Washington softball drops series to No. 7 Stanford on Sunday

The Washington Huskies couldn’t overcome NiJaree Canady once again on Sunday, falling 2-1 to Stanford.

The No. 8 Washington Huskies fell victim to the nation’s ERA leader, Stanford’s NiJaree Canady for the second time in their weekend matchup against the No. 7 Cardinal. Even though coach Heather Tarr’s team created more traffic on the basepaths against the potential All-American, the Huskies pushed across just one run against the Stanford ace, losing the game and series 2-1.

Canady wasn’t quite as sharp as she was in the series opener, allowing 3 hits, 1 earned run, and 5 walks against 7 strikeouts, but still worked all 7 innings to improve her record to 17-4. The Huskies had a chance to break through against her in the sixth inning after Canady loaded the bases with one out, but Washington could only push across one run on a Sydney Stewart walk.

Ruby Meylan took the loss for the Huskies, falling to 9-7 on the year. She started the game and worked the first 2 2/3 innings, allowing 1 hit, 2 earned runs, and 2 walks while striking out 3 batters. Stanford only recorded 2 hits in the contest, two RBI doubles off the bats of Taryn Kern and Aly Kaneshiro in the third inning.

Kaneshiro’s double came off of first-year Sidne Peters, who came in to relieve Meylan but couldn’t record an out, allowing the double and walking a batter before giving way to Lindsay Lopez. As she celebrated senior day, Lopez worked the final 4 1/3 innings, allowing no hits, walking 3 batters and striking out 2.

The Huskies dropped to 31-10 on the season with the loss and 13-8 in Pac-12 play, while Stanford improved to 39-11 overall and 15-6 against conference opponents. Washington will finish off Pac-12 play with a three-game series against the Utah Utes, which is slated to begin on Friday night at 5:00.