BLACKSBURG, Va. — Notre Dame (26-12, 17-10 ACC) completed its series sweep of No. 15/13 Virginia Tech (28-11, 19-11 ACC) Sunday with a 3-1 win. Junior Payton Tidd pitched a complete game and earned the win in the circle, improving to 13-5 on the season.
With the 2-1 and 6-5 wins Friday, and the 4-3 (nine inning) win Saturday, the weekend marked the first ACC series Virginia Tech has not won all season. The last time the Irish swept a series against a ranked team also came against Virginia Tech (March 28-29, 2015). The Irish are now 5-7 against ranked teams this season, and have totaled 98 victories over Top 25 teams since 1994.
Big-time home runs again made the difference for the Irish, as freshman Karina Gaskins scored the deciding run on a leadoff solo homer in the sixth, while junior Quinn Biggio followed with another solo bomb later that inning for an insurance run.
Tidd was solid in the circle, throwing four strikeouts and issuing just one walk through her 7.0 innings.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams went scoreless through the first two innings, as Tidd and the Irish stranded two Virginia Tech runners on base. In the top of the third, graduate student Chelsea Purcell delivered a one-out single, reaching second on a groundout from freshman Cassidy Grimm. Senior Abby Sweet sent another single to push Purcell to third, and sophomore Leea Hanks took her first pitch for an infield single that scored Purcell. Sweet beat the throw to get to second safely.
In the bottom of the inning, the Hokies threatened with a leadoff walk and single, and a later groundout pushed the runners to second and third with two outs. Purcell took care of the final ball to keep Virginia Tech off the board and strand the two runners.
The fourth was scoreless for both teams, as Tidd added two more strikeouts to her total.
In the fifth, the Irish had two runners in scoring position, but were stranded without more runs, and in the bottom of the inning, Virginia Tech sent a two-out single, reaching second on a steal. The Hokies then singled to send the runner to the plate, who narrowly avoided the tag at home to score and tie the game 1-1.
Gaskins led off in the sixth and sent a long solo home run to make the score 2-1, her ninth home run of the season. After two outs, Biggio entered to pinch hit, and took her second pitch for another solo homer, Biggio’s fifth of the year. The top half of the sixth ended with a 3-1 score, and the Irish retired the Virginia Tech side in order to end the sixth.
Notre Dame went three up, three down in the seventh, and Tidd and the Irish followed suit in the bottom half, sitting Virginia Tech down in order to seal the series sweep with a 3-1 win.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame will return home to play DePaul on Wednesday, April 28 at 5:30 p.m. ET at Melissa Cook Stadium. The game will be broadcast on ACCNX. Then, Notre Dame will play a doubleheader on Saturday, May 1, beginning at 1 p.m. ET, as part of the 10th-annual Strike Out Cancer weekend, which raises funds and awareness for those fighting childhood cancer and their families.