The University of Notre Dame softball team (16-9, 1-2 ACC) completed its Atlantic Coast Conference series opener at No. 3 Florida State (27-2, 2-1) with a 5-0 loss on Sunday afternoon. After the 7-4 Irish victory on Saturday, Seminole pitcher Meghan King (14-1) shut down the Notre Dame offense to earn her first no-hitter of the season.
Notre Dame’s pitchers avoided surrendering any big hits on the day, but five walks would come back to haunt the staff. Morgan Ryan, Alexis Holloway and Payton Tidd would combine for six hits, five runs and three strikeouts.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Florida State tagged starting pitcher Morgan Ryan for two runs in the first inning, loading the bases with two singles and a walk. A bobbled play at second base allowed the first run of the game to score and the Seminoles followed with an RBI ground out. Melissa Rochford ended the inning with a great play at third base, stabbing a line drive then turning around to step on the bag for the double play.
Holloway entered to pitch the second inning for the Irish and kept the home team off the board through the next two innings. In the bottom of the fourth, Florida State added three more runs on three hits – the biggest a two-RBI double down the left field line after Tidd had entered in relief with two outs.
Tidd would close out the game with 2.1 innings, allowing one hit and striking out two. The Irish offense, however, could not get anything going against King. Cait Brooks gave one pitch a ride to the wall in the top of the seventh, but King would eventually record her third career no-hitter.
NEXT UP
The Irish will return to campus for the 2019 home opener with UIC on Wednesday, March 20, at 5:30 p.m. The following weekend, the Irish will play host to their first home ACC series of the season with Louisville. Fans can stay tuned to @NDSoftball on Twitter for the latest schedule updates, should changes occur.