OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — NiJaree Canady threw a one-hitter, and No. 9 Stanford beat No. 7 Washington 1-0 on Sunday to advance to the Women's College World Series semifinals.
Canady, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association’s Freshman of the Year, won a battle of Pac-12 standouts against Washington's Ruby Meylan. No earned runs were scored in the game. Canady struck out nine and didn’t allow a walk. Meylan — also a freshman — gave up four hits, struck out five and walked one.
Kylie Chung’s RBI single in the sixth scored Taylor Gindlesperger for the game's only run. It was unearned because it came after a throwing error with two outs.
It will be Stanford's program's third trip to the semifinals and first since 2004. The Cardinal got there by scoring three runs in three games.
Stanford (47-14) will play two-time defending champion Oklahoma (58-1) on Monday. It is a double-elimination bracket and Oklahoma is unbeaten while Stanford has a loss, so the Cardinal will need to win twice on Monday while Oklahoma will need to win just once to advance to the best-of-three championship series.
Oklahoma is on a 50-game win streak and leads the nation in scoring, batting average, earned run average and fielding percentage. The Sooners defeated Stanford 2-0 on Thursday.
Stanford had a chance to score in the third against Washington on Sunday. Gindlesperger singled up the middle with Ellee Eck on second, but Washington centerfielder Brooklyn Carter threw Eck out at home to end the inning.
Washington (44-15) had an opportunity in the sixth after two errors by Stanford put runners on first and third with two outs, but a pop-up to center ended the threat.
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