BLACKSBURG, Va. – The Notre Dame softball team battled hard on the road against one of the top teams in the country, but ultimately dropped Saturday’s doubleheader to 12th-ranked Virginia 5-0 and 12-4 in five innings. The Irish are now 19-23-1 on the year and 6-11 in conference play.
Addison Amaral reached 100 career hits with a single up the middle in the opening inning of game two. The sophomore shortstop notched two hits on the day and leads the team with 47 this season.
Caroline O’Brien extended her team-best hitting streak to 10 games. The freshman had an infield single in game one and a pair of hits in game two.
Anna Holloway clubbed her third home run of the season on a ball crushed to center field in the second inning of game two. It was her ninth career homer.
Game One
Freshman Brianne Weiss made her 5th start of the season, 4th in conference play. Facing one of the top teams in the country in a hostile atmosphere, Weiss ran into trouble earlier, walking the first two batters before hitting the next batter by a pitch to load the bases with no outs.
After striking out the next two batters, a two-run single up the middle by Jordan Lynch put the Hokies up 2-0 after the opening frame.
Jane Kronenberger delivered the first hit for the Irish in the top of the third, a single to center field with one out. Two batters later, Emily Tran reached on an error to put two on with two outs for Notre Dame, but Virginia Tech starter Emma Lemley got a swinging strikeout to escape the jam.
Lemley and Weiss exchanged blows the next two innings, both putting up zeros in the following innings.
In the bottom of the fourth, a leadoff hit followed by a walk put more traffic on for the Hokies. After a sac bunt, Weiss got a huge swinging strikeout of Cori McMillan, one of the best hitters in the nation, before getting a lineout to escape any danger. The score remained 2-0 after four.
Kami Kamzik would take over in the fifth. Weiss finished her start with a line of 4 innings pitched, 3 hits, 2 earned runs, 4 walks and 4 strikeouts.
The Hokies added another run in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI-double to the right center field gap. Virginia Tech led 3-0 after five.
O’Brien got an infield single in the top of the sixth to extend her hitting streak to nine games, the most by any player on the team so far this season.
A two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth was the final blow in game one. Virginia Tech took game one 5-0.
Game Two
Notre Dame got the bats swinging early, getting back-to-back singles from O’Brien and Addison Amaral. The hits marked 10 games in a row with a knock for O’Brien and the 100th career hit for Amaral. The two would be stranded after Tech starter Emma Mazzarone struck out the side to keep the Irish off the board in the first.
Virginia Tech scratched across a couple in the bottom of the first, getting one run on a sacrifice fly and the other on an RBI fielder’s choice. For the second straight game, it was the Hokies with a 2-0 lead after the first inning, this time off of starter Micaela Kastor.
Anna Holloway countered in the bottom of the second with a no-doubt home run over the center field fence to cut the lead in half. It was the third of the year for the senior second baseman.
The ball kept flying out of the yard however in the bottom of the second after a 2-run homer by McMillan increased the Tech lead to three.
In the top of the third, Rachel Allen delivered an RBI single back up the middle to score O’Brien who had walked earlier in the inning to cut the lead in half.
After falling behind 6-2 after three, O’Brien ripped a base hit into center that scored a pair to cut the lead to two. However, on the next pitch O’Brien was out at the plate after trying to score on a ball that got past the catcher.
Shannon Becker made her first appearance of the series to start the bottom of the fourth and tossed a scoreless inning, the first inning without inning runs by either team since the top of the first.
Tech’s bats didn’t go away, as the Hokies put three up against Becker in the bottom of the fifth to make it 9-4. Alexis Laudenslager took over after that in just her ninth appearance of the season. Virginia Tech tacked on three more to hit the run-rule, 12-4 after five.
The Irish will look to salvage the series tomorrow night at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network.