ORLANDO, Fla. – The University of Notre Dame softball team dropped both matchups Friday at the SpaceU Classic. The Irish are now 7-6 on the season.
Notre Dame battled against both Charleston Southern and Ohio all day, but ultimately came up short, losing 4-5 in both games Friday morning.
The Irish will look to bounce back Saturday against Penn State at 2:00 p.m. ET and UCF right after at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Charleston Southern
Micalea Kastor made the start for Notre Dame, her fifth of the season. After an early walk in the first for Charleston Southern, Kastor got a line drive double play to end the top of the first.
Notre Dame struck first in the bottom of the second. Tenley Sweet singled to left to score Kaia Cortes, who reached earlier on a fielder’s choice, to make it 1-0 Irish. It was the first career RBI for Sweet.
The Irish tacked on another run in the third on a Rebecca Eckart RBI triple down the right field line to score Mickey Winchell. An inning later, Caroline O’Brien lined an infield single off the first baseman to score Caitlyn Early. Notre Dame led 3-1 after four innings.
The bats woke up for Charleston Southern in the top of the fifth. The Bucs scored four runs in the inning off three hits and four walks, having traffic on the basepaths all innings. Brianne Weiss, who was the third pitcher of the inning for Notre Dame, got a swinging strikeout to limit the damage.
The Irish applied pressure in the bottom of the sixth with back-to-back baserunners in Sydny Poeck and Kaia Cortes. But Buccaneers’ starter Riley Lauffer escaped the threat to keep Notre Dame at a two-run deficit heading into the final frame.
Down to the last out in the bottom of the seventh, Ava Zachary lined a single into left field to bring up the tying run in Rebecca Eckart, who drew a four-pitch walk to put two on with two out. Poeck then lined a single to left center field with two strikes to score Zachary and keep the Irish alive. However, a fly out with two on and two out would end the potential comeback bid as Charleston Southern held off the Irish late charge to win.
Ohio
Kami Kamzik, who entered the game with a 1.35 ERA, took the ball in game two. With the help of a 6-4-3 double play, the junior right hander tossed a scoreless first inning.
It didn’t take long for the Irish to strike in the bottom of the first. After Winchell walked and Sweet reached on an error, Zachary roped a ball off the wall in left-center field, missing a home run by a matter of feet. Winchell scored, but Sweet was thrown out at home as the Irish led 1-0. A Cortes’ sac fly later scored the second run of the inning for the Irish.
To start the top of the second, Ohio got a leadoff triple off a flyball into right that was lost in the sun. But Kamzik dug deep, getting a weak comebacker back to herself before back-to-back strikeouts escaped the Bobcats’ threat.
In the bottom of the third, Winchell put down a perfect bunt, but a high throw that got away from the first baseman allowed Winchell to score all the way from first after the Ohio left fielder mistakenly thought the ball was stuck in the fence, throwing her hands up. But the run counted and Notre Dame led 3-0 after three.
In the top of the fifth, Ohio chipped away. With two outs, the Bobcats worked a two-out walk that proved costly for Kamzik and the Irish as Ohio recorded an RBI double followed by an RBI single to cut the lead to just one.
The Bobcats tied the game in the top of sixth off a wild pitch and a walk to extend the game to extra innings before taking the win in the eighth inning.