Freshman pitcher Ashley Chinn threw a five inning no-hitter to lead the No. 8 Stanford Cardinal to a 12-0 victory over visiting Santa Clara Tuesday evening.

Both junior shortstop Maddy Coon and freshman catcher Brittany Minder, who was replacing sophomore Rosey Neill, hit three-run homeruns to lead the potent Stanford offense. Minder’s homerun was the first of her collegiate career.

Chinn lost her bid for a perfect game with just one out remaining in the game when Bronco designated player Maggie Godfrey was called safe on a close play at first base after Stanford sophomore second baseman Shannon Koplitz bobbled her ground ball and received an error.

Chinn looked in control throughout the game, keeping Santa Clara off balance with a variety of pitches. There were just a hand full of hard hit balls, and she only went to two three-ball counts during the entire contest. The freshman struck out six and threw only 58 pitches.

“I was mixing up my pitches a lot more today, and Rosey [Neill] did a great job of calling pitches,” Chinn said.

Head coach John Rittman was thrilled with the progress his young right-hander has made during her first collegiate season.

“Ashley is very capable,” Rittman said. “She has done well in all her outings. She had some nerves early on in the season like most freshman do, but she has made the transition from high school to college extremely well. We knew from practice in the fall that we had someone special.”

The Cardinal gave its pitcher a ton of support early on by scoring seven runs on seven hits in the bottom of the first inning. Sophomore center fielder Alissa Haber and senior left fielder Tricia Aggabao each had two hits in an inning which saw 13 Stanford batters come to the plate.

After both Haber and Aggabao hit bunt singles to start the game, Coon drove a Jackie Morales 0-1 offering over the left centerfield fence for her fifth homerun of the season.

The Cardinal would tack on four more runs in the inning, including a two-RBI double off the bat of Koplitz to the gap in right center.

“[Morales] has had some success against us in the past,” said Rittman. “She was a little bit tired today, she’s been pitching a lot, but it was big for us to get on a team like Santa Clara in the first inning. Maddy’s homer was huge for our momentum.”

Stanford dominated every facet of the game, allowing just one base runner, while pounding out ten hits and drawing nine bases on balls.

Since the Cardinal jumped out to the early lead, Rittman was able to substitute out some of his starters and give them some rest, and allow for some of his reserves — like Minder — to get some playing time.

After entering the game defensively for Neill in the top of the fourth, Minder took full advantage of her first at-bat in the bottom of the inning by driving a two out 3-1 fastball over the left field fence for a homerun, capping the scoring for Stanford.

The win was Stanford’s third — all by run-rule — over local rival Santa Clara this season.

The Cardinal didn’t look to be suffering from any sort of hangover after sweeping a Pac-10 series this past weekend in yesterday’s dominant victory. Not overlooking opponents is something which Rittman continually stresses to his players.

“Coach [Rittman] always tells us we have got to get up for midweek games, especially after a day off,” said Coon. “He tells us we can’t play the name-game with teams, but instead we just have to go out and play.”

Having won five in a row, Stanford looks to have broken out of the funk that plagued it early on in Pac-10 play.

The Cardinal will look to carry its momentum into a huge weekend series with No. 21 Cal. The first game of the series is set for 7 p.m. on Friday night at Smith Family Stadium.

Contact Daniel Bohm at bohmd@stanford.edu.

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