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SMC California Athletics

Saint Mary's College Athletics Gaels
Cutonilli Celebrates HR at Stanford
SMC Athletics / Emily Smith
Alex Cutonilli: HR, 2 RBI
4
Saint Mary's SMC 17-16
5
Winner Stanford STAN 25-6
Saint Mary's SMC
17-16
4
Final
5
Stanford STAN
25-6
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Saint Mary's SMC 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 4 5 2
Stanford STAN 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 9 0

W: Chung, Kylie (10-3) L: Vasquez, Odhi (8-3)

Game Recap: Softball |

SB | Gaels Drop War of Attrition to No. 17 Cardinal, 5-4 in 10

STANFORD, Calif. — The Saint Mary's Gaels (17-16) proved that they could go toe to toe with the best in business, taking the 17th ranked Stanford Cardinal (25-6) to 10 extra innings before ultimately dropping the heartbreaker 5-4. Stanford holds an unbeaten home record this year, with the Gaels coming the closest of any team to handing the Cardinal their first loss inside Stanford Stadium. 

Stanford struck for four runs off of Gaels ace Odhi Vasquez in the first. Vasquez then settled in and hung up eight consecutive zeros, keeping the Cardinal bats at bay throughout the remainder of the contest. Tossing a career-high 188 pitches, Vasquez surrendered just five hits after a four run, four hit first inning. She fanned seven batters in the game, and stranded eight Cardinal runners on the basepaths, but eventually gave up the winning run to Stanford with one out in the tenth. 







The Gaels loaded the bases twice in the first three innings, but couldn't push any across. They cracked the scoreboard in the top of the fifth when Alex Cutonilli muscled a ball over the right field fence with Camille Lara on to cut the deficit in half. It was Cutonilli's fifth home run of the season after hitting just one throughout the entirety of her freshman campaign.



Saint Mary's continued to chip away at the deficit, loading the bases with one out in the sixth before Camille Lara drove in Jenavee Amador with a groundout, as the Gaels found themselves within one run. Needing one run to extend the game in the top of the seventh, Kiah Silva and Mia Zabat worked back to back walks before Amador belted a single back up the middle to tie the game with Silva coming around. 





In extras, it was pitching and defense that stole the show for the Gaels. After Odhi Vasquez retired six of seven batters in the seventh and eighth, she turned to her right fielder, Kiah Silva with a couple of incredible plays. In the bottom of the ninth, Silva fielded a single to right, and fired a strike to the plate to cut down the winning run. Then, to start the tenth, Silva made a catch at the wall, preventing a walk-off home run. Unfortunately, a walk and a single would allow the Cardinal to score the winning run. 





Camille Lara and Jenavee Amador both logged multi-hit ball games. It was Amador's eighth multi-hit game of the year, tying her for second on the team, while it was Lara's sixth. This was the tightest the Gaels have played the Cardinal since their last win over an unranked Stanford team, 12-8 in 2021. 

The Gaels will now head to Stockton, opening conference play at Pacific on Saturday for a three game set. 

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