NOTRE DAME, Ind. – No. 17 Stanford won a third-straight ACC series today, topping Notre Dame 6-2 to move to 22-3 on the season and 7-1 in conference play. River Mahler led the way with four RBI as the Cardinal picked up a 10th-straight win.
For the second-straight game, the Cardinal struck in the first inning. River Mahler drove a ball into the gap to bring home Emily Jones and go ahead 1-0.
Stanford added five more in the fourth, after a hard-hit ball from Jones resulted in an error that brought home two runs. On the next pitch, Mahler smoked a home run to left-center field to score three more and make it a 6-0 lead.
Alyssa Houston exited the circle after four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out seven. Houston in her last four games has allowed just two runs on four hits, striking out 26 in 15 innings.
Notre Dame broke up the shutout in the bottom of the fifth, cutting the lead to 6-2.
Kylie Chung took the ball at the start of the sixth inning, tossing two shutout innings to slam the door and wrap up the win. Chung struck out two and allowed just one hit to extend her scoreless inning streak to 11.2 innings.
The series finale from Notre Dame is set for 9:00 a.m. PT tomorrow, and can be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
POSTGAME NOTES:
- Stanford moved to 22-3 (7-1) on the season.
- The Cardinal has now won each of its first three ACC series
- Stanford has now won 10-straight games.
- Junior River Mahler drove in four runs to bring her season total to 31, leading the team and adding to a career-best total.
- Mahler’s home run in the fourth was her fifth of the season, and fifth of her career.
- Sophomore Alyssa Houston earned the win with 4.0 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out seven.
- Houston now boasts a scoreless inning streak of 5.2 IP, and has struck out 26 in the last 15 innings – allowing just two runs on four hits in the stretch.