FILE - Stanford pitcher NiJaree Canady (24) throws against Oregon during an NCAA college softball game on Saturday, March 18, 2023, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman, File)
OKLAHOMA CITY — The final Pac-12 softball game ever played was the first between No. 6 seed UCLA and No. 8 Stanford at the Women’s College World Series.
Sunday night’s elimination game at Devon Park turned out to be a showcase for Stanford pitcher NiJaree Canady, who pitched a complete game three-hitter in a 3-1 win that sent the Cardinal to the semifinals.
Canady, the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, struck out eight, including UCLA All-American Maya Brady three times. She improved to 5-0 in elimination games during the postseason.
Stanford (50-16) made it interesting in UCLA’s last at-bat. Canady retired the first two hitters, then hit Savannah Palo on the hand to put a runner on first. Thessa Malau’ulu singled to put runners on first and second, but pinch-hitter Ramsey Suarez grounded out to shortstop to end the game and the season for UCLA.
Stanford plays No. 1 Texas on Monday at 4 p.m. PDT and will have to defeat the Longhorns twice to reach the best-of-three championship series. Should Stanford win the first game Monday, the teams would meet again on the same field shortly thereafter.
Stanford and UCLA had played dozens of times before Sunday but never on this stage. UCLA (43-12) had won seven straight against Stanford, including three in a row this season.
The Pac-12 is dissolving, with Stanford heading to the Atlantic Coast Conference and UCLA to the Big Ten.
Canady surrendered a second-inning home run to Megan Grant to make it 1-0. But the Cardinal scored twice in the third on a double by Taryn Kern off Bruins’ starter Kaitlyn Terry, who was lifted, and a single by Ava Gall off reliever Taylor Tinsley.
In the fifth, Stanford’s Emily Jones and Kaitlyn Lim bunted for base hits reaching safely to put runners on first and second with no outs. The next batter Kern, moved the runners over with a groundout , then pinch hitter Allie Clements hit a sacrafice fly to left field to score Jones and make it 3-1.
Brady, Tom Brady’s niece who struck out three times against Oklahoma starter Kelly Maxwell on Saturday, struggled once again against Sunday against Canady.
Originally published at Tim Willert