May 10, 2007
SOUTH BEND, Ind.- Sophomore Brittney Bargar (Corona, Calif./Corona) was dominating, throwing a two-hitter to lead Notre Dame’s softball team (30-21, 13-7 BIG EAST) to a 6-0 win over Connecticut (22-21, 10-9 BIG EAST) on Thursday, May 10 in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Softball Tournament at the Belleville Softball Complex in South Bend, Ind.
Bargar (21-12) went the distance for Notre Dame for her 24th complete game of the season. The sophomore, in limiting the Huskies and Mich Truax, the reigning BIG EAST Player of the Year, to a total of two hits also tallied seven strikeouts and only walked a batter.
Senior Gessica Hufnagle (Middlebury, Ind./Northridge) led the offensive attack with two hits and two runs-batted-in. Freshman Heather Johnson (Los Alamitos, Calif./Mater Dei) also drove in a pair of runs, while junior Sarah Smith (Oklahoma City, Okla./Heritage Hall) scored two runs.
The Notre Dame first inning started well, as senior Stephanie Brown (Chandler, Ariz./Corona del Sol) began the frame with an infield single to short. She took second and then third on back-to-back ground outs, but another ground out ended the Irish first prematurely.
Connecticut’s first threat of the early evening came in the second, as Allie Gendron started the UConn second with a single. She was quickly erased though on close play at second on a fielder’s choice hit back to Bargar.
Sophomore Linda Kohan (Westminster, Calif./Westminster) led off the Notre Dame second with a single to center. Junior Brittany Glynn (Seymour, Conn./St. Joseph’s) then ran for Kohan and took second on the sacrifice bunt from freshman Christine Lux (Glendale Heights, Ill./Glenbard West) before a foul out and a strikeout ended the promising inning.
The Huskies loaded the bases with one out in the third inning on an error, hit and a walk but Bargar stiffened and tallied a strikeout and a groundout to end the frame. The inning proved to be the turning point in the game, as the Irish capitalized on the fine pitching by Bargar with some offensive support in the bottom of the frame.
Notre Dame broke through for a three-spot in the third. Smith started the Irish inning reaching on a Huskies fielding error. Hufnagle’s single moved Smith to third. Junior Katie Laing (Chandler, Ariz./Corona del Sol) then hit a ball to the shortstop that took a bad hop and went into left field scoring Smith. The Connecticut leftfielder, Meghan Tierney, had trouble picking up the ball moving both Hufnagle and Laing up a base. Johnson followed with a line drive single up the middle to score both Laing and Hufnagle with the second and third runs of the game.
The Irish offense kept momentum going with another big output in the fourth inning. Sophomore Beth Northway (Kentwood, Mich./East Kentwood) ripped a leadoff single through the right side to start the frame. Senior Carissa Jaquish (Highland, Calif./Redlands East Valley) punished a single to center to move Northway all the way to third. Jaquish, playing the trailer on the play, wisely took second on the attempted play at third. Bargar then in a switch of the flex and leftfielder rolled into a fielder’s choice to plate Northway with the first run of the inning. Smith was reinserted back in the game for Bargar, who has also reached base on the attempted play at home, quickly stole second. After a ground out, Hufnagle came through with the big hit of the inning, smoking a single up the middle to score both Jaquish and Smith with the fifth and sixth runs of the game.
Bargar given the lead retired the final 12 batters in order to cruise to the 6-0 victory.
Notre Dame will now face off with the BIG EAST Regular Season Champions, the DePaul Blue Demons (41-10, 20-0 BIG EAST), in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament on Friday, May 10 at 6:30 p.m.
Irish Notes: The Irish are riding a six-game winning streak … this was the fourth consecutive victory in BIG EAST Tournament play for Notre Dame … Brown extended her hitting streak to nine games with her hit in the first inning … the Irish win was their 30th of the season which is the 19th time since the program started that Notre Dame has won 30 or more games in a season