Women in eighth place after second round

After two days of competition, Stanford women’s golf team stands in eighth place at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge. Sophomore Angela King leads the team at three-over-par, placing her seventh in the individual standings.

Sophomore Catherina Wang has also played well, shooting +11 overall for the Cardinal. Junior Mari Chun — usually the statistical leader for Stanford — had a rough first round but improved her play by four strokes yesterday, and stands at +16 for the tournament.

No. 24 Stanford began the day in sixth place, at +16 after the first round. But the Cardinal shot +22 in the second round, giving it a cumulative +38 score for the tournament.

A tournament win looks improbable for the Cardinal, but the team can still finish in the top five. No. 4 Arizona State, currently in fourth place, is eight shots ahead of Stanford.

No. 3 USC had a strong second round, shooting a round-best four-over-par to take over the top spot from No. 2 UCLA, who had a 10-stroke lead coming into the day. The Bruins are one shot behind the Trojans at +19 overall.

Action wraps up today in Palos Verdes. The tournament is Stanford’s first since October and marks the beginning of the spring season for the women.

Penna named National Player of the Week

USA Softball has named junior pitcher Missy Penna their National Player of the Week.

Penna went 3-0 on the weekend at the University of San Diego Tournament, pitching two complete-game shutouts and a no-hitter. In her 21 scoreless innings, she struck out 27 batters and only allowed five hits.

The no-hitter — the third of her career — came in the Cardinal’s opening game against San Diego, a 4-0 victory. She had 14 strikeouts — an average of two an inning — in the contest. During the game, Penna became only the third pitcher in Stanford history to reach 500 strikeouts for her career.

Her two other wins came over Long Beach State. Both were 1-0 decisions — the second win over the 49ers was Penna’s 50th for her career.

Opponents finished the weekend batting only a miniscule .076 against her.

Penna is also coming off a successful 2007 campaign: She won 25 games and was named an All-Pac-10 Second Team selection.

The Cardinal will host their next game against St. Mary’s tonight.

Yim, Ishino win Pac-10 gymnastics awards

Gymnasts Tabitha Yim and Allyse Ishino each won a weekly Pac-10 award yesterday. Yim was named Gymnast of the Week — her third such award — and Ishino was honored as Event Specialist of the Week.

During the Cardinal’s two meets last week — the IGI Chicago Style Meet and a regular match-up against Iowa State — Yim and Ishino dominated.

In the Windy City, Yim, a senior, placed second on vaults, tying for first on both the bar and floor. Each event earned her a score of 9.900. She also came in third on the beams. Yim’s final personal score of 39.575 was the eight-highest finish in the nation this year.

Not to be outdone, Ishino, a redshirt freshman, scored above 9.8 on the vault, bars and beam in Chicago. In Ames, Ishino scored a season-high 9.9 on the bars to win the event. Yim also scored 9.9s on the bars and in the floor performance. The two helped lead No. 9 Stanford to a narrow one-point victory over the Cyclones.