Stanford beats weather and Duke, advances to WCWS with 7-2 win

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Taylor Gindlesperge had three hits, Dani Hayes drove in two runs and Alana Vawter picked up her 20th win as ninth-seeded Stanford defeated eighth-seeded Duke 7-2 on Saturday for a sweep of the Durham Super Regional and the Cardinal’s third berth in the Women’s College World Series.

The game was moved up six hours because of the threat of bad weather and was played less than 24 hours after Stanford’s 3-1 win in Game 1. The Cardinal last made the WCWS in 2004.

The Cardinal (45-13) were holding a 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the fifth when they used five singles — all 11 of their hits were singles — to score four runs and break the game open. Gindlesperge and Emily Young singled and ended up scoring on singles by Kyle Chung and Sydney Steele. Hayes capped the scoring with a two-run single up the middle.

It was just the third official at-bat of the season for Hayes.

Vawter (20-8) allowed two runs on five hits in four innings and NiJaree Canady allowed a hit and struck out four over the final three innings for her third save.

Duke (48-12) got an RBI single from Ana Gold to open the scoring in the top of the first. It was her 56th RBI, tying the school record. Francesca Frelick homered in the top of the third to pull the Blue Devils within 3-2 but that was it as the best season in program history came to an end.

Freshman leadoff hitter D’Auna Jennings finished with school records for average (.462) and hits (80) and second in stolen bases (21).

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