April 8, 2001
The University of Notre Dame softball team finished up an impressive weekend of BIG EAST Conference competition with two 6-0 victories at Syracuse (5-16, 1-5) on Sunday afternoon. The 11th-ranked Irish are now 32-3 on the season and have run their BIG EAST record to 8-0.
The last Notre Dame loss occurred on March 18, to eventual Kia Klassic champion Cal State Fullerton. Since the setback, the Irish have rattled off 14 straight victories in seven doubleheaders. The Irish pitching staff has allowed just 10 runs to cross the plate during that span, including shutting out both Connecticut (6-0, 1-0) and Syracuse on the road this past weekend.
Notre Dame had never before traveled to Syracuse, as it is the Orangewomen’s first season of BIG EAST competition and second season of varsity softball. Strong storms moved through the area Saturday night and soaked the infield of Syracuse’s Skytop Stadium, pushing the starting time of game one back a half-hour to 12:30 p.m., while the grounds crew worked on the field.
The Notre Dame offense had a hard time getting on track early in game one. After a lead off triple by Jenny Kriech, Syracuse starting pitcher Heather Brown retired eight straight Irish batters until Kriech reached on an error in the third inning.
Brown would keep the Irish off the scoreboard until the fifth inning. Andria Bledsoe, one of the stars for her team the entire day, posted her first of three hits in the game with a lead off single. Jen Sharron then moved Bledsoe into scoring position with a perfect sacrifice bunt and Danielle Klayman brought Bledsoe home with an RBI single.
Sharron returned to the pitching circle and quickly moved through the bottom of the fifth with two strikeouts on eight pitches and a pop-fly.
Jarrah Myers began Notre Dame’s half of the sixth by reaching on an error and Lizzy Lemire singled to the shortstop to put runners on first and second. Andrea Loman was then robbed of a hit when Syracuse shortstop Lindsay Richards stabbed her line drive out of the sky and doubled off Myers at second base.
Bledsoe was due next, though, and smacked a 1-0 pitch deep over the head of the SU center fielder for a double while Lemire scampered all the way around from first to score.
Sharron looked like she was going to work another one-two-three inning in the sixth after striking out the first two batters, but she committed a throwing error on a routine grounder to extend the inning. Syracuse third base Jackie Herrman then tagged Sharron for a single, putting a runner in scoring position for the first time in the game. The Irish left-hander recovered by inducing a ground ball out to end the inning.
Notre Dame would post four runs in the seventh inning, coming on three RBI singles (by Kriech, Melanie Alkire and Bledsoe) and an RBI double by Lemire.
The Orangewomen refused to go quietly in the bottom of the seventh. Richards led off with a first-pitch double. Sharron got her ninth strikeout of the game by getting Missy Bieman swinging on a 2-2 pitch. Syracuse’s Nikki Lincoln would keep the pressure on with a single that moved Richards to third base with one out. Sharron calmed down to get a ground out to shortstop and a line out to third base to end the game and earn her 17th victory of the season.
The Irish wasted little time getting on the scoreboard in game two. Myers led off the second inning with a single and Lemire followed with a two-run homer over the centerfield fence to put her team up 2-0. It was Lemire’s second homer of the season and eighth of her career.
After Loman drew a walk and was caught attempting to steal for the first out of the inning, Bledsoe singled to leftfield for her fourth hit of the day. The Irish sophomore then attempted to steal second base, but the throw from Syracuse catcher Jaime Grillo forced her shortstop, Richards, far down the basepath. Richards and Bledsoe suffered a violent collision. Both players stayed down for a long time and eventually had to be helped off the field. The severity of Bledsoe’s injury was not known at the time of this release.
The injury forced Syracuse to move its starting pitcher, Tara DiMaggio, to shortstop to replace Richards. Bieman moved into the pitching circle for the Orangewomen while Hoag took over to run for Bledsoe (who was ruled safe on the play). Alexis Madrid followed up with a single to shortstop, repeated by Kriech which allowed Hoag to score the third run of the inning.
The Irish would score three more runs in the game on a Loman RBI double in the third and RBI singles by Lisa Mattison and Hoag in the fifth.
As the Irish offense stayed in top form throughout the second game (Notre Dame would eventually post a season-high 15 hits), starting pitcher Kristin Schmidt continued to flirt with a no-hitter. The Irish freshman would eventually surrender just one hit, a bunt single by SU’s Beck Snyder. It is Schmidt’s fifth one-hitter of the season, but the complete-game seven-strikeout performance pushed her rookie-season record to 15-1.
Notre Dame returns to action Wednesday, April 11, at 3:30 p.m., vs. Bowling Green at Ivy Field.
DOUBLEHEADER NOTES: Andria Bledsoe’s injury forced an Irish defensive change … Melanie Alkire moved to third, Alexis Madrid moved to shortstop and Nicole deFau came into the game at second base … Bledsoe’s injury darkened one of the Irish sophomore’s brightest days at the plate (four-for-five, one run, two RBI) … Lizzy Lemire continues to swing a hot bat, finishing four-for-seven on the day with four runs scored and three RBI … Notre Dame’s team ERA continues to drop … the Irish now boast a 0.98 team ERA … Schmidt boasts a 0.57 mark while Sharron is at 1.17.