STANFORD, Calif. – The University of Notre Dame softball team fell Friday night to No. 19/20 Stanford 2-7. The Irish are now 10-16 on the year and 0-4 in ACC play.
Freshman Ava Zachary extended her hitting streak to nine games and her on-base streak to 10 games after clobbering her third home run of the season in the first inning. Zachary is tied for the team lead in homers and is second on the team with 13 RBI.
Mickey Winchell logged a double and a walk in this one, extending her on-base streak to 10 games. She also scored her 15th run of the season in the opening frame this evening.
Notre Dame will look to bounce back in game two of the series tomorrow with first pitch at 5:00 p.m. ET/2:00 p.m. PT on ACC Network Extra.
How it happened
For the fifth time in the last six games, Notre Dame scored in the first inning. With the count 2-2, Zachary hit a no-doubt two-run homer that sailed over the right field fence to score Winchell, who drew a walk to leadoff the game. The Irish led by a pair of runs before taking to the field defensively.
Micaela Kastor made her 12th start of the season and threw two scoreless innings to start off her evening.
The Cardinal manufactured their first run of the game in the bottom of the third, taking advantage of an Irish error to get on the board. But Notre Dame led nationally ranked Stanford 2-1 after three innings of play.
The lead didn’t last long for the Irish unfortunately. Stanford put up five in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead, followed by an insurance run in the sixth to make it 7-2. After allowing the two runs in the first inning, Cardinal pitching only allowed two hits in the final six innings against Notre Dame.