STANFORD, Calif. – The University of Notre Dame softball team recorded the 100th ranked win in program history Saturday evening, taking down 19th/20th ranked Stanford 8-4 for the first ACC victory of the season for the Irish. Notre Dame improves to 11-16 overall this season and 1-4 in conference play. The Irish are now 7-0 when scoring six or more runs in a game this season.
Junior Olivia Levitt was dominant in the Irish lineup, going 2/3 on the day with a home run and three RBI while also adding a walk and scoring a pair of runs. Levitt, from San Mateo, California, just 18 miles from Stanford’s campus, launched her first home run of the season to open the game up in the top of the third. Her three-run homer this afternoon was the second of her career. Levitt now leads the team with 17 RBI on the season, already eight more than last season.
LEVITT LIFTOFF 🚀
📺ACCNX pic.twitter.com/WjLYn6if57
— Notre Dame Softball (@NDsoftball) March 14, 2026
Junior Tenley Sweet logged a multi-hit game, including a two-run double in the top of the second that gave the Irish the lead that they would never surrender after in this one. Freshman Ava Zachary extended her hitting streak to 10 games and her on-base streak to 11 games after posting a pair of hits and a walk in this one. The Mishawaka, Indiana native is hitting .351 on the season.
In the circle, Notre Dame used its top three pitchers in Brianne Weiss, Kami Kamzik and Micaela Kastor. Weiss started the game and struck out four, while Kamzik and Kastor combined to allow just one earned run in the final five innings to secure the victory. Kamzik picked up the win and is now 3-4 on the season.
The Irish will go for the series win tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. ET/12:00 p.m. PT on ACC Network Extra.
There's no quit in this team🍀
Notre Dame beat Stanford 8-4 on Saturday, marking the Irish's first-ever win over the Cardinal and the 100th ranked victory in program history. @JennaBecerra01 spoke with Kris Ganeff after the milestone win.@2Ganeff | @NDsoftball pic.twitter.com/tLw9id5cER
— D1Softball (@D1Softball) March 15, 2026
How it happened
After a 1-2-3 top of the first, Stanford opened up the scoring in the bottom of the first after a one-out triple followed by an RBI single to put the first run on the board. However, Brianne Weiss, who was making her seventh start of the year, escaped a bases-loaded jam with a strikeout and a fly out to right to keep the deficit to just one after the opening frame.
Notre Dame responded in the top of the second. After loading the bases up, Avery Houlihan drew a five pitch walk to score the first Irish run of the game. After that, Tenley Sweet ripped a ball into the left center field corner, scoring Hayden Kyne and Rebecca Eckart to give the Irish a 3-1 lead. It was the second double of the year for the slap hitting Sweet.
In the top of the third, Olivia Levitt got a pitch and didn’t miss it, clubbing a three-run homer over the left center field fence to put Notre Dame up 6-2. It was the first home run of the season for Levitt and her team-leading 15th, 16th and 17th RBI of the season.
Kami Kamzik relieved Weiss to begin the bottom of the third. After back-to-back baserunners to begin the game, Kamzik got a strikeout followed by a groundout and fly out to escape the jam to keep the Irish up four after three innings.
The Irish tacked on two more in the top of the fifth. After a leadoff single from Levitt, Eckart lashed a ball into the left center field gap, scoring Levitt all the way from first on a bang-bang play at home. Later in the inning, Caroline O’Brien hit an RBI fielder’s choice with the bases loaded to make it 8-2 Notre Dame heading into the bottom of the fifth.
The Cardinal tacked on a run in the fifth and sixth to close the gap, but it wasn’t enough against Micaela Kastor, who closed out the game in the circle, throwing 2.2 hitless innings and got a swinging strikeout in the bottom of the seventh to claim the Irish victory.