GREENVILLE, N.C. – The University of Notre Dame softball team prevailed Friday, winning its first two games of the Purple-Gold Classic. The Irish beat Maryland 5-2 to start off the day before taking down tournament host East Carolina 6-3 in nine innings to sweep the day. Notre Dame has won five of its last six games and is now 5-3 on the season.
Senior captain Mickey Winchell played hero for the Irish Friday night. With two on and two out in the top of the ninth of a tie game, Winchell, who regularly is a slap hitter, dug into the box and launched a ball up and over the right center field for a three-run homer. It was the first career home run for the Irish center fielder, which put Notre Dame up three.
Micaela Kastor, also a senior captain, closed the door on ECU. The senior threw five scoreless innings in relief of Kami Kamzik, striking out five and only allowing a pair of hits.
In the win over Maryland, Olivia Levitt came through yet again for the Irish. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, Levitt cleared them with a double, scoring Kaia Cortes, Tenley Sweet and Avery Houlihan to put the Irish up 3-0. Notre Dame tacked on another run in the fifth on a Winchell RBI single to score Sweet as the Irish held off a last chance Terrapin effort to win 5-2.
Starting pitcher Brianne Weiss was dominant in the win over Maryland. The sophomore left hander threw a complete game effort, striking out nine Terrapins in the win. Weiss now has 25 strikeouts in just over 20 innings in the young season.
Notre Dame will look to continue the impressive play with a clash against Buffalo at 10:00 a.m. and a rematch against East Carolina at 3:00 p.m.