Feb. 25, 2006
The University of Notre Dame softball team earned mix reviews on Saturday, Feb. 25, as the Irish split a pair of games during the adidas Golden Panther Invitational on the campus of Florida International. The good news ended up as a 4-1 victory over Memphis, which earned Notre Dame the top seed in bracket play on Sunday. The bad news came from a 5-4 loss to Florida International, pushing the Irish to 5-4 on the season.
Notre Dame will face the winner of Florida International – St. John’s (scheduled for 9 a.m. on Sunday morning) at 11 a.m. in the semifinals of the tournament. The winner of that game would match up with the winner of Buffalo – Memphis at 3 p.m. for the tournament title.
Top performances for Notre Dame on the day were turned in by senior Heather Booth in the pitching circle and junior Stephanie Brown in the batter’s box. Booth picked up her second victory of the year in game one against Memphis, hurling a complete-game six-hitter while striking out 10 and walking two. Brown was one for three in the first game with a walk and stolen base. She followed up with three runs scored and a solo home run in the second contest.
Notre Dame fell behind 5-2 in the second game of the day and a two-run rally, keyed by the solo home run by Brown in the sixth inning, ended up falling just short. Booth finished off the loss to Florida International pitching three shutout innings with three strikeouts, giving the Irish ace 13 `Ks’ in 10 innings of work on Saturday.
The Irish grabbed control of game one against Memphis early in the contest with perfect execution. Leading off to begin the game, Brown drew a walk and found herself at second base after a single to leftfield on the hit-and-run by freshman Linda Kohan. Sophomore Katie Laing moved the runners over one base each with a sacrifice bunt and, after Meagan Ruthrauff struck out, Mallorie Lenn and Sara Schoonaert earned back-to-back walks to force in the first run of the game.
For much the first contest against Memphis, it seemed one run was all the support Booth would require. She allowed just three base runners over the first five innings and carried over the strong work she showed on Friday when she picked up a complete-game victory over Florida International in the first meeting between the two teams during the tournament. The Tigers, playing their first season of Division I softball in 2006, did touch Booth for a single run in the sixth inning on a one-out double, followed by a two-out single up the middle.
By then, however, the Irish had pushed the lead to four runs. Freshman Alexandra Kotcheff reached base on a fielder’s choice in the fifth inning, moved up to second base on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single through the middle by Kohan. Two more unearned runs were added in the top of the sixth inning on back-to-back throwing errors by Memphis shortstop Lindsey Pridgen.
Booth made the lead hold up, though Memphis would threaten in the bottom of the seventh. The Tigers were able to put runners at second an third with two outs, but Booth recovered to strike out Leila Dolfo (her opponent in the pitching circle) on three pitches to end the game.
Unfortunately for the Irish, their execution would not carry through to the day’s second game. Once again Notre Dame scored in the top of the first inning when Brown reached on an error and scored on an RBI single from Laing. FIU responded with two runs in the second inning and three unearned runs in the third. Freshman pitcher Brittney Bargar found herself in trouble in the bottom of the second after issuing a walk and single to lead off the inning. FIU’s Lauren Spiers stepped into the RBI opportunity and blooped a sinking pop up toward Laing at second base.
Laing caught the ball on a very short hop. The trajectory of the ball forced the FIU baserunners to hold for a split second, as they attempted to decide whether the ball was going to be caught cleanly or not. Laing immediately threw to first base for the ground ball out and Ruthrauff threw a strike across the infield to junior Carissa Jaquish. Thinking a force play was required, Jaquish did not apply the tag and the possible double play turned into tight situation with runners at second and third with just one out.
FIU made the Irish pay for the mental lapse one out later. Golden Panther third base Samantha Card stepped in and drilled a double over Brown’s head in rightfield to score the first two runs of the game for the home team.
More defensive problems plagued Notre Dame in the third inning. Bargar issued a leadoff walk and an infield hit that ricocheted off the glove of Ruthrauff at first base. In another bad turn of luck, the ball ended up in the FIU dugout for a two-base error – forcing the runners to second and third.
Bargar came back to get what she needed, a ground ball straight back to her in the pitching circle. While she was fielding the play, the rookie righthander turned to look at the runner from third base and lost control of the ball, dropping it for her second error of the year to load the bases.
Two strikeouts later FIU made Bargar pay for her mistake. Leftfielder Cassie Parker snuck a single past Jaquish at third base that ended up down the line for two RBI. Suddenly, the Irish were look at a three-run deficit with just nine outs to even up the game. The team was also frustrated, as the two defensive missteps could have possibly lead to end of both scoring innings for the Golden Panthers.
Notre Dame earned two of the runs back in the fifth inning. Brown led off with her first home run of the season, an opposite-field blast for the lefthanded hitter. Kohan followed by drawing a walk and pinch runner Sarah Smith was moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Laing. A walk to Ruthrauff by FIU starting pitcher Penny Eastman drew a pitching change from the Golden Panther coaching staff.
Now with runners at second and third (pinch runner Beth Northway entered the game for Ruthrauff) Lenn came through by drilling a single to centerfield. Smith scored easily on the play and Northway held up as FIU quickly returned the ball to the infield. During the play, Lenn was cut down at second base when she attempted to advance to second base on the throw home.
Senior Sara Schoonaert drew a walk to keep the rally alive, but Jaquish flied out to rightfield to end the inning and Notre Dame’s final scoring opportunity of the game.