heading to Seattle for a three-game series with No. 8 Washington that begins Friday. First pitch with the Huskies is set for 7:00 p.m. PT, and can be seen on Pac-12 Networks.