SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame softball team scraped together a 7-5 victory over the visiting North Carolina Tar Heels on a beautiful afternoon at Melissa Cook Stadium. The Fighting Irish erased an early deficit and held on late to surpass their 2021 win total, winning the 34th game of the 2022 season. Notre Dame improves its Atlantic Coast Conference record to 12-5 with the victory. North Carolina falls to 23-24 and 6-14 in league action.
Alexis Holloway got the start in the circle. The graduate student threw 5.2 innings, scattering seven hits, allowing four runs, three earned and striking out three to earn her 12th win of the season and 67th of her career. Shannon Becker came on with two outs in the top of the sixth. The freshman picked up her fourth save by throwing 1.1 innings, allowing three hits and an earned run to go with a strikeout.
Notre Dame used the long ball to help put the game out of reach. Leea Hanks and Jane Kronenberger each crushed a two-run home run. Hanks finished 1-for-2 with two RBI and scored twice. Kronenberger led the team with a 3-for-3 effort. Emma Clark added a 2-for-3 performance and scored twice. Abby Sweet had the other Notre Dame hit in the victory. Carlli Kloss and Karina Gaskins each drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
The Tar Heels struck first in their first at bat. A lead-off walk came around on an RBI ground out and a two-run homer put North Carolina up 3-0.
North Carolina’s lead was short-lived as the Irish rallied for four in the bottom of the frame. A lead-off walk, a bunt single and a hit batter loaded the bases. Gaskins drove a foul ball down the right field line that was caught, allowing Sweet to score and all the runners to advance. A wild pitch scored Clark and the Tar Heels went to the bullpen. Kronenberger took the third pitch she saw from the new hurler and hit it to the trees in center field to take the lead at 4-3.
The Irish scored three in the bottom of the third to extend the lead. Clark led off with a single and Hanks hit her fifth homer of the season to put Notre Dame up 6-3. A walk, a double and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Kloss extended the lead to 7-3 after three.
After scoreless innings in the fourth and fifth, North Carolina continued to fight its way back, scoring solo runs in the top of the sixth and seventh. The Tar Heels had the bases loaded and the top of the lineup hitting in the seventh, but Becker got a ground ball to Brooke Marquez at short who fielded it clean and threw it on to first for the final out.
Up Next
The Irish and Tar Heels will wrap up the series Sunday morning with a first pitch time of 11 a.m. at Melissa Cook Stadium