Feb. 20, 2013

THIS WEEK: The No. 17/20 Stanford softball team (10-2) heads down to Cathedral City, Calif., for the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, Feb. 22-24. The Cardinal will play five games over the three-day span, including two against ranked opponents.

THE SCHEDULE: Stanford opens the tournament on Friday, Feb. 22 against No. 13/16 Georgia at 1 p.m. and will face Oklahoma State at 8:30 p.m. The Cardinal will take on Virginia on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m. and wrap-up the tournament on Sunday, Feb. 24 against No. 23 Florida State and Syracuse.

CATCH THE CARDINAL: Fans can follow this week’s games on Gametracker available on www.GoStanford.com. Live updates will also be available on Twitter @StanfordSball.

SCOUTING GEORGIA: Georgia enters the week with a 6-2 record and a No. 13/16 national ranking. The Bulldogs are led by freshman Geri Ann Glasco, who is hitting .520 with four doubles, four home runs and 12 RBI. She also paces the team with a 1.160 slugging percentage. Sophomore infielder Paige Wilson has added 10 RBI and a .429 batting average. In the circle, junior Morgan Montemayor is 3-1 with a 1.59 ERA. Glasco leads the squad in strikeouts (25) and is 3-0 on the year.

SCOUTING OKLAHOMA STATE: The Cowgirls are 5-4 to start the 2-13 campaign with wins over Weber State, Colorado State, North Texas, Dayton and Iowa. Oklahoma State is outhitting its opponents .242 to .169. Junior catcher Tarah Ettinger leads the team with a .444 batting average and 12 hits. Senior Samantha Chrisman paces the squad with seven RBI and a .818 slugging percentage. In the circle, senior Kat Espinosa has a 0.59 ERA and 34 strikeouts, while junior Simone Freeman boasts a 2.12 ERA and has fanned 44 batters.

SCOUTING VIRGINIA: Virginia started the season 3-1, but has dropped three of its last four outings. Junior Marcy Bowdren is the only Cavalier player hitting .300. Freshman Shannon McGinley leads the team with three doubles and five RBI, while senior Taylor Williams has knocked in four RBI. Senior Melanie Mitchell is the team’s ace in the circle, boasting a 0.47 ERA and 40 strikeouts.

SCOUTING FLORIDA STATE: The Seminoles have opened the season with a 7-2 overall record and have nabbed the No. 23 national ranking in both polls. Senior Tiffani Brown leads the team with a .469 average, scoring 11 runs and totaling 15 hits. Junior Courtney Senas leads FSU with 10 RBI, while senior Briana Hamilton paces the team in home runs with three. Sophomore pitcher Lacey Waldrop (3-0) has a 0.39 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 23.1 innings pitched, while redshirt senior Monica Perry is 4-2 and leads the team with 36 strikeouts.

SCOUTING SYRACUSE: Syracuse has started the year with a 3-1 record, including wins over East Tennessee State, Towson and College of Charleston. Rookie Corinne Ozanne is hitting .500 with three RBI, while Jasmine Watson, Veronica Grant and Riley Johnson have four RBI each. Senior Stacy Kuwik is 2-0 in the circle with a 0.77 ERA, while sophomore Lindsay Taylor is 1-1 with 18 strikeouts.

SERIES RECORDS: Stanford holds a winning record over all of the teams it will face this weekend .The Cardinal 2-1 against Georgia (.667), 5-4 versus Oklahoma State (.556), 1-0 against Virginia and Florida State (1.000) and 2-0 versus Syracuse (1.000).

UP NEXT: The Stanford will remain on the road next weekend, traveling to Fullerton, Calif., for the Easton Invitational. The Cardinal will play Iowa, Wisconsin, Cal State Fullerton, Northwestern and Indiana, March 1-3.

IN THE POLLS: The Cardinal, which has appeared in every regular-season poll for more than a decade, moved up three spots to No. 17 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, while coming in at No. 20 in the USA Today/NFCA top 25. Seven of the nine Pac-12 schools appear in both polls.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR WATCH: Seniors Teagan Gerhart and Jenna Rich and sophomore Hanna Winter are were named to the top 50 watch list for USA Softball Player of the Year. The Cardinal trio are three of the 14 players selected from the Pac-12 Conference.

CONFERENCE HONORS: Freshman Kelsey Stevens is the first Cardinal player to be honored by the Pac-12 this season, picking up Pitcher of the Week honors on Feb. 19. The rookie tallied three shutouts in 16.2 innings pitched, racking up 20 strikeouts in the Stanford Nike Invitational.

FREE PASSES: Senior All-American Jenna Rich may be hitting under .300 this season, but that’s because teams are pitching around her. The short stop leads the Pac-12 with 10 walks this season. Of her nine hits this season, five have gone for extra bases.

CAREER THEFTS: Senior Sarah Hassman has ammassed 86 career stolen bases, tying Olympian Jessica Mendoza for the most stolen bases in program history. In 2011, her 35 stolen bases set a new Stanford single season record.

SENIOR CLASS AWARD: Stanford short stop Jenna Rich has been tabbed a top 30 candidate for the 2013 Senior CLASS Award. She is one of three representatives from the Pac-12 Conference, as the candidates were chosen based on personal qualities that define a complete student-athlete - classroom, community, character and competition.

HEAD COACH John Rittman: In his 17th season at the helm of the Cardinal program, head coach John Rittman is one of the winningest coaches in collegiate softball, boasting a 691-315-3 (.686) career record. Since stepping onto the Farm in July 1996, he has coached the team to 16 consecutive winning seasons, 15 straight NCAA Tournament appearances and 13 40-win seasons. Under Rittman, Stanford has claimed a share of its first conference championship and made two appearances in the Women’s College World Series (2001 & 2004).

MILESTONE FOR RITTMAN: Cardinal head coach John Rittman is just nine wins away from the 700th in his career - all coming at Stanford. He is among the top 20 in the nation of the active winingest head coaches (.686).