STANFORD, Calif. – Alyssa Horeczko went 3-for-3, scored one run and drove in another as Stanford christened the home portion of its schedule with a 5-3 nonconference softball win over Santa Clara at Boyd & Jill Smith Family Stadium on a chilly Friday evening.
The Cardinal (8-6) climbed out of an early 2-0 hole to post its second straight win, and the first on its own turf under first-year head coach Jessica Allister.
Santa Clara (0-7) leaped out of the gates in the top of the first by tagging Kiana Pancino (4-1) for a pair of scores. Pancino issued three of her six walks in the stanza, but settled in to blank the Broncos for the next five innings.
Pancino hurled 6.1 innings of three-hit ball while punching out five in the winning effort. Carolyn Lee stepped in to blank the final two Broncos in the top of the seventh. The pair combined to strand six Santa Clara base runners.
Stanford waited until the third to answer the Broncos' opening burst, when Horeczko singled home Hannah Howell from second. Kristina Inouye's two-out single to left scored two more, giving the Cardinal a 3-2 advantage.
Inouye finished 2-for-3 to join Horeczko in the multi-hit club.
The Cardinal added a pair of insurance runs in the fifth courtesy of Arden Pettit's two-RBI single down the left field line, which was setup by a double-steal pulled off by Montana Dixon and Teaghan Cowles.
Santa Clara tacked on one run in the seventh before Lee entered the game to close the book on the night.
Aubree Kim (0-3) shouldered the loss while giving up five earned runs and seven hits in 5.0 innings.
Santa Clara did not strike out a single Cardinal batter.
The Stanford Invitational resumes Saturday as the Cardinal faces Cal Poly at 2:30 p.m. PT. Live video and stats will be available at GoStanford.com. Cal Poly will also face Santa Clara at noon.
