Feb. 13, 2005
Just 48 hours after falling to 0-2 on the season, the University of Notre Dame softball team rallied to win three straight games in the GRU Classic in Gainesville, Fla., finishing off the host team, #19 Florida, 4-2, to claim the tournament title. Two losses on Friday sent the Irish back to the drawing board in an effort to find their 2005 identity. Three wins later, Notre Dame took a strong step forward by defeating one of the hottest teams in the nation.
Florida had started the season 11-0, off to its best start in school history. The Irish had not won a preseason tournament on the first weekend of the season since 2001 (South Florida’s Holiday Inn Invitational). Both those streaks ended on Sunday behind a season-high nine hits from the Irish and a gutsy pitching performance by junior Heather Booth.
With the Notre Dame offense finally finding its stride in the game, Booth continued to battle through a series of walks to strikeout eight batters and scatter five hits to pick up her second victory of the season. There were no two strikeouts bigger than her back-to-back K’s in the bottom of the sixth, when Florida put the tying run at second base with one out. Booth cut down Savana Kelly and Shelly Stevens in order to escape the inning.
On offense, three Irish players logged three hits – including two RBI singles from senior Megan Ciolli. Ciolli drove in the winning run in the fifth inning – then followed up with a insurance RBI in the top of the seventh. Freshman Katie Laing posted two doubles in the game, scoring on both opportunities while junior Sara Schoonaert notched her first two hits of the season, including an RBI single in the fifth inning.
Notre Dame chased Florida starting pitcher Stacey Stevens out of the game in the fifth inning and handed the sophomore righthander her first loss of the year. Stevens worked 4.2 innings, allowing six hits, three runs (all earned) and striking out two. Mandy Shuerman finished off the game with 2.1 innings, three hits and one run.
A defensive miscue by the Irish gave the Gators their first run of the game. Back-to-back singles by Shelley Stevens and Lindsay Northfleet put runners on first and second with no outs in the bottom of the first inning. Stevens eventually scored on an error by Irish third basemen Liz Hartmann, attempting to tag a runner on a double steal. Booth escaped further damage in the inning with a strike out and ground out.
Notre Dame answered the run in the third inning when Laing led off with her first double. Sophomore Gessica Hufnagle moved her to third with her first of two sacrifice bunts in the game and she scored on a ground out RBI by sophomore Stephanie Brown.
The Irish then jumped ahead 3-1 in the contest when Laing once again led off an inning (the fifth) with a double. Hufnagle once again moved her to third and she scored on Schoonaert’s first hit of the season – a solid single through the middle of the Gator defense. After Brown fouled out, Middleton singled to move Schoonaert into scoring position and she came home on an RBI single to leftfield from Ciolli.
Florida drew within one run in the sixth inning when Nikki Baldwin posted a one-out single. Lauren Roussell followed with an RBI double and Booth eventually walked the next batter to push the tying run to second base. The Irish junior righthander dug deep, however, getting her two consecutive strikeouts to end the inning.
The GRU Classic title provides the Irish with a chance to put their first day of the season behind them. Notre Dame lost the first two games of the tournament to Florida and South Florida, but rebounded to win three straight games on Saturday and Sunday. The wins against #21 South Florida and #19 Florida mark the first time since 2001 that the Irish have claimed two consecutive wins over a ranked opponent (the Irish swept a doubleheader from #10 DePaul in ’01) and it is the first time since 2000 that the squad has defeated two different ranked teams in back-to-back games (vs. #16 La.-Lafayette, 4-2, and #6 Oklahoma, 4-2 on March 18 and 19).
The Irish will return to action next weekend at the Campbell-Cartier Tournament hosted by San Diego State. Notre Dame will face Utah at 9 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 18.