Columbus, Ga. ? Kansas University’s softball team split with two top-10 teams Saturday afternoon at the Leadoff Classic.
The Jayhawks defeated No. 6 Arizona State, 7-1, to qualify for the Gold Championship Bracket the elimination bracket for the top eight teams after pool play but later were clipped by No. 9 Stanford, 6-4, during bracket play.
The loss moves Kansas (8-7) into the consolation round of the Gold Bracket, where it will face Washington today.
“Our confidence this year has gone up so much, just since the beginning of the season,” junior third baseman Megan Urquhart said. “Each day we are getting better and I feel that we have improved every day this weekend. We are not satisfied, but we are happy with the way we are playing right now.”
Against Arizona State, the Jayhawks took advantage of seven Sun Devil errors and freshman Kara Pierce (5-2) pitched a complete-game six-hitter to earn the victory. Leah Tabb and Courtney Wright homered for KU.
Pierce struck out two ASU batters and allowed no earned runs in her fourth complete game of the season. Wright went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Urquhart, Tabb, Amy Hulse and Leah Hansen also finished with an RBI each.
KU opened the Gold Bracket against Stanford in the stadium that hosted the medal rounds of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. After Kansas went three-up, three down in its half of the first, the Cardinal exploded for four runs in the bottom of the inning.
The Cardinal plated two more runs in the third, before Kelly Campbell entered the game in relief of sophomore Kirsten Milhoan. Campbell escaped the inning and tossed 31/3 innings of scoreless ball.
Erin Garvey and Urquhart scored unearned runs to get KU on the board in the fourth and Christi Musser led off of the fifth with a double and later scored from third on a safety squeeze by Garvey to cut the lead to 6-3. The Jayhawks added another run in the sixth, but Stanford starter Dana Sorenson slammed the door shut in the seventh.
Garvey finished 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.