Feb. 12, 2005
The University of Notre Dame softball team (1-2) earned its first victory of the season 2-0 over Coastal Carolina (3-4) at the GRU Classic in Gainesville, Fla., on Saturday morning. With the win, the Irish move on to a rematch with either Florida or South Florida at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night.
Notre Dame was able to string together a series of hits for the first time this season, scoring on back-to-back doubles in the fourth inning and an RBI single in the fifth. Junior Heather Booth earned her first pitching victory of the season, throwing seven solid innings, giving up two hits and striking out three.
The top of Notre Dame’s lineup came through with three of the team’s five hits, while Liz Hartmann and Katie Laing picked up their first base knocks of the season.
The teams played three scoreless innings to begin the game until the Irish finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth. Junior Kellie Middleton led off with a double down the leftfield line, which was followed by a double from senior Megan Ciolli – driving Middleton in with the first run of the game.
The Irish tacked on another run in the fifth when Laing led off with her first career hit – a double into the left-centerfield gap. After two consecutive pop ups, sophomore Stephanie Brown drove a ground ball deep up the middle. Coastal Carolina shortstop Ashley Gerdts moved over to get the ball, but Brown (one of the fastest players on the Irish team) was already two steps away from the first base bag.
Gerdts uncorked a throw to first and Irish head coach Deanna Gumpf, on top of the play, did not hesitate to send Laing around third base. The Irish freshman shortstop easily scored, while Brown ended up at second base on the throw home with an RBI single.
Trish Kretchman took the loss for CCU, throwing six innings while giving up five hits and two earned runs.
The GRU Classic continues this evening, as Notre Dame has locked up the third seed in the tournament final games and still has an outside shot at the tournament title.