TUCSON, Ariz. – The No. 18 Cardinal took down the top-ranked team in the country this afternoon, slugging three home runs to take down No. 1 Texas 9-5 and move to 11-1 on the season. Allie Clements homered twice, River Mahler drove in what proved to be the game-winning runs in the sixth, and Joie Economides smacked a sixth-inning home run to break the game open.
Clements opened the scoring in the top of the first, crushing a two-run homer to centerfield to score Taryn Kern from second and go ahead 2-0. Clements homered in her final at-bat last night, a solo shot in the top of the seventh.
Texas added two runs in the bottom of the first to even it at 2-2. Alyssa Houston entered in relief of starter Zoe Prystajko with two outs, picking up a bases-loaded strikeout to limit the damage.
Houston tossed a scoreless second, and the Cardinal retook the lead in the top of the third. Clements kept her hot streak going, hitting another home run to make it three-straight at bats over two games with a home run. This one went to left field and scored Mahler to make it 4-2 Stanford.
In the bottom of the fourth, Houston surrendered a leadoff walk and back-to-back singles to bring in a Texas run and make it 4-3. But with no outs and two runners on, the sophomore retired three-straight batters to strand a pair and limit the damage.
The Longhorns tied it in the bottom of the fifth, stringing together a triple and a double to make it 4-4.
Stanford answered right back in the top of the sixth, thanks to a bases-loaded single from Mahler. The clutch base knock drove in two, pushing the lead back to two runs at 6-4. Then Economides crushed a ball over the left-field fence to plate three and make it a 9-4 lead.
Economides’ homer was her fifth of the season, and the team’s 27th of the season in just the first 12 games.
Houston finished with the win, allowing just three runs on seven hits in 6.1 innings of relief. The sophomore’s seven strikeouts set a new career best.
The Card is back for day three of the Hillenbrand Invitational tomorrow, taking on Colorado State 4:30 p.m. PT. The game can be streamed online via FloCollege.
POSTGAME NOTES:
- Stanford moved to 11-1 on the season.
- Stanford defeats a top-2 team in the country for the third time since the start of last season, with wins over a pair of wins over No. 2 Tennessee and No. 2 Texas last February.
- Senior Allie Clements hit her second and third home runs of the season, giving her a homer in three consecutive at-bats after going yard in the seventh inning last night.
- Clements entered this weekend with three career home runs, and has doubled the figure in the last 24 hours.
- Freshman Joie Economides went yard for her fifth home run of the season, second on the team behind junior Taryn Kern.
- Sophomore pitcher Alyssa Houston struck out seven batters in 6.1 innings of relief, setting a new career high.
- Clements finished the game 2-for-4 with 4 RBI and 2 runs scored.
- Junior River Mahler ended the day 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and two driven in.