SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame earned a 9-1 six inning victory over the visiting Indiana Hoosiers Wednesday night at Melissa Cook Stadium. Indiana entered the contest receiving votes in several national polls, including a No. 24 ranking according to D1Softball.com. The Fighting Irish improve to 25-11-1 on the season, while Indiana is now 31-12.
Payton Tidd threw the complete game in the circle. Tidd matched a season-high seven strikeouts, throwing 6.0 innings, allowing three hits and an earned run in her 12th win of the season.
The Irish offense was led by Mickey Winchell out of the nine-spot. The freshman outfielder finished with three of the offense’s 12 hits, driving in two and scoring a run. Lexi Orozco added a 2-for-3 effort with an RBi and a run scored, with Carlli Kloss finishing 2-for-4. Joley Mitchell, Cassidy Grimm, Lea Hanks, Macie Eck and Anna Holloway each added a hit in the victory.
How It Happened
Indiana got on the board first in the second inning. A lead off hit batter and a stolen base set up the Hoosiers with a runner in scoring position. A single to left brought her in and Indiana took the 1-0 lead.
It was all Irish after that, as Notre Dame scored nine unanswered runs to earn the win.
The Irish took the lead in the bottom of the third, with two runs. A lead-off double from Eck started the rally, and a bunt single put runners on the corners. Winchell drove a single up the middle to score one. A fielder’s choice put runners on the corners as a wild pitch brought in Anna Holloway to put the Irish up, 2-1.
Notre Dame played three more runs in the fourth. A lead-off single and an error on a fielder’s choice put two on. Tidd dropped down a sacrifice bunt, and Emily Tran, who was pinch running for Orozco, slid around the tag attempt at home for the third run. An RBI ground out from Holloway and Winchell again up the middle scored the next two as the Irish took the 5-1 lead.
Three more runs came in in the fourth. Mitchell led off with a single, a walk to Gaskins and back-to-back RBI singles from Orozco and Hanks put Notre Dame up 7-1. Eck followed with a ground ball to the right side to add another run to extend it to 8-1.
The sixth inning started with a bunt single by Winchell, followed by another single from Kloss. A double steal put two in scoring position for Cassidy Grimm who drove a single the other way to bring in the ninth and final run of the game.
Up Next
The Irish return to action this weekend at Melissa Cook Stadium. Notre Dame will play host to the #14/17 Virginia Tech Hokies in a three-game ACC series beginning Friday evening.