Babcock, UA softball take down Stanford

Published Apr. 1, 2012 3:51 p.m. ET

foxsports

The 19th-ranked Arizona softball team came out on the right side of a pitcher’s duel Sunday between Shelby Babcock and Stanford’s Teagan Gerhart, as the Wildcats knocked off the 13th-ranked Cardinal 3-1 in front of 2,587 fans at Hillenbrand Stadium.

Arizona improved to 23-9 overall and 2-4 in the Pac-12 with its second straight win over Stanford, which fell to 27-8 overall and 1-5 in conference play.

Babcock and Gerhart combined to allow just eight total hits, three of which left the park for home runs. Two of the homers came off UA bats, as Shelby Pendley crushed a solo homer in the second and Lini Koria hit a two-run shot in the fourth. Cassandra Roulund had Stanford’s homer in the fourth.

Babcock (12-6) allowed the one run on three hits to an offense that had piled up 15 hits in the first two games of the series. The sophomore struck out seven and walked one in the victory.

Gerhart (22-4) was similarly impressive outside of the two UA homers, allowing three runs, two earned, on five hits while walking one and striking out seven.

All of the game's runs were scored on homers.

Pendley’s home run to break a scoreless tie in the second came on the 14th pitch of her at-bat and landed on top of Gittings Gym beyond right field at Hillenbrand Stadium. Pendley is just the second player ever to accomplish the feat in a game, joining Leneah Manuma (2001-02). The homer was Pendley’s team-leading 12th of the season.

In the fourth, Roulund led off the inning with a home run to left field. From that point forward, however, Babcock was perfect, retiring the final 12 batters she faced.

The tie did not last long, as in the bottom half of the frame, Koria homered off the batter’s eye in center field to bring in Pendley, who had walked to begin the inning.

With the win, the Wildcats earned the seres victory, their first in Pac-12 play.