March 18, 2011
Game 1: Box Score | Box Score 
Game 2: Box Score | Box Score
FULLERTON, Calif. – No. 4 Washington smacked five home runs – including two by Niki Williams – to hand Notre Dame a 7-4 non-conference softball defeat Friday at Anderson Family Field during day three of the Judi Garman Classic. The Huskies scored five unanswered runs for the win, which came just a few hours after the Irish handed New Mexico a 5-0 loss to open the day.
Notre Dame (16-5) finishes up the four-day event Saturday morning versus No. 5 Michigan at 9:00 a.m. (PT).
Live stats will be available at UND.com. The action can also be followed on Twitter (@NDsoftball).
-Game 1-
Laura Winter (8-1) needed 11 pitches – nine of which were strikes – to retire the Lobos in order to begin the game.
Winter would allow a second-inning single to Danielle Castro but brought her strikeout total to four with a pair of punchouts. She would go on to fan three more Lobos (11-11) in 5.0 innings, allowing three hits in the scoreless starting cameo.
Jackie Bowe struck out one from the circle in the final 2.0 innings to wrap up the combined shutout.
After being blanked in the first, Notre Dame scored in each of the next four innings.
Notre Dame’s first hit came in the bottom of the second, a single by Dani Miller through the left side of the infield. Amy Buntin dropped a single to right-center to advance pinch-runner Kelsey Thornton to second and Alexia Clay advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt. The bases were loaded for Kathryn Lux after Brianna Jorgenborg’s infield single, and Lux stepped up with a sacrifice fly to center to put Notre Dame on the board.
Lauren Stuhr’s first career home run came with a bit of help in the third. Stuhr crushed the first pitch she saw to center, and Kerry Hodgins scaled the fence to make the catch but the ball caromed off her glove and dropped for the score.
The lead went to 3-0 when Alexa Maldonado and Heather Johnson added singles later in the frame.
Clay was walked and Jorgensborg beat out an infield grounder in the fourth as Stuhr’s second hit of the game loaded the bases for Maldonado. Maldonado skied a sacrifice fly to right and to give the Irish a 4-0 edge.
Miller added a solo home run on the first pitch of the fifth stanza, her team-high fourth of the season.
Miller, Jorgensborg and Stuhr each went 2-for-3.
Kaela DeBroeck (6-7) was busted for five earned runs on nine hits.
-Game 2-
A two-out single by Johnson was followed by Miller’s double to left-center in the opening inning. Buntin put Notre Dame on top, 1-0, with a single through to right.
Jenn Salling neutralized the score in the home half by sending a 3-2 offering from Jody Valdivia over the rightfield fence.
Bowe sparked the second with a double down the rightfield line and was later caught trying to nab third on Stuhr’s groundout to short. Victoria Hayward fired the rock from first to third and Morgan Stuart applied the tag on Bowe to end the inning.
Kaitlin Ingelsby (11-0) connected for another Washington (21-1) solo home run in the second. Salling was walked with two outs to load the bases and Valdivia fanned Williams to end the stanza.
No outs were on the board in the third when Johnson stepped into the box with Maldonado on second and Fleury on first. Maldonado led the inning with a single and Fleury was walked. Johnson’s textbook sacrifice bunt put both runners into scoring position but Ingelsby induced a pair of pop shots to leave them stranded.
Holding the Huskies scoreless in the third and fourth innings helped Notre Dame get back into the game in the fifth. Stuhr’s leadoff double prefaced a bloop single by Maldonado. Fleury pounded a rocket to left that stayed fair long enough to chip the foul pole, putting Notre Dame ahead by a 4-2 count.
Williams brought Washington within one, 4-3, on a solo homer to right-center to start the fifth for the home team. Her at-bat was lengthened when Bowe dropped a shallow foul ball towards first, resulting in the unearned run.
Shawna Wright nearly made it back-to-back home runs but Jorgensborg mounted her horse to make the grab while shouldering a piece of the fence in the process.
Jorgensborg and Clay reached base safely in the sixth although Notre Dame failed to produce an insurance run.
Washington’s fourth home run – a sixth-inning pinch-hit blast to center by Taylor Smith – tied the game at 4-4.
The solo home run streak ended soon after with William’s game-winning three-run blast.
Ingelsby gave up 10 hits and four earned runs in the win. Valdivia spanned 3.0 innings and was tagged for two earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts.
Winter suffered the first loss of her collegiate career by allowing five runs – four earned – on just four hits.
–ND–