SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame softball team (24-27, 11-13 ACC) extended its winning streak to five games behind an offensive assault in Tuesday night’s 13-5 victory in five innings over UIC. The Irish are winners of seven of their last eight games with one game left before postseason play.
Notre Dame improves to 22-9 all-time against UIC and 8-1 at home against the Flames. The Irish have won 12 of the last 14 matchups against UIC.
The offensive attack of Notre Dame continues to dominate at the plate, as Notre Dame put up 15 hits on .536 batting, hitting .667 (10/15) with two outs and .500 (7/14) with runners in scoring position. The Irish have scored double-digit runs in back-to-back games and improve to a whopping 17-0 when scoring six runs or more this season. Notre Dame scored all 13 runs in the final three innings after falling behind by four early.
Nine different Irish posted hits this evening, led by three hits from both Ava Zachary and Sydny Poeck. Zachary logged a double and scored three runs while Poeck had two doubles and a homer to go along with a pair of runs scored.
Lily Hagan, fresh off her ACC Freshman of the Week honor, launched her team-best seventh homer of the season, a moonshot over the left field fence. Hagan had three RBI on the night and scored a pair of runs.
Poeck, Hagan and Tenley Sweet all left the yard Tuesday evening. It marked the first three-homer game for Notre Dame since 2023.
Micaela Kastor closed out the game and picked up the win, her seventh of the year. The senior tossed 1.2 scoreless innings and struck out three Flames.
How it happened
UIC wasted no time getting on the board early, taking advantage of wild pitch, hit by pitch and a pair of singles to bring across a pair of runs in the top of the first inning off Irish starter Brianne Weiss, who did manage to punch out a pair of Flames to escape any further damage.
In the bottom half of the opening frame, Ava Zachary lined a ball into the right center field gap for her 13th double of the season, but was stranded there.
A two-run homer for the Flames in the top of the third made it 4-0 UIC, ending Weiss’ day. Kami Kamzik came into the ballgame in relief and got the Irish out of the third without any more damage.
The Irish got their first two runners on to leadoff the third inning. After a Mickey Winchell walk, Caitlyn Early grounded a ball through the right side of the infield for a single, as Winchell scampered all the way to third to put two on the corners with no outs.
In stepped Zachary, who ripped a ball into right field for a base hit, scoring Winchell with ease for the first Notre Dame run of the game. It marked the 29th RBI of the year for Zachary.
The Irish tacked on another run on a sac fly from Lily Hagan, who recently won the ACC Freshman of the Week earlier today, to cut it to a two-run deficit. That’s when Sydny Poeck rolled up to the plate and launched a 1-1 pitch over the right-center field fence to tie the game at four.
The Notre Dame onslaught continued. Three-straight singles from Avery Houlihan, Caroline O’Brien and Tenley Sweet produced the fifth Irish run, giving Notre Dame a 5-4 lead after three innings.
The Flames quickly tied it up in the fourth on an RBI single to right off Micaela Kastor, who came into the game in relief with one out. Kastor got a pair of outs, including a strikeout, to keep the game tied.
The said game didn’t stay tied for long, all thanks to Lily Hagan. The freshman launched her eighth homer of the year, a moonshot that sailed over the left field fence to score Zachary and give Notre Dame the 7-5 lead after the fourth inning.
After Kastor tossed a scoreless top of the fifth, the Irish bats got back to work.
Tenley Sweet roped a ball over the center field fencer for her second career homer and first career homer at Melissa Cook Stadium.
Rebecca Eckart followed her up with an RBI single up the middle to score a run before an error in the outfield allowed Ava Zachary and Eckart to score on the next play to make it 11-5 Irish.
With two strikes and two outs, Poeck lined a ball into left-center field for a base hit that she stretched into a hustle double to score Hagan, who reached on the previous error.
Christina Willemssen played hero as a pinch hitter, putting a jolt into a full count pitch that smacked off the right field fence to score Poeck and give the Irish a run-rule victory.