May 4, 2001
The University of Notre Dame softball team clinched its sixth-consecutive BIG EAST regular-season title with an 8-0 victory at Villanova on Friday. The Irish are now 49-3 on the season and boast an 18-0 record in BIG EAST competition this season.
Notre Dame was able to put runs on the board in the first inning against Wildcat starting pitcher Keri Stoller. After Jenny Kriech (Indianapolis, Ind.) drew a leadoff walk and stole second base, Danielle Klayman (San Diego, Calif.) bounced into a fielder’s choice and Kriech was thrown out a third.
Melanie Alkire (Union City, Calif.) then drew a walk to move Klayman into scoring position, but Jarrah Myers (Carbondale, Kan.) struck out swinging for the second out of the inning. Lizzy Lemire (Irvine, Calif.) came through with an RBI single to leftfield, followed by a similar Andrea Loman (Riverside, Calif.) hit through the left side to give the Irish a two-run cushion.
Notre Dame starting pitcher Jen Sharron (Agoura Hills, Calif.) worked another brilliant conference outing in the first game, giving up just three hits and striking out five. Villanova was unable to muster any significant offense off the Irish lefthander, as only one Wildcat batter was able to make it to third base during the contest.
As Sharron kept the Villanova offense under control, Notre Dame would post six more runs in the middle three innings to end the game early on softball’s eight-run rule.
Loman led off the fourth inning by surprising the Wildcat defense with a perfect bunt single down the leftfield line. After Loman stole second, Andria Bledsoe (Higley, Ariz.) lined a single into leftfield to drive the Irish first base home. Sharron then drew a four-pitch walk and Nicole deFau (Southington, Conn.) came in to run for the Irish pitcher.
With the now bases loaded, Alexis Madrid (Temecula, Calif.) bounced into a fielder’s choice and Loman was thrown out at home plate. Kriech was due next, and the Irish leadoff hitter came through with a double through the hole into leftfield to score two Irish runs and advance Madrid to third.
Madrid would end up scoring on a passed ball on the next pitch, while Kriech advanced to third with Klayman in the batter’s box. The Irish centerfield reached on a fielding error by VU second base Ricci Lugo that enabled Kriech to score the fourth run of the inning and provide the Irish a 6-0 lead.
Notre Dame added two more runs in the top of the sixth. After a Bledsoe flyout, Sharron came through with her second home run of the season – a solo shot to straight-away centerfield.
Madrid followed with an infield single and would score the eighth Irish run of the game on a Lisa Mattison (Granger, Ind.) pinch-hit double.
Sharron worked a perfect one-two-three inning in the bottom of the sixth to her 25th victory of the season and lower her ERA to 1.01.
With the BIG EAST regular-season title in hand, the Irish moved on to claim their ninth-straight conference doubleheader sweep in game two.
Notre Dame got on the board in the second inning when Loman (who finished four-for-six in the doubleheader) singled and moved to second on a Lemire sacrifice bunt. Loman then made a heads-up play, stealing third base when the Villanova defense fell asleep. Bledsoe followed with her second RBI single of the day. After a Mattison groundout, Madrid drilled a 1-1 pitch into the right-centerfield gap for her second career triple that allowed Bledsoe to score and give the Irish a 2-0 lead.
Once again, freshman pitcher Kristin Schmidt (Houston, Texas) made sure that any lead would be sufficient enough for a Notre Dame victory. Schmidt pitched her eighth career one-hitter against the Wildcats, surrendering just a flair hit that escaped the diving attempt of Lemire in the bottom of the sixth. The rookie did not put up her traditional high strike out total (only two Wildcats batters whiffed in the game), but Villanova was never able to make a solid contact on the righthander. She is now 24-1 on the season with a 0.41 ERA. She has not given up a run in nine conference appearances this season.
The Irish would add two insurance runs in the fourth and the seventh to earn their 49th victory of the season and push the nation’s best winning streak to 31 games.
Notre Dame will return to action tomorrow at Rutgers, with the doubleheader set for a 10:30 a.m. start.