May 22, 2010
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Jordan Taylor had 11 strikeouts for No. 2 Michigan while limiting No. 24 Notre Dame to three hits in an 8-0, five-inning Wolverine win Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field. Taylor was backed by three-run homers from Maggie Viefhaus and Nikki Nemitz, both of which came in the third inning, to hand second-seeded Notre Dame its first loss in the NCAA Ann Arbor Regional.
The top-seeded Wolverines (48-6) advanced to the championship game of the four-team bracket which will be played at 3:30 p.m. (ET) on Sunday. Notre Dame will play Saturday evening against the winner of the elimination game between third-seeded Illinois State and fourth-seeded Wright State.
Notre Dame (46-11) got 3.0 innings from BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year Jody Valdivia (37-6), who gave up seven earned runs on five hits. Brittany O’Donnell tossed the final stanza and struck out one while giving up one run on one hit.
Michigan struck first with an RBI-single in the second by Stephanie Kirkpatrick to score Jaclyn Crummey from second. Crummey was pinch-running for Dorian Shaw, who was walked to start the frame, and moved ahead one bag on an Amanda Chidester sacrifice bunt.
Viefhaus made her 18th home run of the season good for three more scores, bringing home Bree Evans and Angela Findlay in the bottom of the third to put Michigan ahead, 4-0. Nikki Nemitz added another three-run home run in the same inning.
Sadie Pitzenberger singled for Notre Dame in the first and was left on base.
Dani Miller smacked the first pitch of the second into the wall in right-center, a few feet shy of a solo home run. Taylor (25-3) sent back the next three batters on strikes.
Heather Johnson added a single for Notre Dame.
Viefhaus was the only player with two hits in the contest.
–ND–