April 21, 2007
NOTRE DAME, Ind.- Notre Dame’s softball team (24-16, 9-3 BIG EAST) started slowly in both games and fell twice, 8-2 and 5-0, to visiting conference rival Louisville (28-17, 9-1 BIG EAST) on Saturday, April 21 at Ivy Field.
The first game started competitively with Louisville jumping out to a two-run after the first. Melissa Roth doubled to left field with one out and scored on Courtney Moore double. Moore would score herself on Kristi Cunningham’s single up the middle.
The Irish would answer with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame. Senior Stephanie Brown (Chandler, Ariz./Corona del Sol) reached first on a fielding error from the Cardinal pitcher, Catherine Bishop. Brown moved all the way to third on junior Katie Laing’s (Chandler, Ariz./Corona del Sol) single to right field. Laing, after her single, would be thrown out on the play attempting to get to second as the trailer on the throw to third. Freshman Heather Johnson (Los Alamitos, Calif./Mater Dei) then drew a walk to put runners on the corners. Fellow rookie Christine Lux (Glendale East, Ill./Glenbard West) would come up with the big hit of the inning driving a single up the middle to score Brown. Johnson took third on the hit, but a foul out would end the inning for Notre Dame.
After a scoreless second by both team, Louisville pushed a run across in the third inning, as Courtney Moore hit her eighth home run of the season.
The Cardinal plated two more runs in the fourth inning. Kassie Stanfill led off with a single, took second on a ground out and came into score on Audrey Rendon’s single. Rendon, who took the extra base to second on the throw home, moved to third on a pass ball and scored on Roth’s single.
The Irish would answer with a run of their own in the bottom of the fourth. Sophomore Linda Kohan (Westminster, Calif./Westminster) drilled a two-out single through the left side. Sophomore Beth Northway (Kentwood, Mich./East Kentwood) moved Kohan to third with a single down the left-field line. Kohan would score the second Irish run on sophomore Brittney Bargar’s (Corona, Calif./Corona) infield single.
After a scoreless fifth for both teams, Louisville would finish off the scoring with three runs in the sixth inning. Two Irish errors in the frame allowed the Cardinals to plate an unearned run.
Bargar (16-8) took the loss for Notre Dame in the first game, as she allowed eight runs (six earned) in seven innings from the circle.
All the scoring in the second game was done in the third inning by Louisville. Candi Hicks led off with a bunt single. She moved all the way to third, as Rendon reached on an error by the Irish first baseman. After Roth was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Moore drove in Hicks and Rendon with her single through the right side. Both Roth and Moore would be plated on Brooke McCrain’s run-scoring double down the left-field line. After a strikeout and a lineout, Becca Saksefski hit a single to left field to score McCrain with the fifth and final run of the afternoon.
Notre Dame’s best chance to score came in the third inning, junior Brittany Glynn (Seymour, Conn./St. Joseph’s) led off with a single to left field. Senior Carissa Jaquish (Highland, Calif./Redlands East Valley) hit a fielder’s choice to third in which Louisville attempted to get the lead runner at second. The throw by Rendon was on target, but it bounded off the mitt of the Louisville second baseman, allowing both runners to reach. A fly out moved each runner up a base. After a pop out, Laing walked to load the bases, but a fielder’s choice quickly ended the inning for the Irish.
Senior Kenya Fuemmeler (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury) (8-8), who pitched well but for the one inning, took the loss for Notre Dame as she allowed all five runs (three earned) in her eighth complete game of the season.
Next, Notre Dame will continue the busy homestand with a conference doubleheader against South Florida (33-21, 5-5 BIG EAST) at noon on April 22. The first game will shown live for a one-time $9.95 pay-per-view fee on the BIG EAST Conference’s website http://www.bigeast.org by CSTV.
Irish Notes: The Irish had their four-game winning streak snapped and are now on a two-game skid … Notre Dame is now 14-3 at Ivy Field and 22-13 in day games this year … with a hit in the first game, Bargar extended her hitting streak to three games … Lux’s two-out RBI single in the first game was her 10th two-out RBI of the season.