SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame softball team (23-27, 11-13 ACC) posted its first sweep of the season Sunday afternoon at Melissa Cook Stadium, grounding the Boston College Eagles a 10-2 run-rule victory in five innings to close out conference play. The Irish have won four in a row and six of their last seven games.
Notre Dame, who clinched a spot in the ACC Softball Championships last night, put up five runs in the fifth inning without committing a single out to seal the run-rule win. After a scoreless first inning, the Irish offense scored in every inning after, including multiple runs in the final three innings of today’s ballgame.
The 17 hits today tied a season high, tying the March 29th game against Cal. 11 different Irish collected base hits, five posting two or more knocks. Notre Dame hit .586 on the day at the plate, including .467 with runners in scoring position.
Sophomore Caitlyn Early and junior Olivia Levitt both launched homers over the left field fence during today’s series finale. Early drilled a two-run shot to score Mickey Winchell from first base that put the Irish up 5-2 at the time. It was the third of the season for Early, who is now hitting .359 this season.
Levitt led off the dominant fifth inning with a pinch-hit solo shot that found its way into the bleachers in left field. It was the second of the year for the junior and her 23rd RBI of the season, the third-most on the team.
Freshman Ava Zachary had her third game of three or more hits this season, going 3/4 with a RBI and a run scored. Zachary closes conference play with a .440 batting average, as the Mishawaka, Indiana product is well on her way to conference accolades next month.
In the bottom of the third, freshman Lily Hagan roped a ball over the center fielder’s head, scoring Molly Conner and Early to make it 3-2 at the time, as Notre Dame never relinquished the lead after that. It marked the 18th and 19th RBI this year for Hagan, who is now slugging an obnoxious .830 in her rookie campaign.
Sophomore Brianne Weiss capped off a dominant week with a masterful showing, pitching four shutout innings in relief to pick up her team-best 11th win on the year. Over this past week, Weiss was 3-0 with a 0.93 ERA, striking out 21 in 15 innings. The southpaw allowed just a .182 batting average and threw a complete game Friday against Boston College.
Notre Dame closes out the regular season this week with a pair of midweek games, starting Tuesday against UIC at 5:00 p.m. at Melissa Cook Stadium. Admission is free to all Irish regular season home softball games, and the theme is Taylor Swift Night, where fans can create friendship bracelets pre-game before singing along to their favorite Taylor Swift songs throughout the game.