OKLAHOMA CITY — Facing elimination, Stanford turned to the nation’s premier pitcher to extend its stay at the Women’s College World Series on Friday night.
This time, NiJaree Canady got plenty of runs to work with.
Ava Gall and Kaitlyn Lim homered off Oklahoma State ace Lexi Kilfoyl and the Cardinal — shut out the night before — rebounded to win 8-0 in six innings.
Canady, pitching on less than 24 hours rest, limited the Cowgirls to three hits and struck out seven in a win-or-go-home game for both teams.
Stanford (49-16) will play Sunday against the winner of Saturday’s game between Oklahoma and UCLA.
The eight runs were the most scored by a Stanford team in a World Series game since 2004.
Canady pitched a complete game the night before in a 4-0 loss to No. 1 seed Texas, but struggled with her control, walking four and throwing a wild pitch.
Friday night she didn’t walk a batter until the fifth inning. Canady also got help from Cardinal center fielder Emily Jones, who took away a home run from the Cowgirls’ Micaela Wark with a leaping catch at the wall.
The showdown between Canady, USA Softball’s pick for national player of the year, and Kilfoyl, a finalist for the award, never materialized.
Kilfoyl, who pitched a complete game two-hitter in a 1-0 loss to Florida on Thursday, was pulled after 3 2/3 innings. She allowed four runs on five hits, including two home runs.
Gall homered over the right field wall on the second pitch she saw from Kilfoyl in the second inning, her 11th on the season. The Cardinal added two more runs in the third on a single by Jade Berry that landed just inside the third base bag.
Lim belted a home run to right field with two outs in the fourth inning to make it 4-0, and that was the end of Kilfoyl. Her replacement, Ivy Rosenberry, didn’t fare much better, surrendering four runs in 2.1 innings of work.
In all, Stanford racked up 11 hits, with Berry and Gall each driving in two runs.
Oklahoma State, the No. 5 seed, finished the season 49-12, failing to score a run in two World Series games.