May 11, 2007
SOUTH BEND, Ind.- Sophomore Brittney Bargar (Corona, Calif./Corona) flirted with perfection for 5 2/3 innings before settling for a three-hitter, as Notre Dame’s softball team (31-21, 13-7 BIG EAST) pulled off the shocking 8-2 upset of No. 14/12 and top-seeded DePaul (41-11, 20-0 BIG EAST) on Friday, May 11 in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Softball Tournament.
Bargar (22-12) was in complete control from the first pitch, limiting a potent Blue Demons offense to a total of three hits and two runs with six strikeouts in her 25th complete game of the season.
The Irish plated the first run of the game in the second. Freshman Heather Johnson (Los Alamitos, Calif./Mater Dei) started the frame with a walk. Junior Brittany Glynn (Seymour, Conn./St. Joseph’s) ran for Johnson and took second on sophomore Linda Kohan’s (Westminster, Calif./Westminster) sacrifice bunt. After a fly out, sophomore Beth Northway (Kentwood, Mich./East Kentwood) came through with the big hit of the inning punching a ball directly down the first base line to plate Glynn with the first run of the afternoon.
The Notre Dame offense put up a five-spot, all unearned due to a DePaul error, in the third inning. Junior Sarah Smith (Oklahoma City, Okla./Heritage Hall) started the frame reaching on the shortstop’s fielding error. Senior Stephanie Brown (Chandler, Ariz./Corona del Sol) switched places with Smith on a fielder’s choice. Senior Gessica Hufnagle (Middlebury, Ind./Northridge) was then hit by a pitch to put two aboard. After a ground out, Johnson was intentionally walked to load the bases. Kohan crushed the next offering off the left field wall to score Brown and Hufnagle with the first two runs of the inning. Freshman Christine Lux (Glendale Heights, Ill./Glenbard West) then unloaded with her third home run of the season deep over the left center wall to plate Johnson and Kohan, as well as herself and give Notre Dame a 6-0 advantage.
The Irish now on a power surge hit another home run in the fourth inning, as senior Carissa Jaquish (Highland, Calif./Redlands East Valley) nailed her first dinger of the year to leadoff the frame.
Bargar, given the now seven run lead, was in cruise control retiring the first 17 batters in order with only two Demons even putting a ball into the outfield.
The Blue Demons broke up the perfect game with a two-out full count walk to Marie Thompson in the sixth inning. The next batter, Sandy Vojik, reached on an infield single to break up the no-hitter. The inning took an interesting turn with a hit by pitch to Amber Patton to load the base. Marcy Wilus then battled before chopping a single through the middle to score Thompson and Vojik with the first two DePaul runs of the game and draw DPU to within five. Bargar refocused and induced a pop out to escape the inning with only two runs scoring.
The Irish tacked on insurance run in the top the seventh. Hufnagle start the frame with a single up the middle. She then moved to second on a Laing sacrifice bunt and came in to score on Johnson’s RBI double in the gap.
The Irish will now play in the championship game of the BIG EAST Softball Tournament on Saturday, May 12 at the Belleville Softball Complex at 5:30 p.m. against Louisville (35-23, 14-6 BIG EAST). The game will be shown live on CSTV. For those Irish fans that do not receive CSTV they can match the game on the internet on the BIG EAST’s website http://www.bigeast.org/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/07-softbl-champ.html for a one-time fee of 9.95.
Irish Notes: The Irish are now on a seven-game winning streak … with her run against the Blue Demons, Brown set Notre Dame’s all-time runs record (165) … Bargar’s 25 complete games are tied for the fifth most ever tallied by Notre Dame hurler in a single season … the Irish are going for the team’s sixth ever BIG EAST Tournament title and second in as many seasons … this is also the second time in as many years that the two softball teams have a match-up to determine the league champion and automatic berth winner in the NCAA Tournament