Stanford Softball Beats Kentucky to Keep Win Streak Alive

Can the Cardinal be stopped? That seems to be the question lately as the Stanford Cardinal continue to rattle off wins, coming off of another weekend series sweep over Notre Dame. Earlier this week, the Cardinal continued to prove that they belong in the upper tier of college softball, traveling to Lexington to take on Kentucky, beating the Wildcats 9-1.

Pitching was the name of the game for Stanford, who got a dominant start from Kylie Chung and an exceptional performance out of the bullpen from Zoe Prystajko.

Chung, going 3.1 innings, allowed only one hit and an earned run while walking four and striking out three. Prystajko finished the game and went 3.2 innings, striking out four en route to earning the win to improve to 8-1 on the season.

The Cardinal made sure to put on a strong showing at the plate as well, starting things off with a massive four-run first inning to take a quick 4-0 lead. It all started with Allie Clements, who hit an RBI double to right field with multiple runners on base, allowing Emily Jones to score to make it 1-0.

Later on, Jade Berry brought in River Mahler from third and Allie Clements from second after hitting a two-RBI single up the middle before Joie Economides reached base on a fielder's choice with less than two outs, making way for Berry to score.

Kentucky scored its lone run in the fourth inning off of a single, but that was all that the Wildcats were able to muster. Responding in the fifth inning, the Cardinal tacked on three more runs, with Caelan Koch driving in a run on a fielder's choice before pinch-hitter Camryn Carmouche hit a single to score Chan, making it 6-1 Cardinal.

The final run of the inning came when Jones reached first on a fielding error by the third baseman, bringing in a run to extend the Cardinal lead to 7-1.

The last two runs came in the sixth inning, when Koch hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Berry from third. In the seventh inning, Taryn Kern hit a solo home run to right field to cap things off.

Improving to 24-3, the Cardinal have risen rapidly in the rankings and have proven over and over again that they are a strong contender to be one of the last teams standing.

Last losing a game on Feb. 28, the Cardinal's win streak is currently at 12 games, with the chance this weekend to extend it even more. Next up for the Cardinal is a three-game road series against No. 16 Virginia Tech, which will begin on Friday and last until Sunday. First pitch on Friday is set for 3 p.m. (PT).