ATLANTA, Ga. – The University of Notre Dame softball team battled all day Sunday, but fell 5-8 at Georgia Tech to close out the opening conference series for the Irish.
Caroline O’Brien logged a monster game offensively, finishing a single shy of the cycle. O’Brien drove in three and hit her first career homer in the seventh inning.
Ava Zachary logged a pair of hits and scored as well as drove in a run. The freshman also got hit by a pitch. Kaia Cortes notched an RBI as well.
Notre Dame will look to bounce back next weekend in San Diego at the USD/SDSU Tournament.
How it happened
Caroline O’Brien put the Irish on the board early in the first inning, lining a ball into the right center field gap to score a pair as Notre Dame struck first, leading 2-0 before taking the field defensively. It was the second career triple for O’Brien.
Georgia Tech responded with a three-spot in the bottom of the first. A fourth run was tacked on in the bottom of the second as the Yellow Jackets led 4-2 after three innings.
The Irish cut the lead to one in the top of the fifth. With two strikes and two outs, Kaia Cortes dribbled a ground ball perfectly in between the first and second basemen to score Avery Houlihan to make it 4-3 Georgia Tech.
Notre Dame tied it up in the top of the sixth. With the bases juiced, Ava Zachary legged out an infield single, scoring Mickey Winchell from third to shock the Yellow Jackets’ crowd and tie it up heading into the bottom of the sixth.
The tie was short lived unfortunately. In the bottom of the sixth, an RBI single gave Georgia Tech the lead right back. Moments later, a three-run homer put the Yellow Jackets up four.
O’Brien clubbed her first career homer in the top of the seventh, but it wasn’t enough as the Irish fell 5-8.