March 28, 2010
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Notre Dame swept its three-game BIG EAST Conference opening series against Seton Hall with a 13-3 win Sunday at Ivy Hill Park. The Irish had 16 hits including doubles by Sadie Pitzenberger, Brianna Jorgensborg and Alexa Maldonado. Pitzenberger was 3-for-4 with three hits and three RBI to help Notre Dame improve to 24-5 overall and 3-0 in the BIG EAST.
Notre Dame was tied with Seton Hall (5-14, 0-3) after one complete inning, 2-2, and went on to post two runs in the fourth, five in the fifth and four in the seventh.
Katie Fleury had three hits, two RBI and stole two bases. Dani Miller and two hits and Jorgensborg scored twice. Maldonado was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBI.
Striking out 11 in the winning effort was Jody Valdivia (18-2), who won her 17th straight from the circle. Ashley Forsyth (3-5) gave up nine hits and five earned runs. Katie Stilwell gave up three runs and Hannah Hill surrendered four runs in the final 2.0 innings.
The Irish put their 11-game winning streak on the line at 5:00 p.m. (ET) Tuesday at Loyola-Chicago.
Pitzenberger singled in the first and scored on Heather Johnson’s sacrifice fly. Miller had a single through the right side of the infield for Notre Dame’s second run.
Nicole Loewenstein tied things with a two-run dinger in the bottom half of the frame.
Fleury and Alexia Clay singled in the third but the Irish left the bases loaded.
Jorgensborg and Maldonado hit consecutive doubles in the fourth and Pitzenberger singled to plate Notre Dame’s fourth run.
Each Irish batter got a plate appearance in the fifth en route to scoring five runs on just three hits.
Kristina Wright, Kelsey Thornton, Kathryn Lux, Pitzenberger and Johnson had hits in the final inning to bring home four more runs.
–ND–