Wayland High School graduate Jessica Merchant Monday saw her Stanford University softball team lose a gallant fight with No. 1-ranked Oklahoma to bow out of the College World Series. The Cardinal lost earlier to the Sooners, now 59-1 for the season, so the squad had to go home from the double elimination tournament. Stanford gave the heavily favored Sooners the greatest tussle in the tourney, but fell short 4-2 in a nine-inning heart breaker. Merchant, all-state player at Wayland in 2001 and All-American at the national champion University of Michigan in 2005, is the associate head coach at Stanford after being an assistant at the University of Minnesota. Stanford won two and lost two in the tourney.
