CONWAY, S.C. – The Notre Dame softball team dropped the opening two games of the Battle at the Beach, hosted on the campus of Coastal Carolina. The Irish dropped the opener 6-0 to Marist before a heartbreaking 8-7 loss in extra innings to tournament host Coastal.
Notre Dame is now 3-5 on the season.
Marist Recap
Marist got off to a quick start off a two-run opposite field home run by Miah McDonald off Notre Dame starter Alexis Laudenslager.
After the Irish went 1-2-3 for the second-straight inning, Samantha Rogers hit a towering fly ball to left center field that carried up and over the fence to extend the Red Foxes lead to three.
Shannon Becker came in to relieve Laudenslager in the bottom of the second and got two straight punchouts to end the frame.
Anna Holloway got Notre Dame’s first hit of the game, a moonshot double that hit the top of the center field wall and bounced back into play. However, back-to-back groundouts stranded Holloway in scoring position.
In the bottom of the third, McDonald struck again for Marist, hitting her second homer of the day to right center to put the Red Foxes up 4-0 after three.
The Red Foxes would keep the pressure on. In the bottom of the fifth, Marist loaded the bases off two walks and a hit by pitch with two outs. Sienna Kunze ripped a full-count pitch up the middle to add on two more as Marist led 6-0 after five.
A one-out double from Rachel Allen was all the Irish would muster in the final innings.
Kiley Myers threw a gem for Marist, going seven shutout innings and allowed no free passes. The right-hander held the Irish to four hits during the game.
Coastal Carolina Recap
After a slow start for the bats in game one, head coach Kris Ganeff mixed up the lineup before game two. And it paid dividends immediately. Emily Tran drilled a triple into the right center field gap with one out while fans were still finding their seats. Two batters later, Addison Amaral roped a ball into the right field corner for her seventh RBI of the season to give the Irish an early 1-0 lead.
Coastal Carolina didn’t wait long to answer back. The Chanticleers ripped three singles off starter Micaela Kastor in the first to knot the game at one apiece.
Kaia Cortes would get it back for the Irish. The freshman first baseman clubbed a 1-1 pitch way over the right center field fence for her first career homer and to put Notre Dame back on top.
The game continued to go back and forth. The Chanticleers got a 2-run homerun to deep center to regain the lead. After a double and a pair of walks, the bases were loaded with one out.
Kastor, like she’s shown multiple times already this season, danced around traffic. The junior got a strikeout looking for the second out before getting a ground ball to third that Caroline O’Brien stepped on the bag for the force out to escape the jam.
Notre Dame countered right away. Rachel Allen hit a monster home run down the left field line to tie the game at three, her first of the year and ninth of her career.
After a 1-2-3 inning from Kastor, the Irish loaded the bases with two outs for Amaral, chasing Coastal Carolina’s starter Abby Henderson in the process. Amaral would come through, lining a single to right to drive in a pair before Allen followed with an RBI infield single to double up the Chanticleers in the fifth.
To the theme of the game, Coastal would counter. The Chanticleers put up three in the bottom of the seventh, including a 2-run single with one out to tie the game and send it to the eighth.
Playing the international tiebreaker rule, Amaral was placed on second to begin the top of the eighth. After a sac bunt to get her to third by Allen, Sydny Poeck lined a ball into left to put the Irish back on top.
Coastal, with the top of their order set to bat, was able to manufacture two runs and walkoff the Irish on a ground ball base hit back up the middle for the eighth-inning win.
Notre Dame will look to flip the page tomorrow against Towson at 9:15 a.m. and Kent State at 2:15 p.m.