Sydney Boulaphinh Keeps the Walk-Offs Coming for Stanford Softball

Last week, in her first career at-bat as a Stanford Cardinal, freshman Sydney Boulaphinh went yard against Fresno State, ending the game early with a 10-2 run-rule victory. On Friday night, the Cardinal softball team had a double-header on the docket, but defeated UC Irvine 12-1 in five innings, and UC Riverside 8-0 in six, again thanks to a walk-off blast from Boulaphinh.

The Parker, Colorado native is treating softball at Stanford Stadium like she's playing in Coors Field to begin her career. She has three at-bats so far this season, and two of them have resulted in game-ending home runs.

Guess this is just what she does 🤷‍♀️

In her first 3 college ABs, @sboulaphinh1 has already hit two walk off homers!#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/NNINKqVWUH
— Stanford Softball (@StanfordSball) February 15, 2025

With the two wins, Stanford remains unbeaten on the year at 6-0, a terrific start on the heels of a 50-17 season a year ago that included a 17-7 mark against the Pac-12. Four of Stanford's wins so far this season have been run-rule victories, winning by scores of 17-7, 10-2, 12-1, and 8-0.

Not to be forgotten in the Cardinal's two wins on Friday was the performance of sophomore Alyssa Houston, who improved to 2-0 on the young season while tossing three innings of scoreless ball, allowing one hit and striking out six. Junior Taryn Kern added a 2-for-3 game against UC Riverside that included a home run, two runs scored, two RBI, and a walk.

In the game against UC Riverside, Kern went 1-for-4 with another dinger and four RBI. Junior Emily Jones collected three hits in a 3-for-4 effort that included a pair of doubles, three RBI, a run scored, and a walk of her own.

Kylie Chung started that one, and after collecting two wins in the opening weekend, she ran into some trouble on Friday against UC Riverside. Across her 2.2 innings of work, she walked six of the 15 batters she faced, throwing 64 pitches but just 23 for strikes. Still, Chung managed to work around trouble, allowing just one hit and one run while striking out two.

Chung's four starts this season already ties her career-high which she set last season while making 16 total appearances across 30.1 innings. She has racked up 14 innings already this season, so this figures to be a career year for her.

Stanford softball came into this weekend with a 4-0 record and ranked as the No. 22 program in the country. With more performances like the ones they've been receiving, they could be shooting up those rankings before long.

Stanford has another doubleheader scheduled for Saturday, facing UC Riverside at 3:30 p.m. (PT), then Portland State at 6 p.m. (PT). Both games will air on the ACC Network. They'll wrap up the weekend with a single game on Sunday against UC Davis, with first pitch scheduled for 1:30 p.m. (PT). That game will also air on ACC Network.