MORAGA, Calif. — The Gaels (23-17) had their toughest competition to date today, taking on the eighth ranked Stanford Cardinal (37-10) at Cottrell Field. Saint Mary's put up and excellent fight against the Cardinal, cutting an early 6-0 deficit in half, but ultimately fell, 9-4. 

Starter Mia Nishikawa was chased after just 1.2 innings of work, surrendering six runs before giving way to Avrey Wolverton. Wolverton retired the first batter she faced to end the second, and surrendered just one unearned run through the next four frames. She would surrender a two run blast in the top of the seventh, to end an otherwise strong ending on a bit of a sour note, but overall, the redshirt sophomore did an excellent job keeping the Cardinal bats at bay.

The Gaels offense began to battle back in the second, scoring their first run of the game. Tori Cervantes won an eight pitch battle, eventually being plunked by a pitch, then moved to third on a Stanford error before scoring on a Victoria Castillo sacrifice bunt. Saint Mary's would add one more in the fourth, again off the bat of Castillo, as freshman Gracie Castillo scored from second on a fielder's choice to put the Gaels within slam range.

The Cardinal would add one more in the top of the fifth, but the Gaels best chance came in the bottom of the sixth. Jenavee Amador got things going with a single back up the middle, and came around to score all the way from first on an Alex Cutonilli double to deep left. Castillo grounded out to short, advancing Cutonilli to third, before Camille Lara slapped a single back up the middle to chase Stanford's starter from the game, ahead 7-4. Lara would eventually be caught stealing to end the inning however, and the Cardinal struck for two more in the top of the seventh before the Gaels were retired scoreless in the bottom half to end the game. 

After a two game hitless streak, Hannah Ferguson broke out to go 3-4 at the plate. Jenavee Amador also logged a mutli-hit ballgame against the Cardinal, while Victoria Castillo drove in a pair of runs. Alex Cutonilli owned the lone extra base hit for the Gaels, an RBI double in the sixth. 

The Gaels will hit the road to take on Santa Clara this weekend, starting Friday evening. First pitch for the opener against the Broncos is set for 5 PM. 

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