CLEARWATER, Fla. – Coming off an electrifying victory last night against 15th-ranked Missouri, Notre Dame softball carried the momentum into Sunday’s contests during the final day of the NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic presented by Max BP. The Irish took down Penn State 4-2 in the morning before shutting out Bethune-Cookman 1-0 in the final game of the weekend.
Notre Dame’s pitching staff was phenomenal on the day, giving up only three runs in 14.0 combined innings. The Irish pitching staff struck out 13 opposing batters on the day.
The Irish have now won three in a row and improve to 3-3 this season.
Penn State Recap
For a second consecutive game, the Irish got a brilliant performance in the circle. Sophomore right hander Kami Kamzik went the distance, allowing only two runs on four hits across seven innings. Kamzik struck out six batters on the day, and has struck out 13 already this season.
Notre Dame struck quickly in the bottom of the first. Addison Amaral and Kaia Cortes had consecutive RBI singles to put the Irish up 2-0 before Penn State recorded an out. With traffic on for Notre Dame, the Nittany Lions induced a ground ball double play to escape any further damage.
The Irish would attack again in the third. Cortes led off the bottom half of the inning with a double before advancing to third the next play. After falling behind 1-2, Paige Cowley fought off a tough two strike pitch, flying it into left field to score Cortes on a sac fly. Later in the inning, Mickey Winchell would leg out an infield single that scored Anna Holloway, who walked earlier. Notre Dame took a 4-0 lead into the fourth inning.
Penn State would cut the deficit in half in the fourth after Natalie Lieto lined a ball into the right field gap and rounded second for third. Emily Tran played it off the wall and fired it to Anna Holloway who perfectly executed the relay throw to Caroline O’Brien at third to tag out the aggressive Penn State baserunner and halt any Nittany Lion momentum.
Kamzik settled back into a groove after that, punching out three-straight Nittany Lions and keep Penn State off the scoreboard through six innings.
Kamzik would return in the top of the seventh. After an infield single, the sophomore pitcher induced a ground ball double play to shortstop that Amaral took the bag herself then fired over to Cortes at first to put the Notre Dame one out away.
She would get her sixth strikeout of the game on the final batter, catching a Penn State batter looking to send Notre Dame to its second consecutive victory. Kamzik gets her first win this year and has an ERA of 2.44 in 14.1 innings pitched to start the season.
Bethune-Cookman Recap
After a dominant performance last night against No. 15 Missouri, Micaela Kastor returned to the circle for game two. Bethune-Cookman would load the bases with two outs off an error, walk and hit by pitch to start the game. But like she did a night ago, Kastor got out of trouble, getting a weak ground ball to first to escape the jam.
The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the third inning. After back-to-back singles from Caitlyn Early and Emily Tran, O’Brien bunted them over to put two in scoring position with one out for Amaral. The Irish shortstop hit a towering fly ball to center but was caught just in front of the warning track. Early would score the first run of the game on the sacrifice fly after recording her first career hit earlier in the inning. For Amaral, it was her sixth RBI of the season.
Alexis Laudenslager would relieve Kastor to start the top of the fifth. Kastor went 4 innings, giving up only one hit and two free passes. The junior struck out five wildcats on the afternoon and and was named to the all-tournament team.
Laudenslager danced around two in scoring position in the fifth, getting a weak fly out to Poeck in right to halt the Bethune-Cookman rally.
Shannon Becker entered the game in the top half of the seven, looking for three outs and the save. Becker, who led the team with five saves in 2024, got a leadoff pop-up on a full count for out number one.
A hit by pitch with two strikes gave the Wildcats life, but a quick fly out followed by a ground out to O’Brien at third gave the Irish the victory.
Notre Dame is back in action next week at The Battle of the Beach in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.