Stanford beats Washington to reach Women's College World Series semifinal vs. OU softball

Washington pitcher Ruby Meylan was one strike away from escaping the bottom of the sixth inning unscathed.

Meylan had been tossing a gem against Stanford when she delivered her pitch to Kylie Chung on a full count and with a runner on third.

Chung made contact, and although it wasn’t a rocket, it floated just past the outstretched glove of shortstop Rylee Holtorf’s glove in left field, scoring Taylor Gindlesperger and keeping the Cardinal’s season alive in the process.

Ninth-seeded Stanford defeated No. 7 Washington 1-0 Sunday afternoon at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in a Women’s College World Series elimination game, advancing to a matchup against No. 1 OU at 11 a.m. Monday.

For fans of great pitching and defense, this was the perfect game for them.

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“Just another great softball game,” Stanford coach Jessica Allister said. “Proud of the way the team came out and competed today. …

“I think overall just really proud of the group in general. You can tell that these women love playing together, and they want to continue to play together.”

Stanford freshman ace NiJaree Canady was phenomenal Sunday, allowing just one hit and striking out nine in a complete-game effort.

Meylan — also a freshman — was nearly as impressive, giving up four hits and finishing with five strikeouts.

The two went toe to toe, but Chung’s late hit against the Huskies proved to be the difference.

“I feel like our at-bats got better throughout the game,” Chung said. “I feel like we all had confidence, if we just kept sticking with it, that something was going to fall. I'm pretty sure that's exactly what happened.

“I think we kept making sure we had confidence in ourselves. That's the biggest key, I think, for us.”

Now, Stanford (44-13) will turn its attention to avenging its 2-0 loss to OU in its WCWS opener Thursday.

Canady pitched the first five innings of that game and allowed four hits and two runs, one earned. She struck out seven.

Canady has been one of the top players at the WCWS, and her teammates aren’t surprised.

“I've been watching her do it for a few months now,” Chung said with a laugh.

“It's just unbelievable. When we hit against her in the fall, it's got about the same result that you're seeing all these other people have. It's just awesome to see other people get struck out and not us.

“But she's electric. Watching her stomp up on the mound and get excited. It just pumps us up even more. I love watching her play."

Although Canady is just a freshman, she hasn’t let the pressure of competing on the biggest stage affect her.

“Coach Allister always talks about slowing the game down, especially in this atmosphere, just trying to slow the game down,” Canady said. “I try to take a lot of deep breaths and just throw each pitch the best I can.”

With the loss, Washington ended its season with a 41-14 record.

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Although Meylan took the loss, she showed she could have a classic battle with a great team like Stanford and likely has a bright future ahead of her.

“I just like knew that, in order for us to win, I couldn't give up more than a run or none because NiJaree is like an amazing pitcher,” Meylan said. “That was just my goal, and I just wanted to do it for the rest of the team.”

Washington’s last WCWS appearance prior to this year was 2019.

Third baseman SilentRain Espinoza was a member of that team, and she’s proud to have ended her Washington career with a memorable season.

“My fellow fifth years, we pretty much grew up together,” Espinoza said. “We started at the World Series, and we were just saying how cool it is we're getting to end our career at the World Series. Like Coach (Heather) Tarr said, we're just trying to leave this program better than we found it.

“We stayed all our five years to do that and made sure that was done. I hope we did that.”

Washington players were emotional after the game, but Tarr said they have every reason to keep their heads held high.

“I'm just proud to be a Dog, and I'm proud to be associated with these guys,” Tarr said. “We could have easily been done in regionals, and these guys are truly miracle makers. I'm proud of them.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Stanford beats Washington to reach WCWS semifinal vs. OU softball