May 16, 2009
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Eleven hits produced five runs for the Notre Dame softball team Saturday evening at Michigan’s Wilpon Softball Complex while posting a 5-3 win over Miami (Ohio). No. 25 Notre Dame, the NCAA Ann Arbor Region’s second seeded team, improved to 43-16 while the fourth-seeded Redhawks dropped to 33-24.
Notre Dame will face No. 7 Michigan on the final day of the NCAA Regional at 1:00 p.m. (ET) on Sunday (May 16). Live stats will be available at UND.com. For up-to-the-minute scores and highlights, sign up for IRISH ALERTS text messaging services at UND.com.
Miami matched Notre Dame with 11 hits but could only cross one run through the first six innings before adding a pair of scores in the final frame.
A promising situation in the first for Notre Dame turned out fruitless when Katie Fleury struck out with the bases loaded. Beth Northway and Heather Johnson sandwiched singles around Linda Kohan’s groundout and Dani Miller was walked to load the bases for Fleury.
Miami got its first-inning hit on a sky shot by Sarah Billstrom that fell between Kohan and Miller in right field for a double.
Brianna Jorgensborg smoked her team-high fourth triple of the season past a diving Alicia Hogl in left field to begin the second for the Irish. Alexia Clay chopped an infield grounder that plated Jorgensborg for the team’s 279th RBI of the season to break the previous Notre Dame record set in 2002. The 2002 team used 61 games to get to the 278-RBI mark. With two outs, Northway doubled to right before Miami managed the final out on a Kohan line drive.
The Redhawks threatened in the bottom of the second by loading the bases with one out on a trio of base hits. Alexis Havier flew a ball to right that was caught by Miller, who gunned down Lindsay Randall while trying to tag-up and score from third. Clay laid a timely tag on Randall to keep Miami scoreless.
Back-to-back walks in the third were drawn by Johnson and Christine Lux. Jorgensborg then drilled a two-out double off the right field wall to push across a pair of scores to put Notre Dame ahead, 3-0.
Meghan Mawn made it a two-run game with a solo home run to right in the bottom of the third and the Redhawks put two more on base in the fourth. Brittney Bargar (24-11) checked in for starter Jody Valdivia and gave up a single to Mawn. But not to be outdone by Miller, Jorgensborg scooped Mawn’s grounder and fired home to Clay to catch Kelly Cabana at the plate for the inning’s third out.
Bargar tossed 3.1 innings of four-hit ball and gave up two earned runs with five strikeouts. Valdivia lasted 3.2 innings and was tagged for seven hits that yielded only one earned run.
Jorgensborg fouled off a screamer down the left field line that had the distance to be a home in the fifth, instead settling for a walk. Erin Marrone capitalized on her pinch-hitting effort with a two-run dinger to right-center as the Irish built a 5-1 lead. Northway singled through the left side of the infield to reach base safely for a third consecutive time.
Johnson kept the hits rolling with a stand-up double in the sixth.
Miami scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh.
The teams combined for five errors with Miami committing three.
The Irish also broke the school’s single-season record by bringing their total bases sum to 761, eclipsing the 2001 squad’s 748.
Northway finished 3-for-5 as Jorgensborg headlined the evening with a 2-for-3 effort along with two runs, two RBI and four putouts capped off by an assist from left field.
–ND–