NiJaree Canady, Kylie Chung react to Stanford's nail-biting victory over Washington in WCWS elimination game

Runs were hard to come by Sunday as NiJaree Canady and Ruby Meylan squared off in an all-time pitcher’s duel at the Women’s College World Series. Ultimately, it was the Stanford that came out on top — eliminating Washington from the WCWS.

Kylie Chung had the winning hit in the sixth inning, a single to left field to drive in Taylor Gindlesberger for the game’s only run. It was Stanford’s fourth hit of the game as Meylan mowed down the Cardinal lineup, and Chung knew she had to get herself ready to step up in the key moment.

“She’s a good pitcher and the moment’s big,” Chung told ABC’s Holly Rowe after the game. “Our coach always tells us when the moments get big, we just need to get slower. I just needed to slow myself down in the box, take deep breaths and just look for a good pitch to hit. She’s throwing a great game. You’re not going to get that many pitches to hit, so when one gets there, you’ve just got to go for it.”

Of course, Stanford had its opportunities to score. The Cardinal’s best chance came in the third inning when Ellee Eck tried scoring on a Gindlesberger single. However, she was thrown out at the plate, keeping the game scoreless.

So when the ball left Chung’s bat, she just wanted to find some green grass.

“I was just hoping and praying it would drop, to be honest,” Chung said. “She was carving us up all game, so I was just really hoping that one would drop and it did. I was fired up on first base.”

NiJaree Canady throws gem to lead Stanford past Washington, help Cardinal advance in WCWS

Pitching was the name of the game, and Canady spun a gem in the circle. The 2023 NFCA Freshman of the Year allowed just one hit, striking out nine Huskies to get the win. In fact, she didn’t get to a 3-ball count once in the game and helped shut out Washington for just the third time this season. It was a good bit of revenge for the Cardinal, who lost to Washington 8-0 in the Pac-12 Championship game just a few weeks ago.

But given the nature of the grind-it-out game, Canady knew her job was to give Stanford a chance until the offense woke up.

“Honestly, my mentality was to just keep us in the game,” Canady said. “I knew eventually we were going to score. I didn’t know how long it would take, but I knew eventually we were going to string something together. We had good at-bats the whole game. Finally, something started falling.”

Now, Stanford advances to set up a date with Oklahoma in the next round of the WCWS Monday at noon ET.