March 10, 2010
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – Junior pitcher Jody Valdivia limited Cal State Northridge to one hit – a seventh-inning bloop single – as Notre Dame earned a 3-0 non-conference softball win Wednesday at Matador Diamond. Valdivia (8-2) struck out nine while issuing one walk to chalk her seventh straight win from the circle as the Irish (12-4) extended their winning streak to 11 contests.
The affair marked the second time that sisters Sadie (Notre Dame) and Amanda (CS Northridge) Pitzenberger faced off on the diamond. When the two teams met in 2008, Sadie connected on a fifth-inning double that plated a pair of runs to propel Notre Dame to a 3-1 win.
With Amanda toeing the rubber to start today’s game for the Matadors (7-12), Sadie took the first pitch of the contest to rightfield for a lead-off triple. Sadie would finish the game with two hits, one run and one RBI.
Alexa Maldonado also had two hits and one RBI for Notre Dame.
The second inning began with Alexia Clay’s double off the wall in left-center followed by a Kristina Wright walk. Alexa Maldonado’s single to center was cutoff early by a Matador defender, allowing Clay to score. Pitzenberger drove in Wright with an infield single.
Pitzenberger scored Notre Dame’s third run in the fifth, coming home on a Christine Lux fielder’s choice to second base.
Jaci Carlsen broke up Valdivia’s no-hitter in the bottom of the seventh. She popped a single to left that dropped just in front of a diving Katie Fleury’s outstretched glove.
Notre Dame stays on the West Coast this weekend for five games at the Long Beach State Invitational (March 12-14).
–ND–