MOBILE, Ala. – Senior Shannon Becker tossed the 40th solo no-hitter in Notre Dame history, and the 60th overall, against Maine Saturday at the Mardi Gras Classic on the campus of South Alabama. Notre Dame beat Black Bears 8-0 in six innings.
Becker’s final stat line was 6 innings pitched, 0 hits, 0 earned runs and 6 strikeouts. The only base runner to reach for Maine was a walk in the fourth inning. It was the first no hitter by an Irish pitcher since 2022 (Alexis Holloway, April 15, 2022 against Clemson). Becker lowered her ERA to 3.20 on the season.
As a team, Notre Dame didn’t allow its first hit until the third inning of the South Alabama game (8.1 innings).
The Irish totaled 19 hits on Saturday and stole six bases on the day.
Maine Recap
In the first matchup between the two programs in nearly 25 years, Becker got the start against Maine after tossing four innings yesterday against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. She started off the day for Notre Dame with a 1-2-3 first inning.
The Irish put on traffic in the bottom half of the opening inning. Olivia Levitt, moving into the three-hole today, lined a ball into right center field to keep her bat hot this weekend. Addison Amaral walked after that, followed by a Paige Cowley hit by pitch to load the bases, but a Maine strikeout would get the Black Bears out of the jam.
Next time up, Notre Dame put more traffic on. Rachel Allen and Jane Kronenberger hit back-to-back singles, then advanced to scoring position after a perfect sacrifice bunt from Anna Holloway. With two outs, Mickey Winchell came through, delivering a liner over the shortstop’s head into left field to score the pair as the Irish took a 2-0 lead after two.
Becker continued to deal in the circle, not allowing a baserunner after three innings. The senior had five strikeouts after the first time through the Maine lineup.
Notre Dame added another run to the board in the bottom of the fifth. Caitlyn Early hit a sharp ground ball through the left side to reach first. After a fielder’s choice, Allen knocked a pitch into the right center for a single, but both runners would advance a base after an errant throw to put two in scoring position with one out. An RBI fielder’s choice from Kronenberger made it 3-0 Irish after five.
Becker came out and did her thing in the top of the sixth. The right hander got two fly outs and a pop up in the infield in what would be her final out of history.
The Irish got back-to-back baserunners to start off the top half of the seventh after a walk and single. That’s when Levitt delivered her third hit of the game, a double into the right-center field gap to score Christina Willemssen and Winchell to push the lead to five. Early would follow that up with her second single through the left side to score two. The freshman would then come around to score the eighth and final run on a wild pitch to give the Irish the 8-0 victory in six innings.
South Alabama Recap
In a rematch of last night’s nightcap, Notre Dame got two base hits in the top of the first from Amaral and Cowley, but South Alabama starter Olivia Cato was able to escape danger with a strikeout to end the half inning.
Kami Kamzik got the nod in game two of the day. Kamzik tossed two innings in yesterday’s game against Texas A&M-CC, striking out five. She entered Saturday with 30 strikeouts on the season, tied for the team lead. The sophomore logged a 1-2-3 first inning against the Jaguars.
Cato would yet again dance around a couple Irish base runners. After consecutive hits from Holloway and Emily Tran, an Amaral liner to right held up just enough for right fielder Ansleigh Smith to catch it in the palm of her glove to keep Notre Dame off the board.
In the bottom of the second, South Alabama was able to scratch across its first run without a hit, capitalizing on a couple free passes and Irish errors. The Jaguars led 1-0 after two.
A solo homer to center in the bottom of the third put South Alabama up 2-0.
The Irish would cut the lead in half in the top of the fourth when Tran found a hole in the right side of the infield to bring home Kronenberger to make it a 2-1 ballgame.
Reminiscent of last night, this one went back and forth. After a leadoff double, the Jaguars would score their third run of the game on an RBI single that clipped Kamzik and rolled into right field.
The Irish threatened in the top of the fifth, getting a hit by pitch and walk. But with two outs, Sydney Poeck hit a sky-high fly ball down the left field line that was run down to end the threat.
A leadoff triple to start the bottom half of the fifth would chase Kamzik. She finished the night with a line of 4 innings pitched, 4 hits, 4 runs (3 earned) and two punchouts. Micaela Kastor would relieve her. South Alabama would score that runner from third on a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1. A three-run homer later in the inning made it 7-1.
The Jaguars would tack on two more in the bottom of the sixth when the game was called.
Notre Dame closes out the Mardi Gras Classic tomorrow morning against Lipscomb at a new time of 9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET. Game times tomorrow are moved up an hour to avoid any potential weather in the Mobile forecast.