April 2, 2000
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 21st-ranked Notre Dame softball team put on an offensive show in a BIG EAST doubleheader sweep of the visiting Providence College Friars Sunday at Ivy Field. The Irish, who improved to 26-9 overall and 3-1 in conference, won the first game 16-0 and then completed the sweep with a 9-3 victory in game two.
After a 45-minute delay due to rain prior to game one, the Irish scored in both the first and second innings, pushing across one run in the first on sophomore Jarrah Myers’ (Carbondale, Kan.) two-out double and then adding eight runs in the second, highlighted by freshman Andrea Loman’s (Riverside, Calif.) bases-clearing double to center field. Notre Dame continued to swing the bats well in the third inning, moving their lead to 15-0 with six more runs, including a three-run home run by junior Melanie Alkire (Union City, Calif.), her sixth of the year.
Freshman Lisa Mattison (Granger, Ind.), who entered the game in the top of the third inning for Loman, drove in the team’s last run with her second double of the game to left field.
Notre Dame pitcher Jennifer Sharron (Agoura Hills, Calif.) earned the win by allowing just two hits and striking out six in five innings to record her eighth shutout of 2000. For the game, all 13 Irish players who recorded at-bats had at least one hit, with the team garnering 14 hits for the second time this season. The 16-0 victory was the Notre Dame’s largest winning margin and most runs scored in a game since the 1994 victory over Robert Morris (18-0).
Notre Dame maintained its momentum into the second game of the doubleheader, scoring five unearned runs in the bottom of the second, including two on a double up the left field line by Loman. An inning later, Irish sophomore Kas Hoag (Wallingford, Conn.) drove in the team’s sixth run of the game with a ground ball up the middle to score junior Lizzy Lemire (Irvine, Calif.) from second.
The Friars finally got on the board in the top of the fourth inning when catcher Kerri Jacklets launched her team’s first hit of the game over the left field fence to also score third baseman Nicole Nelson, who had walked. The next batter Jami Servidone singled and first baseman Heather Nathan walked to put runners at first and second and no outs. Shortstop Amber Carr then doubled to left field to score Servidone and close the Irish lead to three at 6-3. Notre Dame starting pitcher Michele Moschel (Naples, Fla.), however, stopped Providence’s run, retiring the next three batters.
With two outs in the fourth, the Irish got back all three runs on Lemire’s and freshman Alexis Madrid’s (Temecula, Calif.) RBI singles and junior Danielle Klayman’s (San Diego, Calif.) RBI double to left field.
Sharron, who entered the game in relief of Moschel in the top of fifth inning, and her sister freshman Jessica Sharron (Agoura Hills, Calif.) combined to shut the Friars down the rest of the game and preserve the 9-3 Irish win.
Notre Dame will play host to the first of three home doubleheaders next week when DePaul travels to Ivy Field Tuesday at 3 p.m.