Stanford softball is through the Super Regionals, blasting past Duke with two straight wins in Durham to advance to the Women’s College World Series! It is the first appearance for the Cardinal in the WCWS since the 2004 season.

Duke and Stanford hit the field for an early 9:30 am local time (6:30 am PST) start Saturday, but the Cardinal did not take much time to wake up. After giving up a run in the top of the 1st inning, Stanford responded with 2 in the bottom of the 1st and another in the bottom of the 2nd.

The big blows for Stanford finally came in the bottom of the 5th inning. Clinging to a 3-2 lead, Stanford used 5 hits to score 4 runs, capped by Dani Hayes’ 2-run single to take the 7-2 lead.

Pitching-wise for Stanford, Alana Vawter and Nijaree Canady covered all 7 innings. After Vawter went 4 innings, Canady delivered 3 shutout innings with just a lone hit allowed and 4 strikeouts.

Stanford advances to the WCWS and will await to find out the rest of the bracket following the conclusion of the Super Regionals. The WCWS will be played June 1-8/9 in Oklahoma City.

Main image via Stanford Softball (@StanfordSBall) on Twitter.