March 5, 2000
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Notre Dame junior pitcher Malanie Alkire recorded her first career solo no-hitter to lead the Irish past Kentucky 8-0 Sunday morning in five innings at the State Line Classic. The Irish picked up their sixth straight victory and third consecutive shutout with the win to move to 10-4 overall, while the Wildcats dropped to 7-12 in 2000 and an 0-3 record for the tournament.
Notre Dame jumped out early in the first game of the morning, scoring three runs in the first inning. Alkire (Union City, Calif.) then helped her own cause in the second inning by belting a two-run homerun to straight away center field. Two batters later, sophomore Jarrah Myers (Carbondale, Kan.) took Kentucky pitcher Katie Howland deep to left field for another two-run homerun. The Irish then scored another run after junior Danielle Klayman (San Diego, Calif.) reached on an error and came around to score on one of Jennifer Kriech’s (Indianapolis, Ind.) two doubles for the game.
The Wildcats advanced only one runner to third and only two runners to second as Alkire surrendered three walks while tallying four strikeouts. The no-hitter was the 24th in Notre Dame history and the second (first solo) of Alkire’s career after tallying a combined no-hitter with then senior Angela Bessolo in the teams’s 8-0 win against Tennessee-Martin, Feb. 28, 1999.
The Irish advanced to the State Line Classic championship game against the winner of the Tennessee-Virginia Tech game.
1 2 3 4 5 R H EKentucky 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3Notre Dame 3 4 1 0 0 8 8 0
WP – Alkire (2-0)
LP – Howland (3-4)
HR – Alkire, Meyers
Records: Notre Dame 10-4, Kentucky 7-12