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2026 Stanford Softball - Printable Version

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RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - BobK - 04-24-2026

Stanford wins 17-1. Mercy

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - BostonCard - 04-24-2026

Sydney Boulaphinh had two home runs… in one inning.

https://x.com/stanfordsball/status/2047857500930887700?s=61
https://x.com/stanfordsball/status/2047861548228772258?s=61

She had 6 RBI in the inning!

BC

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - Papa John - 04-26-2026

Stanford defeated Cal this afternoon by a 5-0 score. The current winning streak is up to 12, with two home games this week vs Pacific and Sac State before the team heads to Virginia for the ACC championship next week.

At 18-6 in the ACC, Stanford is finished with conference games and currently stands in fourth place. The worst that Stanford could finish is tied for fourth with Va Tech, who is 15-6 and has a series next weekend at 13th-place Syracuse. I have no idea what the tie-breaker is between Stanford and Va Tech, but the top four seeds earn byes, so I'll be cheering for Syracuse to win one game.

Mudhead - Mudhead - 04-26-2026

(04-26-2026, 03:30 PM)Papa John Wrote:  Stanford defeated Cal this afternoon by a 5-0 score. The current winning streak is up to 12, with two home games this week vs Pacific and Sac State before the team heads to Virginia for the ACC championship next week.

At 18-6 in the ACC, Stanford is finished with conference games and currently stands in fourth place. The worst that Stanford could finish is tied for fourth with Va Tech, who is 15-6 and has a series next weekend at 13th-place Syracuse. I have no idea what the tie-breaker is between Stanford and Va Tech, but the top four seeds earn byes, so I'll be cheering for Syracuse to win one game.
The tie breaker system is more complex than a Stanford AI class, but I’m pretty sure 
Stanford wins.  There was no head to head . Same record against common opponents (7 wins 2 losses). Then , I think, it goes to record against the top team in final standings. Both of us have 1-2 records vs Duke. We are 3-0 vs Florida State and Va Tech did not play them. I think that means we win. 

If not, I think you cast chicken bones in the dirt to break the tie.  Of course this assumes Va Tech sweeps Syracuse and winds up with an 18-6 conference record just like we do. If Syracuse wins one, an unlikely outcome but possible since they are at home, there is no tie and we win four spot outright.

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - Spiny_Norman - 04-26-2026

Louisville is only 1 game ahead of Stanford and Virginia Tech with a series remaining in Raleigh vs. NC State. I think we are rooting for Louisville to sweep or lose at least 2. Stanford might come out on the short end of a 3 way tie since they lost the series to Louisville 1-2 at the end of February.  Louisville did not play Duke, Florida State or Virginia Tech.

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - Papa John - 04-27-2026

(04-26-2026, 07:14 PM)Spiny_Norman Wrote:  Louisville is only 1 game ahead of Stanford and Virginia Tech with a series remaining in Raleigh vs. NC State. I think we are rooting for Louisville to sweep or lose at least 2. Stanford might come out on the short end of a 3 way tie since they lost the series to Louisville 1-2 at the end of February.  Louisville did not play Duke, Florida State or Virginia Tech.

Very good point about Louisville. Ironic that we might root for a team that is one game ahead of us in the standings to sweep its final series of the season.

For the sake of completeness: It's mathematically possible for FSU to finish tied with Stanford and who-knows-who-else at 18-6, but the Seminoles would have to be swept at Boston College (3-18 in the ACC)!

First, Stanford needs to take care of business this week vs Pacific and Sac State, given the possibility that the Cardinal could be a national seed/top 16 in the NCAA tournament. After winning 4 games last week, Stanford's RPI remains at 18 due to the weak competition. Pacific and Sac State have RPIs of 212 and 112, respectively, so it's not likely that two wins would move us up but a loss would definitely move us down in the rankings.

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - Papa John - 04-30-2026

Stanford narrowly defeated Pacific on Wednesday night, 4-2. A loss to Pacific, now 16-33 and in 6th place, in the 7-team WCC would have been disastrous for Stanford's chances of hosting in the NCAA tournament. But all's well that ends well.

Friday's game versus Sac State is Senior Day. The Hornets are 30-17 overall, 9-6 in the Big Sky (tied for 2nd). I'm hoping that Stanford comes out firing on all cylinders and makes it a great sendoff for seniors like Kyra Chan, Emily Jones, River Mahler and Taryn Kern.

This is the final regular season game for Stanford. Next week is the ACC tournament in Charlottesville, VA.

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - BobK - 05-01-2026

Stanford wins on SR night 9-0 in 5 innings

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - Papa John - 05-01-2026

Happy for the seniors and the rest of the team! 

The bottom of the first inning was crazy:
* Chan,Kyra walked (3-1 BBBKB).
* Chan,Kyra advanced to second base on a wild pitch.
* Kern,Taryn hit by pitch (3-1 BBBKB).
* Mahler,River singled through the right side of the infield, RBI (3-2 BFKBFB); Chan,Kyra scored from second base; Kern,Taryn advanced from first base to third base; Mahler,River advanced to second base on the throw.
* Gall,Ava walked (3-2 BBSFBB).
* Berry,Jade hit by pitch, RBI (0-0 B); Kern,Taryn scored; Mahler,River advanced to third base; Gall,Ava advanced to second base.
SAC pitching change
* Jones,Emily struck out looking (3-2 BKKBBFK).
* Cacatian,Izzy walked, RBI (3-2 KSBBBB); Mahler,River scored; Gall,Ava advanced to third base; Berry,Jade advanced to second base.
* Sheppard,Addyson reached on a fielding error fielding by ss by Mendoza,Madi (E6), RBI (2-0 BB); Gall,Ava scored, unearned; Berry,Jade advanced to third base; Cacatian,Izzy advanced to second base.
* Boulaphinh,Sydney struck out looking (3-2 KBBFBFK).
* Chan,Kyra walked, RBI (3-0 BBBB); Berry,Jade scored, unearned; Cacatian,Izzy advanced to third base; Sheppard,Addyson advanced to second base.
* Kern,Taryn grounded out to second base, 2b to 1b (1-1 KB).

The good: 5 runs scored by Stanford
The bad: Stanford had 2 strikeouts, 3 runners left on base in the inning
The ugly (for Sac State): The runs were scored on 1 hit (a single), 1 error, 4 walks, 2 hit-by-pitches

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - CTcard - 05-02-2026

(04-27-2026, 10:03 AM)Papa John Wrote:  
(04-26-2026, 07:14 PM)Spiny_Norman Wrote:  Louisville is only 1 game ahead of Stanford and Virginia Tech with a series remaining in Raleigh vs. NC State. I think we are rooting for Louisville to sweep or lose at least 2. Stanford might come out on the short end of a 3 way tie since they lost the series to Louisville 1-2 at the end of February.  Louisville did not play Duke, Florida State or Virginia Tech.
 

At this point Stanford is likely going to finish fifth in the regular season standings and not get a bye in the ACC tournament. 

The three relevant teams are Louisville (17-5, 3rd), Stanford (18-6, 4th), and Va Tech (16-6, 5th). 

Louisville would have to lose both remaining games vs. NC State (6-15) to finish behind Stanford. At least it's in Raleigh, but NC State is struggling and I don't see that happening. 

Va Tech would have to lose one against Syracuse (4-16). Again, at least it's in Syracuse but Syracuse is a weak team that hasn't come close in a game against a conference contender. 

Stanford loses all two-way tie-breaker scenarios but I think ends up in the middle of a three-way tie. 

Head to head versus Louisville, Stanford lost 2 of 3. 
Head to head versus Va Tech, they didn't play against each other, common opponents were Duke, UNC, and NC State and both teams dropped 2 to Duke and swept the others. Next is run differential against common opponents (8 run max per game) and I counted Stanford at +27 and Va Tech at +32. 

I think we might end up in the middle of a three way tie, or fourth overall. 
Since the only head to head series was Stanford-Louisville, nobody wins on head to head. The only three way common opponent is NC State. If Louisville ends up in a tie with us then they will have lost a game to NC State while Va Tech and Stanford swept. That puts Louisville fifth. Stanford then loses head to head versus Va Tech for Va Tech 3rd and Stanford 4th. 
But, I would describe this scenario as ... a long shot. 

Go Syracuse!

-----------------------------------
2026 ACC SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDING

Ties for any seed will be broken by the procedures listed below:

Two-Team Tie:
a) Winning percentage in head-to-head conference game results.
b) Winning percentage against the common opponent(s) occupying the highest position in the overall standings and continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage. In the case of a tie for first place, the next highest position in the regular season standings should be used and continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage.
c) Run differential (runs scored minus runs allowed) in head-to-head conference game results where a maximum difference for any one game is +/- 8. For example, if Team A and Team B played only two games of a series with scores of:
a. Game 1: Team A wins 6-4
b. Game 2: Team B wins 8-3
c. Team A would have a run differential of -3 (+2, -5 = -3) and Team B would have a run differential of +3 (-2, +5 = +3); therefore, Team B would win the tiebreaker.
d) Run differential (runs scored minus runs allowed) in game results among all common opponents where the maximum run differential for any one game is +/- 8.
e) Run differential (runs scored minus runs allowed) in overall conference game results where the maximum run differential for any one game is +/- 8.
f) If a coin flip is required, the procedure takes place immediately following the conclusion of the last regular-season game prior to the conference championship. The procedure is administered by the Commissioner or a designated assistant.

Three-of-More Team Tie:
In the case of a three-team tie, if any procedure reduces the tie by one team and two teams remain tied, the Two-Team Tie procedure will be followed, comparing only the remaining tied teams. In the case of a tie among more than three teams, if any procedure reduces the tie by at least one team, then the Three-or-More Team Tie procedure will be restarted.
a. Winning percentage in head-to-head conference game results.
a-1. In this criterion only, a tie may be broken if not all teams competed against each other provided that one team either won or lost its series against all of the other teams within the tie AND has a higher or lower “possible” winning percentage than any other teams within the tie could have achieved if all teams had played each other.
a-2. If a team sweeps both series, they win the tiebreaker.
a-3. If a team gets swept in both series, they lose the tiebreaker.
b. Winning percentage against the common opponent(s) occupying the highest position in the standings and continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage. In the case of a tie for first place, the next highest position in the regular-season standings should be used and continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage.
c. Run differential (runs scored minus runs allowed) in game results among all common opponents, where the maximum run differential for any one game is +/- 8.
d. Run differential (runs scored minus runs allowed) in overall conference game results, Run differential (runs scored minus runs allowed) in game results among all common opponents, where the maximum run differential for any one game is +/- 8.
e. If a blind draw is required, the procedure takes place immediately following the conclusion of the last regular-season game prior to the conference championship. The procedure is administered by the Commissioner or a designated assistant.

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - Papa John - 05-02-2026

Thanks for the doing the math, CTCard! I took a look at the tiebreaker rules and decided to wait until Sunday night :-)

As I type this NC State is beating Louisville 7-0 in the bottom of the 2nd, so I'm just hoping for the Wolfpack to pull off a minor miracle.

Today (Saturday) was Senior Day for Syracuse baseball and they lost to Va Tech 13-2 in 5 innings. Not expecting a different result on Sunday.

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - CTcard - 05-02-2026

(05-02-2026, 03:49 PM)Papa John Wrote:  Thanks for the doing the math, CTCard! I took a look at the tiebreaker rules and decided to wait until Sunday night :-)

As I type this NC State is beating Louisville 7-0 in the bottom of the 2nd, so I'm just hoping for the Wolfpack to pull off a minor miracle.

Today (Saturday) was Senior Day for Syracuse baseball and they lost to Va Tech 13-2 in 5 innings. Not expecting a different result on Sunday.

Actually, seems I was too pessimistic. 
At this point, the worst Stanford can do is some sort of tie for third, either a three way tie or a two-way tie with either Va Tech or Louisville. If my understanding of the tiebreakers is correct (as written above) then Stanford will now end up as the third seed if both Louisville and Va Tech lose tomorrow, or in fourth if just one wins (losing the two-way tiebreaker) or all win (second in three-way tiebreaker). 

So, no worse than fourth means they will get a bye in the ACC tournament.

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - Papa John - 05-02-2026

As of Saturday night, Stanford is alone in third place in the ACC standings!

Of course, Stanford is 18-6 and Va Tech and Louisville are both 17-6 with Sunday's games remaining. So one of the following two things need to happen for Stanford to *not* fall to the 5th seed for the conference tournament:
* Va Tech loses to Syracuse--first pitch 9 am PT on ACCNX
* Louisville loses (again) to NC State--first pitch 10 am PT on ACCNX


Syracuse has been eliminated from the conference tournament, so Sunday will be their final game of the season.

NC State has secured the 12th and final seed for the conference tournament and will play whoever ends up as the 5th seed on Wednesday. But Sunday will be Senior Day, so there's still plenty of motivation for the Wolfpack to do their best.

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - BostonCard - 05-02-2026

(05-02-2026, 07:45 PM)Papa John Wrote:  As of Saturday night, Stanford is alone in third place in the ACC standings!

Of course, Stanford is 18-6 and Va Tech and Louisville are both 17-6 with Sunday's games remaining. So one of the following two things need to happen for Stanford to *not* fall to the 5th seed for the conference tournament:
* Va Tech loses to Syracuse--first pitch 9 am PT on ACCNX
* Louisville loses (again) to NC State--first pitch 10 am PT on ACCNX


Syracuse has been eliminated from the conference tournament, so Sunday will be their final game of the season.

NC State has secured the 12th and final seed for the conference tournament and will play whoever ends up as the 5th seed on Wednesday. But Sunday will be Senior Day, so there's still plenty of motivation for the Wolfpack to do their best.

I think CTCard's logic is sound.  In a three-way tie for third in the ACC, the head-to-head series loss against Louisville isn't part of the tiebreaker because Virginia Tech didn't play Louisville or Stanford and head-to-head only comes into play in a three way tie if all three teams played against one another or one of the teams won (or lost) series against each of the other teams.  Thus, it goes to the next tiebreaker, common opponents, which is NC State and Louisville would be 2-1 (assuming a win tomorrow to keep them in a three-way tie), while Stanford and Va Tech are 3-0 against NC State, so Louisville winds up getting the fifth seed.  Stanford then loses the two-way tiebreaker against Virginia Tech (lower run-differential versus common opponents).

BC

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - Papa John - 05-03-2026

Was watching a bit of the Louisville-NC State game (Louisville won) and the announcer said that Louisville is locked into the 5 seed. Which means Stanford is the 4-seed?

That's what the ACC softball standings show at 1 pm PT on Sunday:

https://theacc.com/standings.aspx?path=softball

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - BobK - 05-03-2026

Yes # 4

https://theacc.com/news/2026/5/3/2026-allstate-acc-softball-championship-bracket-revealed.aspx

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - Papa John - 05-03-2026

Thanks BobK, because now the ACC Softball Standing page shows Stanford in fifth--probably breaking ties by overall record.

So if the seeds hold, #4 Stanford will face #5 Louisville (playing #12 NC State on Wednesday) on Thursday and #1 FSU on Friday. Depending on what happens in the other conference tournaments, it might take two wins to secure a top 16 spot?

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - BobK - 05-04-2026

https://www.instagram.com/p/DX723SmmRzX/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Kern drafted

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - BobK - 05-06-2026

Louisville walks it off beats North Carolina State by one. So close to playing the 12 seed

RE: 2026 Stanford Softball - Papa John - 05-06-2026

BobK, I would make the case that it's better for Stanford to play Louisville. The Cardinal (singular) have a 14-game winning streak but have barely budged in the rankings/RPI since the FSU sweep because the competition has been so weak.

Here are the most recent rankings of ACC teams:
FSU - #10 in ESPN/USA Softball, #8 D1 Softball, #7 Softball America, #8 NFCA/Gorout, #13 RPI
Duke - #12, #13, #11, #12, #10
Va Tech - #16, #15, #18, #13, #20
Stanford - #17, #19, #15, #14, #17
Clemson - #21, #22, #20, RV, #23
Louisville - #24, #24, #22, #25, #30

NB: Virginia has a #26 RPI

Stanford is on the cusp of earning a top-16 seed and hosting regionals in the NCAA tournament. A win over Louisville gives us a much greater chance of accomplishing that goal than a win over NC State (#62 RPI), especially since whoever wins between Stanford and Louisville will likely face #1 ACC seed FSU on Friday.