April 24, 2001
The University of Notre Dame softball team (41-3) stretched its win streak to 23 with a convincing 8-0 victory at the University of Illinois-Chicago Tuesday evening. The Irish have not lost since dropping a hard-fought 5-4 barn burner against #9 Cal State Fullerton in the semifinals of the Kia Klassic on March 18.
The Irish jumped on the scoreboard quickly against the Flames, putting three runs on the board in the top of the first. Junior Jenny Kriech (Indianapolis, Ind.) rifled a 3-1 pitch into right field to lead off the inning and advanced to second when Danielle Klayman (San Diego, Calif.) reached on an error by UIC first base Jacquelyne Vaca.
Melanie Alkire (Union City, Calif.) followed with a sharp line out to right field for the first out of the inning. Irish cleanup hitter Jarrah Myers (Carbondale, Calif.) came through with a single to leftfield, allowing Kriech to score while Klayman advanced to third.
Lizzy Lemire (Irvine, Calif.) then surprised the Flames defense with a bunt that Aguilar fielded cleanly but threw into right field. By the time the ball returned to the infield, Klayman and Myers had scored while Lemire advanced to third base.
Aguilar was pulled in favor of Alycia Creese and the UIC relief pitcher was able to escape further damage by getting Andrea Loman (Riverside, Calif.) to ground out and Andria Bledsoe (Higley, Ariz.) to fly out.
Irish starting pitcher Jen Sharron (Agoura Hills, Calif.) walked Edel Layden with one out in the bottom of the first, but immediately induced a double play ball by UIC’s Amanda Rivera to end the inning.
The Irish offense remained quiet over the next two innings while they adjusted to the new pitcher. The Flames, however, mounted a rally in the bottom of the third. Emily Stoddard singled to start the inning, but Sharron came right back to strike out Emily Hallman on a 3-2 pitch. Leyden, who finished two-for-three in the game, then lined a deep double into the right-centerfield gap that might have scored Stoddard, but the UIC second base got a bad jump on the ball and the Irish defense was able to hold her at third base.
With both runners in scoring position, Sharron got Rivera to pop up a 3-1 pitch for the second out of the inning. The Irish followed by issuing an intentional walk to Stefanie Christoferson, and the plan worked when Vaca popped up the first pitch she received to end the inning.
Notre Dame’s bats began to come alive again in the top of the fourth. After a Lemire fly out, Loman drew a four-pitch walk and Bledsoe followed with her eighth double of the season which allowed Loman to hustle all the way around to score.
Kristin Schmidt (Houston, Texas) took the mound in the bottom of the fourth for the Irish and had an immediate impact. The rookie worked a one-two-three inning with two strikeouts to get the anxious Irish offense back into the batter’s box as quick as possible.
Alexis Madrid (Temecula, Calif.), who became the sixth Irish batter this season to increase her batting average over .300 with a two-for-two performance today, led off the top of the fifth with a single. Two pitches later, Madrid stole second followed by a Kriech fly out. Klayman then lined the first pitch to leftfield, but what seemed to be a hit was taken away by a perfect UIC defensive shift. Now with two outs on the scoreboard, Madrid looked destined to be stranded at second base.
Alkire drew a five pitch walk, though, and Myers followed by earning a four-pitch free trip to first base. Lemire came through with her 29th and 30th RBI of the season by drilling a 3-2 pitch down the leftfield line for a double.
The final two Irish runs came in the top of the seventh. Kriech singled to leftfield for her second hit of the day, allowing the Irish leadoff hitter to increase her batting average to .403 on the season. Chantal DeAlcuaz (Modesto, Calif.) pinch hit for Klayman and popped the first pitch up to first base. Alkire followed with a single to right, allowing Kriech to move to second base. After Lemire fouled out to third base, Loman stroked her 11th double of the season down the leftfield line, driving in Alkire and Kriech for the seventh and eighth Irish runs of the game.
Schmidt worked a perfect seventh inning to earn her 20th victory of the season and combined with Sharron for Notre Dame’s 21st shutout of the year. Schmidt lowered her season ERA to 0.49, while Sharron now stands at 1.17.
The Irish return home for a doubleheader with Toledo at Ivy Field tomorrow, April 25, at 4 p.m..